In one of the tourism industry’s stranger developments, Russia begins taking money from tourists eager to help control piracy.
The yacht tour promises photogenic sunsets… and heavy artillery. Photo: wirralwater
Last month, I talked with an official of the U.S. Navy and asked him about the military’s role in preventing and responding to piracy. “We’re working on it,” he said with obvious frustration. “But it’s not an easy thing; you’re in international waters, there are all sorts of other competing interests….” He trailed off and then changed the subject, clearly annoyed by constraints that prevent direct action.
He might be interested in Russia’s new strategy for responding to piracy: folding anti-piracy actions into its tourism industry.
In a brilliant–if deeply disturbing–stroke of entrepreneurial genius, Russian luxury yachts have begun to advertise adventure cruises where passengers pony up almost $6,000 USD per day to cruise from Djibouti to Mombasa in search of pirates.
The yachts trawl at a deliberately slow speed, hoping to attract pirates. If attacked, the cruise passengers are ready to respond with heavy machinery: machine guns and grenade and rocket launchers. And if they want to tack on an extra $8.00 a day, passengers can hoist their very own AK-47. Ammo, though, costs an extra $11.50.
There’s no word yet on whether any of the passengers have successfully taken out any pirates… or whether there’s a money-back guarantee if a showdown fails to occur.
“They are worse than the pirates,” said Russian yachtsman Vladimir Mironov. “At least the pirates have the decency to take hostages, these people are just paying to commit murder.”
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For more coverage on piracy, check out “To Pay Ransom or Not to Pay Ransom,” one of thousands of articles in the Matador archives.
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I’m not sure about “the decency to take hostages” — the whole premise of hostage-taking is that you are willing and able to murder your catch — but yeah, wow, this is creepy. I’m torn — on the one hand, I never, ever want to meet someone who would sign up for one of these cruises, and on the other hand I don’t have much sympathy for the pirates who run into some armed resistance for a change.
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I am surprised this is legal. Is it legal?! The idea that any (rich and, obviously, slightly twisted) human being can legally pay to leisurely aim large lethal weapons at other human beings (criminals or not) seems to me as though it defies the charter of human rights.
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I think the idea is to lure them in to attack first, and then any violent response from the tourists will be self defense. Besides which, unfortunately, there’s not really any way to enforce the human rights charter, especially on the high seas.
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True. Yet doesn’t the package promotes pirate hunting/killing and puts all this artillery in the hands of those who buy for the sole purpose of aiming at pirates. I guess they could say it’s self-defense but they still went out with the intent of murdering. They weren’t peacefully sailing away on a cruise with no other goal than to enjoy the sun and the peaceful waters when -boom!- pirates attacked and an AK-47 just happened to be at arms reach! But you’re right about human rights being difficult to enforce especially at seas.
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How ’bout those ‘tourists’ give the money to NGO’s working in Somalia, the piracy isn’t about opportunity it’s about a failed state and people in desperation and struggling to survive in a place the world treats as a dumping ground for toxic waste and garbage, and a write-off in all other aspects. It’s a place that needs help, not military, and food and shelter in lieu of pirate hunting.
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Great point
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Exactly, not really getting to the root of the problem, are they? (why are they pirating in the first place?)
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“Exactly, not really getting to the root of the problem, are they? (why are they pirating in the first place?) ”
Because they desire money in vast quantities.
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Haha. Fair enough. How naive of me.
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This is extremely disturbing. What was that movie with Ice-T where they let him loose in the woods and “hunters” have to hunt him down? This reminds me of that.
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Man…the most dangerous game
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It also kind of reminds me of the movie The Hostel in which people pay different prices to kill (and torture) people of different nationalities. It is a twisted world we live in.
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To Luke Nye
Lets suppose we took the money the pirate hunters are spending and gave it to the NGOs. Do you really think it would make a speck of difference. The locals would releave them of it that same day.
Regarding the pirates, they are opportunists working for financial gain (and doing very well at it) while exhibiting a serious anti-social behavior. The hunters aim is to modify that behavior and at the same time have a little fun. And it is their money they are spending. Shucks, let ‘em have a little fun.
Lynn McFadden
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Clearly a Hoax. It’s monsoon season so the pirates aren’t even out right now. Plus it breaks a whole host of international mairtime laws. Some fact checking would be nice, instead of pure pagerism.
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Chris-
Thanks for your comment. We did fact check this article independently. And you might want to look up the spelling and definition of plagiarism.↵ -
You must have missed the ransom that was paid to some pirates last week to free a Belgian crew, Chris. There is no “off season”.
