What is piracy? Who are pirates? Why talk about pirates in a
course on old and new wars?
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Piracy is robbery or criminal violence at sea, on land, or in
the air; the word comes from pirata. it is not privateering, i.e...
any war-like activity carried out by non- state actors under a
states mandate (e.g. soldiers-of-fortune); it is the government
sanction that makes this legitimate. privateering was outlawed,
however, by the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and by those who signed
the treaties involved
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pirata [brigands]
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[French privateer from Saint-Malo]
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Piracy is defined today by Articles 101-103 of the UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982):. Art. 101 says that piracy
is any illegal act of violence or detention, or depredation,
committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a
private ship or a private aircraft on the high seas, against
another ship or aircraft outside the jurisdiction of any State
[plus] any act of voluntary participation in making a pirate ship
or aircraft (n.b., how it also refers to stealing copyright
material and trade secrets)
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aircraft whose crew has mutinied and taken control of [that]
ship or aircraft. Art. 103 says that a ship or aircraft is
considered a pirate ship or aircraft if it is intended by the
persons in dominant control to be used for the purpose of
committing one of the acts referred to in article 101. Art. 102
says piracy can also involve any warship, government ship or
government
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... [mutiny on the Bounty]
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This definition was initially part of the Convention on the
High Seas (Art. 15/17), signed in Geneva in 1958. one problem is
that it defines piracy in terms of activities that only occur on
the high seas (i.e. in international waters, like the oceans). in
the case of criminal behavior like this, a state can still act,
however, using the doctrine of universal jurisdiction (this allows
states to police criminals, despite their nationality, where their
crimes are seen to be against everyone)
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... high seas
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universal jurisdiction
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. those committing theft on the high seas, for example, inhibit
trade and endanger maritime communications; they are considered by
states, therefore, to be the enemies of [all] humanity. this allows
action to be taken against such pirates regardless of the national
flag their vessels fly.. critics of this doctrine say it -
undermines sovereignty - creates a universal tyranny of judges -
allows states to try their political enemies
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enemies of humanity
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critics say it creates a universal tyranny of judges
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Since the majority of acts of piracy occur within territorial
waters, however. some pirates are able to go free because the
states concerned do not have the ability to police their borders
adequately, i.e.,. they cannot catch and prosecute the pirates..
even if they want to and.. even if the crime is too serious to be
considered just a state-centred one
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territorial waters [exclusive economic zones]
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This concept goes back to the Roman emperor Justinian
(482-565AD) who said that:. All nations are governed partly by
their own particular laws, and partly by those laws which are
common to all, [i.e. those that] common Reason appoints for all
mankind. the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) extended this
idea of a universal law available to reason to say that there are
universal laws of right and wrong and these include laws with
regard to piracy
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Piracy parallels the use of the seas for trade and therefore
has a long history; firstly we find. the Sea Peoples who threatened
the Aegean and the Mediterranean in the 14 th century BC i.e. at
the end of the Bronze Age. these pirates came from western Anatolia
(todays Turkey or southern Europe). they raided Syria, Canaan
(todays Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and west Jordan), Cyprus and
Egypt. n.b. it is not certain who they actually were
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threatened the Aegean and the Mediterranean
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. in classical antiquity the Illyrians and the Tyrrhenians were
also much feared as pirates.. it was not until 168BC the Romans
finally conquered Illyria and made it a province, ending the threat
it posed to their ships. the Phoenicians specialized in kidnapping
boys and girls who they sold as slaves. in the first century BC
various states along the Anatolian coast threatened the trade of
the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean
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the Illyrians the Tyrrhenians and the Phoenicians
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. Julius Caesar, the famous Roman dictator, was kidnapped and
held prisoner by Cilian pirates from todays Turkey so, in 67 BC,
the Roman Senate authorized three months of naval warfare to
eliminate them as a threat. in 264AD Goth pirates landed on Cyprus
and Crete, seizing a large amount of booty and taking thousands of
captives
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Julius Caesar
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. in medieval Europe the best known and most far reaching of
the pirates were the Vikings. these were warriors/looters from
Scandinavia; their raids took place between the 8 th and 12 th
centuries AD. they attacked the coasts, rivers and inland cities,
not only of western Europe but also North Africa, the Baltic and
eastern Europe, as far as the Black Sea and Persia (modern day
Iran), using versatile wooden long-ships
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Viking[] long-ships
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. towards the end of the 9 th century, Moor pirates built bases
along the south coast of France and northern Italy; in 846AD they
sacked Rome and damaged the Vatican. from 824AD to 961AD Arab
pirates spread out across the whole Mediterranean from their base
in Crete. Barbary (North African) corsairs took 1 million Europeans
as slaves from the 16 th -19 th centuries. the Golden Age of Piracy
in the Caribbean
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was from about 1650AD to the mid-1720s. It followed the
development by the English, French, and Dutch of their empires
there; shipping between Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean grew with
the triangular trade, i.e., ships sailing from Europe to Africa
with weapons to sell for slaves; then to the Caribbean where slaves
were sold for sugar, tobacco and cocoa; then back to Europe..
pirates like Henry Morgan, Edward Teach, Jack Rackham and
Bartholomew Roberts preyed on every leg of this trade.
