say what you want about our government...

[Vindesh17]

roosterjuicer read what Matra quoted you for in post #14, I mean about North Korea being the first, not the US.

[henk4]

RJ, just for a starter, if you open a thread like this, perhaps you could choose a less controversial title. In this particular case you even seem to have overlooked that the US Government changed in January and is regaining the respect in the world that many people (and countries) had before the arrival of the greatest clown in history to ever play running a country and leaving the real work to a number of right wing extremists.
Hijacking ships has been going on for decades now, perhaps you are not even aware that between 10-20 years ago the Malacca Straits were the center of those activities. Was it ever in the US news? Probably not, because of your strict rules regarding the "privilege" to fly the US flag on a ship, very few internationally operating ships are carrying the star spangled banner, so the chances that your country gets involved in any of such activities are zilch. This particular ship, surprisingly being described in our media as "one of the largest" container ships in the world, was built in Taiwan, and through some complicated arrangements has been allowed to carry the US flag, in order to be eligible for carrying goods for the US Government, which is a very lucrative trade. (Think about it, your Government spends a significant amount of your tax payers money to foreign companies for having their goods carries under the US flag, in stead of offering it to the open freight market) . Normally each ship under the US must have been built in the USA, while any ship that wants to participate in your coastal trades has to be US-flagged and built. (So much for your liberal trade rules....). The carrying capacity of the "Alabama" is 1100 TEU, a dwarf among modern containerships, which now carry 8-12000 TEU.

Anyway, in this case the fact that the captain has been taken hostage will have great repercussions, as an US captain might be worth much more than your average Ukranian, Indian or Polish captain.

[Matra et Alpine]

I concur LTSMash.
But the inital poster used stupid language and didn't actually have the full facts.
These have been explored and shown the original posters comments to be even MORE silly.

NOBODY is attacking ole USA .... jsut some of the crazy ideas proposed by some of it's citizens

BTW, I remember those Australian figures and IIRC the Aus government threatened the NRA with a lawsuit for misrepresentation !

and badda .... race is categorization of humans into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of heritable characteristics. So the view of cowardice of the French is racist and not something to be overly proud of. The occasional joke is OK, we're human after all, but recognise it for what it is

[OzGecko]

I think the australians have learned a lesson over guns, maybe we should take a lesson from that too Crime up Down Under or is it only a good idea to learn lessons when it furthers your personal beliefs?

Damn, my first post here and it's to respond to someone who believes all the pro-gun lies and fake statistics he reads on the net.

Here's some real numbers, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, on crime in Australia (you'll note that the article you linked to doesn't mention any sources for their made-up statistics about Australian crime rates) - these are all rates per 100,000 people, 1998-2007:

Total homicide and related offences 3.8___3.9___3.9___4.2___3.9___3.5___3.0___2.8___2. 7___2.5

Total robbery 127.2___119.5___121.9___137.0___106.8___99.1___82. 0___84.2___83.9___85.6

See how the numbers get smaller over time? That means the rate is dropping, not rising.

Basically, despite the gun lobby's fervent wish for the opposite, crime rates in Australia are dropping. So perhaps it is a good idea to learn a lesson based on the truth even when it disagrees with your personal beliefs. If you refuse to ever contradict your personal beliefs you can never learn anything.

Peace all,

[clutch-monkey]

is that even firearm related crime?
edit: is that caused by the buyback..or the other three steps taken (that the media glossed over)

[Matra et Alpine]

Let this stupid thread die and all others like it because at this level of discussion there is nothing learned

ha, but UCP is better quality posters.
See OzGecko ... real figures providing the definitive answer to balance the mis-truths of the gun-lobby.
THis thread was worth the wait to get that !!

[Dino Scuderia]

FBI says Navy called in FBI hostage negotiators to help free ship's captain, AP reports.

[bruxell]

If this would have happened to a French ship, the US media would not even have cared to report about it.....
Anyway, one crew member has been hijacked but the ship is free. If this will result in a significant ransom to be paid by Maersk, then hijacking crewmembers in stead of the whole might become a trend.

I'll go ahead and disagree with you there. I've been following this situation for over a year now. NPR has been pretty regular with the updates. True, it doesn't regularly make the cable-news cycle, but they've crawled so far up their own ass they can see their teeth.

[henk4]

I'll go ahead and disagree with you there. I've been following this situation for over a year now. NPR has been pretty regular with the updates. True, it doesn't regularly make the cable-news cycle, but they've crawled so far up their own ass they can see their teeth.

perhaps I should have said: Mass media....anyway good to see you back and posting.

[john14]

Have these Somalian pirates killed people who work on ships (during the last few years)?

[Dino Scuderia]

Currently...one of our frigates which has copters on it is on the way for some air fire power.

Also the boat the terrorists and captain is on has food etc. enough to support them for 20-30 days....so this thing can drag out far too long.

[henk4]

Have these Somalian pirates killed people who work on ships (during the last few years)?

not that I know of. But Somalians have killed Americans in the past.

[LTSmash]

not that I know of. But Somalians have killed Americans in the past.

Reference to 1993?

[digitalcraft]

If this would have happened to a French ship, the US media would not even have cared to report about it.....
Anyway, one crew member has been hijacked but the ship is free. If this will result in a significant ransom to be paid by Maersk, then hijacking crewmembers in stead of the whole might become a trend.

Front page of CNN:
Hostage, 2 pirates killed in French rescue operation - CNN.com

So even though I don't see why the U.S. *should* report as much non-U.S. events as U.S. events, in fact you're dead wrong this time.

Also to those who claim the French are pansies, each time the pirates take hostages, the French go in and kick them in the ass. This guy died this time(1 out of the 4 hostages), but the last two times they took a bunch of pirates for trial.

[henk4]

Front page of CNN:
Hostage, 2 pirates killed in French rescue operation - CNN.com

So even though I don't see why the U.S. *should* report as much non-U.S. events as U.S. events, in fact you're dead wrong this time.

Also to those who claim the French are pansies, each time the pirates take hostages, the French go in and kick them in the ass. This guy died this time(1 out of the 4 hostages), but the last two times they took a bunch of pirates for trial.

Well, yes, but would it have got the same attention if there wasn't a concurrent event going on, involving Americans?