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@Samantha L.
Legal? You mean, you’re not sure if it’s legal to DEFEND YOURSELF when you’re attacked by pirates? Why shouldn’t it be? And why do you think the customers would be twisted, I find far more twisted to hunt innocent animals instead of evil-meaning pirates. Unfortunately this is probably a hoax, it’s almost too good to be true, otherwise I would join the party:-))↵ -
Luciano, I would say it’s illegal to bait them in. It’s like setting up traps in your home and luring in a burglar. That’s illegal.
Obviously self-defense is legal, but this is completely different. Again, it’s not really doing anything to solve the issue. If anything, it might make the pirates become better armed, grow in size. If they are doing this for survival because they have no alternative, what’s going to stop them? It’s like the Taliban, if you don’t address the reasons why people are siding with the Taliban you’re not going to eliminate the problem.
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“If they are doing this for survival because they have no alternative, what’s going to stop them?”
That’s the thing, though. There are certainly plenty of desperate people in Somalia, but the pirates are the equivalent of drug cartels or gangsters elsewhere – they live well, if dangerously, and are highly organized, well-armed, modern. These aren’t starving Somalis swarming boats as a last chance at survival.
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Check out the site http://www.somalicruises.com/ It’s only a joke and people fell for it.
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To Carlo:
I really don’t think there is any maritime law expressly prohibiting “pirate baiting”. That means this thing is technically legal. Of course you can argue that it isn’t moral, but that’s a totally different matter.
Referring to the “address the causes” part, I really doubt that, after having a taste of money and power, they would settle for a few bags of rice. They’re not doing this for survival. The spoils go to a few warlords and the majority of the population keeps on starving. You shouldn’t idealize them so much, they are just as greedy, violent and evil as any robbers and cutthroats. In the 18th century piracy in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean was orders of magnitude worse than today and still Britain alone was able to eradicate it with the sword, the gun and the noose, while all of today’s naval forces can’t manage a handful of men armed with small weapons, because stupid laws prevent them from taking appropriate action. How does this sound to you? To me, it’s a clear sign of social decline and communal senility. Obviously the West is heading in the wrong direction.
To cut it short, here’s my conclusion: yes we should aid the Somalis, but in the same time we should hunt down pirates like animals. Poverty and hunger cannot be used to justify violence and crime, otherwise the whole world would sink in chaos and mayhem. If we are not willing to protect ourselves by the use of force others will be quick to notice, and they won’t necessarily hold the same respect for the enlightened ideas of humanitarianism as you and your fellow left-leaning folks do. Think a bit about that.
Cheers,
Luciano↵ -
Julie, are you really this naive? This is a total hoax. If your ‘fact checking’ consisted of reading some random person’s blog, then I think you need to go back to journalism school. Which I’m sure you never went to in the first place. Rube (look it up).
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The people on the yacht are not making the pirates attack them. The pirates are the ones that go out and kill people to make a living. the people on the yacht are not hunting the pirates are the ones hunting the cruise ships. The people on the yatch are just on a cruise and if the pirates attack them they fire back. I dont get how you guys support the people that kill for a living rather then the people that are being attacked. But I guess there are retards all over the world just like you guys.
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I won’t feed the trolls…I won’t feed the trolls…
I guess I spoke too soon in commenting on the pirates’ motives. Obviously I’m not privy to exactly why they do what they do. I don’t idealize them as Luciano said, I was merely suggesting to try to understand why they do this. If you guys are right and it’s not a survival thing but purely criminal, then I guess force is quite appropriate.
Aside from that, I was taking issue to normal citizens signing up for this thing and the concept of vigilante justice. The trained professionals should take care of it.
If this really is a hoax, then I guess the joke’s on us. But the issue with the pirates is still real.
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I think the pirates deserve what they get. I know that most people in somalia are poor but the pirates have just as much excuse to do what they do as the gang bangers in America do. I was wandering if it was a joke and I’m thinking it probably is.
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THIS IS NOT TRUE:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/piratecruise.asp
Its a hoax.Please check sources before posting, thanks!↵ -
Because Snopes.com is a “source”?
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shoot them pirates !!!!
to hell with giving them any respect like they deserve it ha !!!!
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The sick and twisted games rich men play. Did they get bored watching the poor people kill each other off in tent city? Maybe they should start going inside prisons…bring a few zoo lions with before they get euthanized by the failing city zoo’s. This reminds me of that movie ‘Hostel.’ I’ll need to do further research to find out if this is true. Funny they want to hunt pirates…seeing that the rich have been stealing from their land for generations. The nerve of those pigs.
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