I guess I would never make it as a negotiator (that is totally an understatement). I am ready to blow the pirates (and any other pirate ships that come to their rescue) out of the water. These people are not worthwhile members of society. The are the modern-day equivalent of the Al Capone gang. They have taken control of the waters off Somalia and are demanding protection money (ransom) for ships to pass there. So far this has been a profitable undertaking, so why in the world should they stop doing it? Now they have taken an American ship (from a country that used to have a backbone), and they are getting away with it. The captain will probably be released and the pirates will probably collect their ransom. I would love to be wrong about this, but I don't think I am.
When this is resolved, nothing will change. Some countries may reroute their ships to avoid the pirates, but the pirates will still take the ships that pass by and hold them for ransom. It is an unbelievable shame that no one in the world is willing to stand up and say that pirates are the scum of the earth who attack innocent, unarmed people and deserve to die. It is a shame that NATO, when asked last year to deal with the pirate problem, couldn't be bothered (or didn't have enough backbone to want to accept the job). This is a truly awful time for America, we are being humiliated by a bunch of well-armed thugs and we are not willing to do anything about it. It is also sad that much of the ransom collected will go toward the terrorists' war that is being fought against us. It is totally in our best interest to deal with the pirates harshly and quickly. I fear that we do not have the resolve to do that.
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