Timbers Shivered: Indian Navy Destroys a Pirate Mother Ship

(Left: British Navy intercepts a pirate dhow, which really, really looks like a pirate ship.)


The Indian navy in action with heavy guns against pirates!

Forgive me for thinking that as International Crises go, this one is A) not too terribly bad, and B) more entertaining than it should be. Heavy gun naval action- against pirates? Never thought I'd actually see that.

It's not Darfur, it's not the Congo, it's Pirates vs. Shipping Companies and Navies, and innocent sailors, unless of course they are deep in the illegal arms trade to Darfur. Which on the M/V Faina, still stuffed with tanks and guns, they seem to be.

The piracy in Indonesia seems much more ruthless and brutal by comparison, but even the around the world Volvo Ocean race, now off Madagascar, has to change course- they are racing for an imaginary pirate avoidance line as I write. Will the pirates catch the racing yachts (which do an amazing 21 knots or more)?

I am trying not to have my imagination stimulated by the prospect of a pirate trawler chasing a bunch of racing sailing yacht in the Indian Ocean, all live on the Internet. What could be interesting about that?