For those of you that haven’t been following world events, a new Saidu supertanker was captured Saturday more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya.  The MC Sirius Star was home to 25 crew and approximately $100 million in crude oil cargo, not to mention the cost of the new supertanker itself.  In the first real sign of retribution that I’ve read of, the New Delhi Associated Press is reporting that the Indian navy sank a suspected pirate “mother ship” before chasing too attack boats off into the darkness.  These mother ships are apparently little launch pads for the pirates, allowing them to head off into deeper and deeper waters.  Ultimately they will ransom off the crew, boat and cargo, which keeps them in business.

Now, here’s the part that I don’t understand.  It’s impossible for me to imagine that they can hide this supertanker, and reports say that we already know where it is and that there are other captured vessels there as well.  That said, especially considering the financial and environmental risks, wouldn’t it be better to go in with excessive force and deal with this once and for all?  How is this different than terrorism?

It’s time to treat all waters as an international responsibility and countries like America – who defend democracy so fervently in countries like Iraq – lead the charge against piracy, murder and pillaging in international waters.  This threat needs to be reduced before it reaches the point of no return, and before the pirates consider environmental terrorism in addition to financial ransom.  Imagine what this amount of oil would do to our oceans…

Ranter