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Originally Posted by Speakeasy
Now, I'm not going to sit here acting like I know better than the powers that be. Because, really, I have no clue what could be done here, either. They have hostages, so a rescue operation will certainly put them at risk. If they surround the boat and 'wait them out', they run the same risk. Somalia doesn't have much of a government, so they're not going to do anything about it.
Plus, who's responsibility is it to act on this (if anyone comes up with any sort of action in the first place)? It's a Saudi ship, with Saudi oil, headed to customers in the US, with an international crew, now in Somali territory, held by Somali pirates.
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We have the use of Somalian airspace and Somalian waters which they have granted to us; we have launched strikes targetting terrorists there in the last few years with the blessing of the Somali government, not always with their prior knowledge either. We could go in and do something if that was what was the best course of action i guess, it may not need to come down to that.
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Obviously, if Somalia had the ability to do so, the international community would be calling on them to do something. But Somalia is pretty much African Lord of the Flies, so there's nothing they can do.
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Yeah they are pretty much useless, plus tense relations with Etheopia don't help either.
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So, what do you guys think? Should an international coalition go in an attempt to rescue the hostages and tanker? Should a ransom simply be paid? How can such a thing be prevented in the future? What are the pros and cons of simply switching shipping routes (besides it being a bigger pain in the ass to get shipments around the world)?
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Technically an international coallition would need some form of formal declaration peace time to do such a thing under peacetime maritime law; however under those laws the FBI has jrisdiction over all international waters. We haven't technically declared war so that stands.
However the problem comes in the fact they are in Somali waters and even though we have the permission to use their land air and high seas we could only do it through a dispatched Naval vessel approved in accordance, again, with the maratime stipulations. Navy intel could also be sent (not that they do much these days).
A much more ammicable solution is likely to occur though, these things are usually worked out more peacefully off the coast of Africa without too much bloodloss.