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Moor pirate[s]
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Arab pirates
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Barbary (North African) corsairs
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Henry Morgan, Edward Teach, Jack Rackham, and Bartholomew
Roberts
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.. of the Irish pirates of the 18 th century, one of the most
famous was Anne Bonn(e)y (1702)
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- Bonn(e)y was the illegitimate child of a lawyer and his
house-maid - they emigrated to America after her birth where, as a
young woman, she eloped with a young criminal named James Bonn(e)y
- Bonn(e)y took her to a pirate port in the Bahamas - he was
offered a pardon there to become an informant, which he accepted;
Anne was angry and left him, only to fall in love with Capt. John
Calico Jack Rackham; together with Rackam she dressed as a man and
raided Spanish treasure ships off Cuba and Hispaniola (D.R. and
Haiti)
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. another famous female pirate was Mary Read - born in
Plymouth, England, in 1690, her father was a sailor who left on a
long voyage and never came back - her mother took her to London to
ask her mother-in-law for help; the old lady disliked girls so her
mother dressed Mary as a boy; the old lady was fooled and agreed to
support them - as a teenager Mary joined a man o war, then a foot
and later a horse regiment
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- she fell in love with a fellow soldier, revealed to him her
true sex, and began dressing as a woman; after their marriage they
ran an inn until he died; with no money, and knowing that life as a
man was much easier, she went back to wearing mens clothing and
joined a Dutch merchant ship bound for the Caribbean; the ship was
captured by English pirates; she joined them until she met Rackhams
band and Anne Bonn(e)y; they became close friends
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Mary Read
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. Other famous female pirates include: - Teuta of Illyria who
inherited the Ardiaen Kingdom when her husband died in 231BC; she
plundered Greek and Roman merchants
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Teuta of Illyria
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- Jeanne de Clisson was born in Brittany in 1300; she married a
wealthy nobleman who was killed by King Philip VI; Jeanne swore
revenge; sold her lands to buy 3 warships; and had them painted
black and their sails dyed red - she then hunted down any and every
royal ship she could find, killing all the crew she captured; she
continued even after the King himself died; she eventually retired
to England because the the English hated the French as much as she
did
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Jeanne de Clisson [Jane de Belleville] the Lioness of
Brittany
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- Sayyida al Hurra was born in Granada in 1485AD; her family
was forced to move to Morocco where she married the King; her
hatred of Christians drove her to ally herself with Barbarossa of
Algiers, however, and become a pirate
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Sayyida al Hurra
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- Grace OMalley was born in Ireland in 1530, the daughter of
the leader of a sea-faring clan; after her husband was killed and
his castle captured, Grace raised an army to take it back; between
her first and second marriages she took over her fathers role of
collecting taxes from local fishermen; she then began demanding
cash or cargo from passing ships in exchange for safe passage;
those who refused were killed; she also attacked the fortresses of
neighboring Scottish and Irish nobles
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she used her knowledge of the west coast to hide from her
pursuers; she also recruited her crew from the very poor, who
appreciated her anti-English attitude as well as the chance to get
rich; England began to fight back in the 1580s and 1590s, so Grace
went to see Queen Elizabeth I to ask for land for her sons and a
pension for herself in return for a commitment to fight for her
former enemy; the Queen accepted her request
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Grace OMalley
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. Lady Mary Killigrew was also born in 1530; she married Sir
Henry Killigrew of Arwenack in Cornwall; though Sir Henry was a
former pirate, he was made a Vice-Admiral by Queen Elizabeth I and
told to suppress piracy; when he was at sea, however, Mary used the
castle staff as pirates; when she captured a ship that belonged to
one of the Queens friends she was arrested and tried but probably
pardoned; after that she became a fence for stolen goods
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Lady Mary Killigrew
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- Christina Anna Skytte was born in 1643 in in Sweden, the
daughter of a baron; her brother, despite his wealth, was a pirate
who plundered ships in the Baltic Sea; when Christina joined the
band she had one of its members killed for trying to leave; in 1663
the band attacked a Dutch merchant ship, killed the crew and stole
the cargo; this led to the capture of her fiance, Gustaf, and
Christina was forced to flee
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Christina Anna Skytte[s ship] in the Baltic Sea
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- Anne Dieu-Le-Vent was deported from France to Tortuga (today
part of Haiti); born in 1650 she married a pirate called Pierre
Length; in 1683 he was killed in a bar fight by a fellow buccaneer,
Laurens de Graaf; Anne challenged de Graaf to a duel; he drew his
sword but she drew a pistol; impressed by her spirit he proposed on
the spot; Anne accepted and they sailed together, seizing ships
and, in 1693, even raiding Jamaica
