OT- Captain jumps overboard, SEALs shoot pirates (Apr 12) (US 3, Pirates 0)

[Robatoy]

where you're standing at the time, eh?

[MikeWhy]

Say... Does anyone else see the irony?

[Morris Dovey]

You're correct, but...

I'm not sure that borders have a great deal to do with any of what's going on in the region, other than to excuse non-pursuit across boundaries of those folks who've decided that rule of law doesn't solve their problems or meet their needs. The importance that westerners attach to national boundaries is not universal.

The piracy problem in Somalia bears more than just a passing resemblance to the (foreign) oil producer extortions and kidnappings still farther west. It doesn't take much imagination to find elements of these behavioral modes in activities like the Nigerian internet-based scams. Different perps, but (IMO) similarly rooted in a desperate notion that in order to get one's "fair share" of the planet's wealth, one must wrest it from those who appear to have more than their share.

It struck me some time ago that anyone with a healthy family and a full belly was unlikely to pick up a gun or strap on a suicide vest.

I don't think removing four Somali pirates (or even blowing up a pirate HQ) is going to produce any noticeable change.

Along with playing whack-a-mole with zero-sum predators, we might better serve everyone (including ourselves) by finding more effective permanent solutions to the healthy family and full belly problems.

[Lew Hodgett]

That idea has been suggested to solve the world's aggression problems for probably more years than either one of us have lived.

Only problem seems to be getting some agreement on how to implement it.

Lew

[DGDevin]

> Outstanding!

The day in which it is possible to annihilate villages full of women and children because some bad guys are based there is probably passed, at least for America. So while this idea would probably be quite successful it isn't about to happen. What might be effective is the use of Q-ships such as the British invented in WWI. An assortment of helpless-looking commercial vessels, yachts etc. concealing Special Forces teams augmented with some heavier metal would result in pirate vessels never returning home and with no explanation being apparent. The element of uncertainty would be discouraging....

Of course so long as Somalia is a hell-hole with no effective government and famine, disease etc. being commonplace then there will be no shortage of men willing to risk all for almost unimaginable fortunes by their reckoning.

[Doug Winterburn]

The 9/11 perps weren't bloated belly, starving folks. On the contrary, they seemed to be well educated, some of which education led to their actions. The British bus bombers had a fairly good life situation other than being led down the Islamic fundamentalist religious path...

[Morris Dovey]

I noticed that. :) I decided to make agreement a non-problem by taking the bit between my teeth and seeing if anyone would follow.

I also noticed that the "healthy family" part wasn't completely separate from the "full belly" problem (not much rocket surgery there).

The "full belly" problem, when it actually /was/ a problem seemed to resolve into a problem of having water in the wrong place - a concept that crystallized for me when I heard a Minnesota farm neighbor talking about recent heavy rains. "None or too much", he quipped - and so gave me a flash of insight that extended well beyond rain.

That was 30 years ago, and by a really strange chain of events, I ended up designing a cheap/simple/reliable engine/pump that can be powered directly by sunshine - no gas, oil, or electricity needed. (The wreck's Canukistani stirmeister provided some of the early encouragement and suggestions.)

It's working - not as well as I'd like, but it /is/ working. There's a picture of the weird engine at the bottom of

the really good news is my off-the-wall efforts have been joined in the past month or so by a team of students in Pakistan and a very capable researcher in France. Their work can be seen at

's still much to be done, but I've been encouraged that (unlike the cold fusion research) the present engine has been successfully duplicated elsewhere - and it appears to be simple enough for people to build and maintain for themselves.

Interestingly, two of these engines can be coupled together to make a heat pump for cooling/refrigeration. There's a bit about that tucked into the web page at

'm hoping the pump will help irrigate the crops to fill more bellies and so help families to be healthier - and maybe, just maybe, help reduce some of that desperation.

Anyone who'd like to join in is welcome.

[Stuart]

Unless motivated by religious extremism >-|

[dadiOH]

It was either that or corporate CEO. Oh, wait...they're the same.

[Swingman]

Well done, Morris! ... and while you should be commended for both the hard work and altruism, it's a damned shame that there are more and more folks who would prefer that you do the work and then provide them with the fruits of *your* labor, gratis.

[Charlie Self]

Sure, Amway. Something does need to be done to help improve conditions in the area, so that piracy is a less attractive option. With a few more operations such as the one yesterday, piracy is going to look less good to unemployed, and unemployable, youth, but there seem to be few other options avaiable.

What I can't understand is how these impoverished people come by all their AK47s and RPGs and other weapons, none of which, in operating conditon, is cheap. Not to mention the ammo they seem to blast into the air every few minutes to express anger, joy, dismay or peaceful intent.

[Charlie Self]

Hard not to.

[steve robinson]

AKs are one of the most copied weapons in the world , china makes millions of them .

The old soviet block and the west have supplied weapons and ammunition to the varous African states for decades.

[Leon]

Snip

What I can't understand is how these impoverished people come by all their AK47s and RPGs and other weapons, none of which, in operating conditon, is cheap. Not to mention the ammo they seem to blast into the air every few minutes to express anger, joy, dismay or peaceful intent.

They had the ability to steal on the high seas, I imagine stealing what they wanted on the ground may have been less trouble. They steal what they want and need.

[J. Clarke]

You mean set a pirate to catch a pirate?

[Morris Dovey]

Very true - and it's worth noting that although religious extremism pops up in many guises, its most common threads appear to be the fear and desperation that result from the inability to find a path from yesterday to tomorrow.

[Robatoy]

That could explain this?:

are always a few misguided people who think everything is stage- craft. (AKA Never mind what it is..what does it LOOK like?)(AKA HOW can we score political points with the tax-paying serfs so they keep thinking we're all heroes?)

But *I* think that Ted Nugent's suggestion that if you drill a few car- jackers, right through the door of your car, and putting a .45 on your lap as you drive through bad areas of Detroit, had a LOT to do with that car-jacking incident rate dropping like a stone. Nobody likes their junk shot off.

THAT is change *I* can believe in.

[Morris Dovey]

Thanks but I haven't really worked all that hard - and I work to serve my own ends at least as much as others'.

My work, if it can be called work, is to provide a sense of the /Possible/ to folks who can use that.

Since it can't be bought or sold, it pretty much has to be a gift.

[Tom Veatch]

Two things are required for punishment to be a deterrent, immediacy and certainty. Nugent's suggestion meets both criteria. On the other hand the US criminal justice system meets neither.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

[Larry Blanchard]

And therein lies the problem. You're doing a good job Morris, but there will always be people like the ones described above. And the fanatics who think killing _____________ will get them a ticket to paradise.