From what I’ve seen, initial demands tend to be about 10 times the previous publicized ransom, is this a rule of thumb?

We know that we won’t get our initial demands, but we use it as a starting point and negotiate downwards to our eventual target.  But as a rule, yes, that’s about right.

It works well, except when Navy SEALs shoot your face off. Here’s a cool-looking picture from the U.S. Naval Institute’s blog of Gen. David Petraeus visiting the crew of the USS Bainbridge, which helped free Capt. Richard Philips earlier this year.

At most, arming the crew should be only one component of a comprehensive plan and approach to combat piracy. To the extent we go forward in this direction, it would be my personal preference that only the four most senior ranking officers aboard the vessel have access to effective weaponry and that these individuals receive special training on a regular basis. I realize that even this limited approach to arming the crew opens up a very thorny set of issues. I’ll let others sort out the legal and liability issues but we all must understand that having weapons on board merchant ships fundamentally changes the model of commercial shipping and we must be very cautious about how it is done. Nevertheless, I do believe that arming the crew, as part of an overall strategy, could provide an effective deterrent under certain circumstances and I believe that a measured capability in this respect should be part of the overall debate about how to defend ourselves against criminals on the sea.

Philips went on to say that he wonders about the breakdown in command that could result if a protection force was placed aboard a commercial shipping vessel in the event of a pirate attack. “In the heat of an attack, there can be only one final decision maker,” he said.

“I don’t know any SEALs,” said Sarosdy, 81, speaking by phone from his home in Pensacola, Fla. “I have no idea who transmitted that.”

Sarosdy said he received the e-mail from a friend – he thinks it was another retired military officer – a few days after the stand-off ended, he said. He thought it was interesting, so he forwarded it to a couple dozen other people.

And so another hoax email about Barack Obama was born.

My taxes pay for pirate-killing snipers. #teaparties

Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday.

Namor the Sub-Mariner did not return a request for comment.

Based on the information I have … these are fundamentally two separate issues. I’m not going to say that there’s no possibility that there would be a connection or there wouldn’t be a connection at some point, but the piracy issue and the potential role of al-Qaeda are both a result and a continuing problem if you do not have a successful, comprehensive government in Mogadishu, in Somalia.

In other words, previous governments have been able to limit the piracy, And, of course, a legitimate government that is inclusive — but does not include al-Shabab and al-Qaeda sympathizers — would be able to minimize the role of al-Qaeda in Somalia.

So both problems are major issues for the United States. I would put the al-Qaeda one number one, and piracy certainly is important as well.

But the answer here is for this administration to — not just the members of Congress … — now the administration needs to step in and reach out to try to help this government that they’ve put together succeed. It’s time to try to see if it’ll work.

And this all makes sense. Like Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, the Somali pirates appear to be motivated by cold hard cash, not ideological fervor. The good news is that, as Feingold says, the revival of Somalia — both political and economic — would surely temper the attraction of piracy, which tends to have a higher mortality rate than other professions. The bad news, of course, is that stability remains a long ways off.

President Barack Obama is the Commander in Chief of the US armed forces. I certainly don’t agree with a lot of his policies, but I’ll be damned if I won’t — at the very least — respect the office and give him congratulations when it’s deserved. And when the US military succeeds in a critical mission, the CinC deserves congratulations.

There is way too much mean-spiritedness in modern politics, and I for one am totally sick of it. And disappointed in those few LGF lizards who can’t find it in themselves to be gracious and say, “Well done.”

Take a step back from the brink, folks. Oppose Obama’s policies all you like, but be the loyal opposition, not a bunch of ranting haters. The Internet already has more than enough of those.

Johnson, who runs the most successful terror-watching blog, has been buffeted by fringe criticism over his occasional statements of support for the president’s foreign policy.

Pirates attacked another cargo ship early Tuesday morning in the Gulf of Aden, continuing a spate of attacks despite recent U.S. and French military action against hijackers in the waters.

Pirates attacked the M/V Irene between 1 and 2 a.m. local time Tuesday, about 100 miles southwest of Al Mukalla, Yemen, according to the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and pirate trackers. The ship was a St. Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged vessel, managed by a Greek company, and crewed by just over 20 sailors.

The pirates also have two Egyptian fishing ships with another 24 crewmembers. The Wall Street Journal notes that makes for 77 pirate attacks and 18 successful hijackings since the beginning of the year.

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at what the maritime shipping industry is bracing for:

The military intervention could also have economic repercussions for the industry, officials said. Insurance rates, already higher because of piracy attacks, might go up further to take into account the possibility of lethal firefights between pirates and navies.

And more companies could bypass the Gulf of Aden altogether, instead taking the long way around the Cape of Good Hope, adding to journey time and costs.

I’ll have more on this a bit later, but check out Noah Shachtman’s rundown of the options against the pirates. It’s nice and depressing!

The navy seals did exactly thr right thing in rescuing the american captain President obama did the right thing in allowing the navy to act

Why the passive voice? The president didn’t “allow” the Navy to act.

Here’s how The Associated Press reported it:

The Defense Department twice asked Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the Somali coast. Obama first gave permission around 8 p.m. Friday, and upgraded it at 9:20 a.m. Saturday … White House officials on Sunday said Obama received regular updates by phone and in person at the White House — including 11 memos — and during his daily intelligence briefings with senior officials.

It’s really quite strange for Gingrich to deny the commander-in-chief credit for a successful mission that he ordered.

In 1984, Gingrich led the ad hoc American Opportunity Foundation, formed to give President Ronald Reagan credit for the invasion and rescue mission in Grenada. From The Washington Post’s story on this, which ran on October 4, 1984:

Gingrich’s American Opportunity Foundation has produced an ad that pictures blindfolded American hostages in Iran and an American student from Grenada kissing U.S. soil last year. “On Oct. 25, 1984,” it says, “America will debate the difference between bondage and freedom.”

Gingrich said the events would be “a nonprofit, educational experience.” He said that each selected campus would “invite . . . liberal Democrats to come and explain why they thought Iran was a more appropriate model than Grenada.“

“If it does help the president’s campaign, it does,” said foundation director Maura Gavigan.

Obviously, the Grenada invasion was a much larger mission, with casualties, but Gingrich didn’t say that Reagan deserved credit for “allowing” the military to win there.

–

TWI is on Twitter. Please follow us here.