Saudi Arabia to Join NATO Naval Mission; Pirates Boost Defenses

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia said it will join a fleet of NATO warships on an anti-piracy mission, as hijackers bolstered defenses around an oil-laden Saudi tanker captured off the East African coast.

The navies of India, Russia, France, Britain and Germany have all battled pirate vessels in the past 12 days alone.

The seizure of the oil tanker may push Western navies to step up their actions against hijackers, who find potential targets with Global Positioning System navigational aids and satellite phones and use captured fishing trawlers to launch attacks out at sea, according to an October report by Chatham House.

So it’s a fleet of warships from every major military power in the world vs. some fishing boats. Think these pirates may have bitten off more than they can chew?

Granted, the swashbuckers have been having Jack Sparrow-like success lately–capturing nine ships in the last month and asking for a mil in randsom for each. But then they got arrogant and commandeered an oil tanker. Big mistake. We’re they expecting us not to go war over oil? That’s the only thing we go to war over. Looks like in a couple months there won’t be too many pirates anymore.

Trevor Timm is a Blast Magazine staff writer