Thursday, April 9, 2009

American Authorities to Somali Pirates: 'We Want to Talk -

- but we're not stupid'

An FBI negotiator is talking with pirates who are holding the Captain of the Maersk Alabama hostage in a lifeboat.

The American navy's destroyer Bainbridge1 is near the lifeboat, too: as well as a naval surveillance plane and a drone. (UPI)

We Want to Talk: But We're Not Stupid

Some people are born negotiators: willing to reach the best possible outcome for all parties concerned; through discussion of the matters at hand. Not all people are like that. My guess, though, is that the pirates will be much more open to the call of sweet reason, with a airborne robot, an aircraft with a human at the controls, and a destroyer nearby.

'Eeuw! How Militaristic!'

Then, there are people who don't like weapons. I've discussed hoplophobia before. My opinion is that it's an endemic condition in America's upper crust: and isn't recognized because the 'experts' in the psychological fields are among those affected. The self-described better sort in America have a similar attitude toward those big, rough soldiers.

By the way, this little piracy thing is "over-hyped and confused with terrorism:" according to a retired officer, whose wisdom is shared in an National Public Radio article. (NPR)

The Maersk Alabama's cargo: Food and Supplies for Kenya

A few news articles mentioned that the Maersk Alabama was carrying food bound for Kenya. A smaller number mentioned the United Nation's World Food Program shipment that was on board. One gave a rather more thorough summary.

The Maersk Alabama was carrying roughly 4,100 metric tons of corn-soya blend plus 990 metric tons of vegetable oil. Brought to refugees in Kenya, courtesy the United Nations World Food Program. Oh, yeah: a couple of Christian charities had some stuff on the ship, too:
  • WorldVision
  • Catholic Relief Services
    (CNN)
The Maersk Alabama is an "American flagged," or "U.S.-flagged" as the news articles insist on putting it. The Associated Press acknowledged that all 20 of the Maersk Alabama's crew are Americans. (AP)

No Wonder Americans are Hated: We Play Too Rough

It's hard to say, at this point, whether the Somali pirates realized that they were hijacking a ship with 20 Americans on board, when they boarded the Maersk Alabama. They must have known that they were dealing with 'those people,' though, when the unarmed American crew took the ship back.

This incident may give insight into why America is hated so much: Americans play too rough. Look what they did to those poor, armed, pirates.

Related posts: News and views:
1 DDG 96, in service since 2002, not the one commissioned in 1902, of course.

2 comments:

Brigid said...

Unarmed sailors take back their ship from armed pirates? Either those pirates were amazingly incompetent or those sailors has serious chutzpa.

Brian H. Gill said...

Brigid,

Maybe a bit of both. Americans do, however, have a reputation for being loud, brash, outgoing, and assertive.

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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.