It seems that they all died

Ten Somali pirates captured by Russian Marines when said Marines boarded a Russian Tanker to rescue the crew were set adrift in an inflatable raft with no navigational aids.

"It seems that they all died," the unnamed source was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency.

Russia initially said the 10 pirates would be taken to Moscow to face criminal charges over the hijacking, but they were released instead because there were not sufficient legal grounds to detain them, the defence ministry in Moscow said.

I guess it was easier than a trial.

Piracy: It's just business...

This smacks of ye old argument that if you give the robber or rapist what they want and you'll get out of it with your life and no worse for wear. After all it's only your property or your virtue at stake and if you resist you might be killed. The shipping companies have made the decision that it's more cost effective to pay the occasional ransom than protect their property and personnel. When the occurrences of piracy escalates will they feel the same? This approach doesn't work because the "rules" are subject to change at the whim of the extortionists. Better to deal with them on the front end and make their business unprofitable and fatal.

Barak vs. the Pirates

So now a bit of detail has come out on the back story of the Navy's rescue of Captain Philips. Firehand offers commentary here and a link here and here that tell us what was going on behind the scenes. Here is another link and here is the White House's version.

My feeling is that President Obama doesn't understand that sometimes leadership means getting out of the way and letting your people, in this case the military, do their job. In the end, Captain Philips was safe but this incident gives clear indicators of what to expect over the next three and a half years. Welcome to the second Carter Administration

John Ringo awakes

John Ringo comments on the Somali pirates and 'Rightwing Extremism'. It's worth reading.

Update: Ringo has apparently removed the post on the pirates.

Navy 3, Pirates 0

American sea Captain Richard Phillips was safely rescued Sunday from four Somali pirates, who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, a U.S. intelligence official said.

Three of the pirates were killed and one was in custody after what appeared to be a swift firefight off the Somali coast, the official said.

Initial reports indicate Phillips jumped overboard for a second time and the military was able to take advantage of the situation.

Pirates

It seems to me that the "civilized" world figured out how to deal with pirates rather well in the 17th century. The fix involved cannon, yardarms and rope. I'm sure our modern navies have the functional equivalent. Jules Crittenden and John Keegan provide a bit more detail on how to deal with this problem.