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Put'em on a pole

[Courtesy of sandb]: The post has been given a substantial plastic surgery. There is nothing as weird as Vlad III the Impaler going on.

Apart from having become more civilized, why don't we hang pirates anymore? Well. It's cruel, of course. There are many good reasons for why not to hang people, and at that, many good reasons for not having a death penalty at all.

In 2008 the issue of what to do with, or how to punish, pirates caught in the Red Sea was, according to WSJ, uncertain. Now, they shall die! Horribly! They shall now be put in American prisons. For a life time. By American hands! That is certainly [a very] certain [sentence].

South Korea applies very capital measures against pirates. Which may or may not be worse, of course.

put'em on a pole

India, gracefully, just arrests 61 of them. A Seychelle courts has sent some to jail. European countries, it appears, also sentence pirates to jail.

Pirates have previously been sent to neighbouring country Kenya for trials. Kenya is now over-crowded with piracy cases and El País notes that talks of international courts in the UN Security Council are at the same time accompanied by criticism of calling this a war on piracy. They are wrong. Wars are very trendy.

Not only can you impose on Somalis capital measures. You can also capitalise on Somalis.

With recent American measures against African conmen, I wonder quietly what will happen with the Nigerian 410 scammers recently caught in Californa. Although they seem to have ran their operations from the US.

My hearts are extended to the losses for Pirate Families.

9 comments

I was busy fighting zombie laws the other day and, well, what can I say? I found the heart of an internet opponent lying around. Apparently they'd lost it.

One might also consider why Somalian pirates are hunted by just about every naval unit in that part of the world, while israeli pirates are let off with just a "you shouldn't do that", especially now when another convoy is soon to leave for Gaza?

Hey, checking the link of "They shall die", it says "life" not "death penalty" (as I conjectured based on the title). Did the article/punishment change in the mean time?

Why, yes, you are right.

Five Somali men, convicted of attacking a US Navy ship, have been sentenced to life in prison by a Virginia court.

Tuesday’s sentencing is the harshest yet for accused pirates as the US tries to halt piracy off Africa's coast.

I probably read the article sloppily since I wanted good drama. To my best of knowledge, people don't actually die that often in American prisons either (the luck of which one can probably question), so they will have a long life serving the American prison corporations. I'm sorry!

Amelia Andersdotter :
Why, yes, you are right.

Five Somali men, convicted of attacking a US Navy ship, have been sentenced to life in prison by a Virginia court.
Tuesday’s sentencing is the harshest yet for accused pirates as the US tries to halt piracy off Africa’s coast.

I probably read the article sloppily since I wanted good drama. To my best of knowledge, people don’t actually die that often in American prisons either (the luck of which one can probably question), so they will have a long life serving the American prison corporations. I’m sorry!

Indeed, life = capital punishment where your captors are too lazy to actively kill you themselves.

Personally, I have put forward a motion for the Annual Congress of Ung Pirat (Swedish political youth organisation) to support the investment in electronics recycling plants in Somalia and Palestine. In Somalia, the problems with violence are obviously connected to mistreatment of their economy, in Palestine, well, if you put enough young men in a hopeless situation with lots of unemployment and easy access to firearms... You're bound to create problems.

On the other hand, if you have an environmentally sustainable electronics recycling plant, you can recycle your electronics safely, provide an economic/financial solution for the region(s) and probably significantly decrease the amount of conflicts and killings currently marking the areas.

If "an environmentally sustainable electronics recycling plant" was something the greens could agree with... then it would be sound to put them in the center of the highest electronic gadget consumption area (perhaps Brussels, Tokio or Taiwan) as to minimize transport costs.

But as reality stands, I believe it's a nice oxymoron.

Eh. Toukyou and Taiwan /produce/ electronics and send them to all of the rest of the world. Electronics consumption in .be is not so high.

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