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Tortuga Anne Dieu-Le-Vent [God-wills-it]
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- Jacquotte Delahaye was born in Haiti to a Haitian mother and
a French father: when both died she had to earn money to support
herself and her brother; she turned to piracy in the Caribbean;
active in the 1660s, she faked her death to escape a hunt for her;
after living for years as a man she returned to piracy; she was
known as Back from the Dead Red because of this and the color of
her hair; she is thought to have sailed with Anne Dieu-Le-Vent
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Back from the Dead Red
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- Rachel Wall was born in 1760 on a farm in Pennsylvania; after
her marriage she worked as a maid in Boston; she was the first
female American pirate; with her husband she helped lure vessels
off the Isle of Shoals by pretending to be in distress; after
taking any valuables, they sank the boats together with their
crews; Rachels husband was finally washed away in a storm; she
became a petty thief, was caught, tried and hanged on November 16,
1789
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Rachel Wall [and] the Isle of Shoals
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- finally, Ching Shih ruled the South China Sea in the 19 th
c.; born in 1775, she became a prostitute in Canton; captured by
pirates in 1801 she married Zheng Shih, their captain; Zheng headed
a coalition of pirates known as the Red Fleet; after his death, in
1807, Ching took it over; her fleet grew to 1,500 junks and 80,000
sailors; the British, Chinese and Portuguese navies could not
defeat her; China sued for peace; Ching accepted and retired
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Ching Shih
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Asia provides many examples of pirate groups beyond that of
Ching Shihs, e.g.,.. the Buginese sailors of South Sulawesi who
were infamous for their pirate activities, from Singapore to the
Philippines.. the Orang Laut (Sea Gypsies) who controlled the
Straits of Malacca and all the shipping that moved through them..
the Malays and Sea Dayaks who sailed from their base in Borneo to
prey on ships going from Singapore to Hong Kong
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the Buganese sailors of South Sulawesi
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the Orang Laut who controlled the Straits of Malacca
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the Malays and [the] Sea Dayaks
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What about piracy today? Who are the pirates and where are they
currently active?. Piracy against transport ships is currently a
significant global issue. estimated losses worldwide are US$13-16
bn. each year. the International Maritime Bureau (the IMB) keeps a
record of all pirate attacks; it also gives advice on how to
respond to such attacks (the movie Captain Phillips is an accurate
account)
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The IMB is a specialized department of the International
Chamber of Commerce; it publishes a weekly piracy report and
maintains a 24-hour piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia; its work is supported by the UNs International Maritime
Organization, which is designed to plan and promote safety and
security regulations for the 170 member states who belong (those
who do not are mostly landlocked, i.e., they have no sea
coast.)
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the International Chamber of Commerce and the International
Maritime Organization
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The IMB was established in 1981 to fight all types of maritime
crime. It has a memorandum of understanding with the World Customs
Organization and observer status with Interpol. the IMBs Piracy
Reporting Centre was created in 1992 since 50,000 merchant ships
use vulnerable areas each year. it is the worlds main independent
crime-fighting watchdog for international trade, listing where
piracy is currently likely to occur, for example
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. Bangladesh: where robbers target ships at anchor. Indonesia:
where a number of ports are also vulnerable. the Malacca Straits:
though the number of attacks have dropped substantially of late due
to an increase in patrols by Indonesia and Malaysia; vigilance is
still advised, however. the Singapore Straits: where anti-piracy
measures are currently recommended
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Bangladesh [Bangladeshi pirates and the Singapore Navy
patrolling the Straits of Singapore]
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. Lagos, Nigeria: the pirates are violent - attacking,
hijacking, and robbing vessels and kidnapping crews up to 170
nautical miles from the coast; indeed, nearly all Nigerian waters
are risky. Cotonou, Benin: the number of incidents has dropped but
this is still considered a risky area; many tankers have reported
being attacked; pirates force captains to sail to unknown locations
to steal their cargo. Lome, Togo: pirates in this area are well
armed and violent; ships are hijacked as in Benin
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all Nigerian waters are risky
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Benin Togo and [the Ivory Coast, n.b. pirates from the Gulf of
Guinea]
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. Abidjan, Ivory Coast: the first hijacking took place just
recently; Gulf of Guinea pirates may have spread to this area. Gulf
of Aden/Red Sea: attacks in this area have dropped due to active
military action and armed guards onboard ships; there is an
Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor within the Gulf of
Aden where naval and air protection is provided to merchant ships,
though vessels have been hijacked in this corridor regardless
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. Somalia: attacks have dropped significantly here for the same
