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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! April 27, 2009 Guns and HosesBy Greyhawk"It's tough to be on the end of a water hose if the other guy is on the end of an RPG" Among other stories I missed while at the milblogs conference: Gen. David Petraeus, who came to the Capitol to talk about a wide variety of issues, told a House committee Friday that just trying to outrun or block pirates from boarding cargo ships isn't enough to deter sea bandits off the Somali coast who are becoming more aggressive. The Pentagon is starting to study how to better protect merchant shipping, but hasn't yet come up with a formal plan.Wish I had caught that one. I was at the White House talking about the issue at the same time. Neither the White House or congress determines whether merchant ships will arm themselves or not, but the one word answer I got to the "why can't merchant ships be armed" question was insurance. More on all that (and the conference) shortly. Posted by Greyhawk / April 27, 2009 7:24 AM | Permalink 1 TrackBackA member of the crew on the U.S.-flagged ship hijacked by African pirates sued the owner and another company Monday, accusing them of knowingly putting sailors in danger. Richard E. Hicks alleges in the suit that owner Maersk Line Limited and Waterman ... Read More 5 Comments |
March 19, 2010Dawn Patrol 03/19/2003 [Greyhawk]
"Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world." Mudville was founded in March, 2003. Our efforts to bring the thoughts, words, and deeds of milbloggers to a wider world evolved to become The Dawn Patrol in March, 2005. With today's entry we're going to reset the clock - but not re-write the history - and recreate the world as it was - on a day the world changed...
Updating... more to follow.... MILBOGSAndrew Olmsted, 19 Mar 2003, Stateside: It would appear that the liberation of Iraq has begun. Greyhawk, 18 Mar 2003, Germany: A united world could have, just maybe, brought down Saddam without firing a shot. We will never know. 19 Mar: We'll never know what a united world could have achieved... the UN could not agree on anything, the situation degenerated, and here we are. Status quo was not working. The French were too desperate for oil and trade at any cost. Well-intentioned Americans were led into the streets by Communists (and others) with an agenda. The media distorted the split. Many in America and abroad thought they could manipulate the situation to their personal gain. They miscalculated. The fire is lit. Pontifx ex Machina, 18 Mar, undisclosed location: Rolling out the gate, the guard gets a quick "hook-em, horns" sign as we weave through the barricades. Then we're off, cruising through the desert in a battered-up SUV. On the eve of war, only one thing passes through our minds: is there going to be any appropriate music on the radio? Lt Smash, 19 Mar, undisclosed location: Read the President's speech today. The clock is ticking. Chief Wiggles, 22 Mar, Kuwait: The war started Wednesday morning for us right after the president gave a speech to the American people that lasted about 4 minutes. We were all very anxious for this whole thing to be either over or get it on its way. Will, 22 Mar, en route: I am going to Baghdad to personally shoot that paper hanging son of a bitch! Lt Smash 20 Mar, undisclosed location: Sgt Stryker, 20 Mar, Stateside: Iraq to File U.N. Complaint About Attack Primary Main Objective, 30 Mar, undisclosed location I Dare Kofi to Come Get Me.
BruceR, Flit, 19 Mar, Canada: AND SO IT BEGINS. Godspeed, Yanks. Come home safe and soon. Andrew Olmsted, 20 Mar 2003, Stateside: The most important thing to remember over the next few days is this: the first reports are almost always inaccurate. First reports are generally submitted in the heat of battle before any real analysis can take place. Therefore, they're highly subjective, based on limited information, and rarely hit the mark. So as the first reports of 'surgical strikes' on Iraqi forces come in, it's best to take those reports with a grain of salt... Iraqi BlogsSalam Pax, Baghdad: The bombing aould come and go in waves, nothing too heavy and not yet comparable to what was going on in 91. all radio and TV stations are still on and while the air raid began the Iraqi TV was showing patriotic songs and didn't even bother to inform viewers that we are under attack. at the moment they are re-airing yesterday's interview with the minister of interior affairs. THe sounds of the anti-aircarft artillery is still louder than the booms and bangs which means that they are still far from where we live, but the images we saw on Al Arabia news channel showed a building burning near one of my aunts house... American BlogsGlenn Reynolds has a ton of links. Newpapers
Updating... more to follow.... |
The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
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Sir,
If you have any specific questions about insurance - let me know. I work for the North American HQ of the Swiss Insurance Behemoth...
Thanks, John. I'll send you an email today.
The immediate question: is the "insurance" answer correct in the first place.
If so it strikes me as odd that risk is considered higher with weapons than without. It seems that at least in some waters that weapons reduce risk - but insurance companies are compilers of statistics and profit-driven (nothing wrong with that) so (again, if so) I likewise assume there are valid reasons (though I wonder if they are outdated) for their decisions.
I didn't take up these follow on questions with the NSC folks, btw. I brought it up in the first place only to see if I could gauge familiarity by response.
I remember a doctor who retired years earlier than he needed to because he was tired of some 20 year old with a high school education in an insurance office in New York City telling him how to practice medicine.
It seems that something similar might be going on WRT shipping and piracy.
One thing that might cut down on piracy would be to make paying ransom more expensive for insurance companies. My modest proposal would be a 300% tax on ransom payments to pirates. For example, the insurance company pays $2 million to the pirates but it costs them $8 million dollars total. Make it painful enough that paying off the pirates is no longer the path of least resistance.
It would strike me as odd if it were otherwise.
At sea we still have the same mentality that airlines had before 9/11. Fighting back increases the risk someone will be killed, and is therefore to be avoided.
My firm, Nexus Consulting, has dissected the laws and insurance issues, and we currently have armed security contracts in place for US flagged vessels traveling the Gulf of Aden.
Nexus Consulting worked with legal counsel, experts at Mass Maritime and MITAGS, and US Embassy Special Agents over the world to come up with the best solution.
It’s really not as hard as it seems.
Yes, risk was an issue, as well as traditions. To add to this, countries whose civilians are not allowed to be armed by law (UK to name one) drive the train of the international community who suggest maritime postures (IMO). Yes, more needs to be done on the diplomatic level to allow greater confidence in the legal discrepancies on the high-seas. But YES, it can be done legally.
Insurance companies based in the UK who recognized this limit on defensive postures advocated for “just going along with the pirates” as they would pay the ransoms… albeit at an exponential premium increase to the US shipping lines…
I guess this stance was ok as long as the shipping lines wanted to pay the higher premiums, but when the pirates called out US flagged vessels, they increased the likelihood of serious bodily harm to US citizens.
This increase of likelihood of serious bodily harm absolutely required an increase in the ability of the US flag vessels to defend themselves.
We have presented what we are calling “The Nexus Solution” to the shipping lines and as many are having their legal counsels review the Nexus Solution, we are receiving more and more contract inquires.
My point is, the industry posture has been dictated for years by a questionable relationship between countries who are bound by home country laws preventing them from providing civilian armed personnel on ship and insurance companies who are all to willing to perpetuate the “go along to get along” security model.
At Nexus Consulting, we think no US citizen or civilians traveling on US flagged vessels need to place their live at any greater risk than they already are on the high-seas and as such, dissected the laws involved and have the answer to protect them.
Finally, speaking on the issue of escalation… How much further up the escalation of force model can already AK-47 firing, RGP launching pirates who have the means, ability and intent to do harm to US flagged vessels escalate? Do we REALLY need to wait for a dead US citizen before we take affirmative actions? At Nexus, we say NO!
Thank you.