reasons; Somali pirates usually attack using a mother ship; this
allows them to do so far from shore and to launch smaller boats for
the final approach; hence the warning to captains here to stay
clear of dhows and what look like fishing vessels and to be
prepared at all times to take evasive action, e.g. to use more
speed; alter direction to create wash; to deploy fire-hoses and
razor wire
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Somalia [the Horn of Africa] [and Somalian pirates]
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[water cannon, molotov cocktails and armed guards]
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the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor
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. Brazil: in 2011 the government created an anti-piracy unit on
the Amazon river
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. Serbia/Romania: in 2011 shipping firms began reporting pirate
attacks on the Danube
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Piracy Daily (www.piracydaily.com) promotes the use of private
maritime security companies (PMSCs)www.piracydaily.com. pirates
have yet to successfully attack a ship protected by armed security
guards. having largely succeeded in the Gulf of Aden firms are now
shifting their business to the new markets in West Africas Gulf of
Guinea, where counter-piracy measures are still non-existent, even
though this is a major route for commodities (e.g. US oil); here
pirates want cargo not ransoms
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. until states and international organizations can agree on
what to do, private firms are necessary. these firms are
guns-for-hire but they also have codes of conduct and best practice
to abide by as issued by the IMO (n.b. compliance is uneven). firms
also vary widely in quality; they include:.. Britannia Maritime
Security.. Convoy Escort Programme Ltd... Eos Risk Management..
Protection Vessels International, and.. Neptune Maritime
Security
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Britannia Maritime Security describes itself as recruiting,
training and retaining the most experienced maritime security
advisers and officers; it is based in Glasgow, U.K.; it says that:.
[a]ll our operators have military training and commercial
experience, and it can provide. safe passage anywhere in the world
plus. risk assessments, armed unarmed [and] escort services &
anti-piracy solutions. it employs only former British military
personnel or equivalent [at a price, of course]
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Convoy Escort Programme Ltd. uses seven ex- navy patrol boats,
each with eight armed guards, to escorts ship through the Gulf of
Aden. in effect a private navy, it is backed by the U.K. insurance
broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson. setting it up cost $30m.; the
company plans to expand to eleven boats at a cost of $50m.; these
are all registered in Cyprus.. the company charges $30,000 per
ship, per convoy of four ships, for 3-4 days
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U.K.s Neptune Maritime Security highlights how much piracy
costs in terms of the fear of attack and the need to avoid
particular areas and pay insurance premium; there is also, it
points out, the potential:. abuse of crews. repairs needed to
vessels. ransom monies (ships are held on av. 225 days). losses
from trade. lost or spoiled cargoes, and. damages to corporate
reputation
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Eos Risk Management supplies protection to firms, governments
and NGOs; in each case it assesses the threat and recommends the
response, whether this be a particular voyage or a fixed
installation - like an oil well. Eos also provides training for
those in the private shipping, aviation, oil and gas, and ports and
facilities sectors, and. the trainers themselves all have
first-hand industry knowledge
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Protection Vessels International Ltd. calls itself the global
leader in armed maritime security; it says it is the largest such
company in the world; set up in 2008, it is independent, privately
owned, and made up of seafarers who provide security; it is not, in
other words, a security company working in shipping (its managers
are top ex-Royal Marines). it specializes in safe passage in the
Indian Ocean. it claims to deliver military-standard security for
commercial purposes only
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So, what is the relevance of pirates to old and new wars?.
pirates do not fight old-style wars with regular armed forces; if
they do, they lose. they are criminals who rob/kill for themselves.
this said, they do engage in predatory financing and state
un-making (as in Somalia). they have no interest in winning though;
they only want what they can get from their victims
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Kaldor talks about how new war economies are decentralized and
how those who fight in them use hostage-taking and plunder;
activities like these can only be sustained, however, through
continued violence so that a war logic is built into the
functioning of the economy. This retrograde set of social
relationships spreads[s] across borders through organized crime.
[Indeed i]t is possible to identify clusters of war economies in
places such as the Horn of Africa or West Africa
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hostage-taking
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organized crime
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Is she talking about pirates, who should then be seen as
playing a role in new wars? It certainly sounds like she might be.
what do you think?. while pirates do not engage in old war
practices, do they engage in some (but not all) new war ones?. if
so, how many must they engage in for us to characterize them as new
war actors? Perhaps Captain Jack knows