The Indian Navy claims to have sunk a Somali pirate "mother ship." If so, this is a great bit of news. Unfortunately, the more 'mature' nations (the usual suspects - UK, France, the US, Germany, et al) have been relatively helpless in the face of the onslaught of these water-borne barbarians. The US has gone so far as to send the US Coast Guard (you know, the ones that are supposed to be guarding the United States Coast to Africa, because the US Navy 'doesn't know how to deal with piracy.'

This is double-speak. The US Navy knows exactly how to deal with pirates. International Law provides simple rules for dealing with pirates: if encountered, kill them and capture or destroy their vessels and weapons. If captured, immediate onboard trial, and summary execution. In the case of particularly notorious pirates, bring them back to port for trial and execution. Very, very simple. The Coast Guard is a police force. They are trained to arrest and detain, so of course, we're sending them into waters - where they have no jurisdiction - to arrest and detain criminals.

Leave it to the Indians to deal with the situation: this is a war against barbarian hordes, as pirates have always been viewed. When you find them, capture them if you can, and if you can't, destroy them with overwhelming firepower.

The BBC reported "The old ways of dealing with [pirates] are no longer possible." [ibid.] Strangely enough, "the old ways" seem to have worked just fine for the Indian Navy so far. Now, if the old school won't do it, maybe the Indians will - maybe they'll follow the one way that was proven in the past by a brand new navy and marine corps. In the late 18th and early 19th century, the Barbary Pirates were a plague on the established sea powers. The French, British and Spanish tiptoed around the problem for decades, losing thousands of ships to murderous, kidnapping, sea-borne, barbarian thugs.

The United States was forced to pay tribute for all of her vessels sailing in the area as well. According to the entry in Wikipedia on the Barbary Pirates:

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring "concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury", the ambassador replied:

It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once.

Jefferson reported the conversation to Secretary of State John Jay, who submitted the Ambassador's comments and offer to Congress. Jefferson argued that paying tribute would encourage more attacks.

[which it did]
Finally, in 1801, when Jefferson was elected president, he put into practice what he'd been saying for years, and refused to pay the tribute demanded of the new administration. Instead, he sent the navy and the US Marines, and very, very shortly thereafter, the Barbary Pirates problem was put down. It is of note that the pirate leadership only stayed put until they thought the US was weak, and immediately started up again (in 1815), and only a second visit by Admiral Decatur and a follow-up 9 hour bombardment by (British) Admiral Pellew's fleet finally put an end to the enslavement of Western Christians by the North African Muslim States (though it didn't stop them from enslaving Africans and selling them to Europeans and Americans - which became their major source of income for the next 40 years or so).

If India can follow in that same upstart vein, she can make a huge difference in the world. Good for you, going where the old school "can't." It's a very good start.

Update - 2008.12.06 - Turns out that the Indians blew the heck out of a "Thai Fishing Vessel." Or at least, that's the story that is circulating. There are some suspicious circumstances here. First off, and on the face of it, I'm going to ask, why was Thailand fishing in the Gulf of Aden in the first place? That by itself is a bit odd. Second, it took a week for this news to get out. On the other hand, the "crewmen" making the accusation claim to have been adrift in the open sea for a week since their ship was destroyed, so that last argument is a bit weak.

Regardless, the boat had just been boarded by pirates. The Indian navy responded as appropriate for the circumstances, if that's the case.

Or, my original enthusiasm and kudos may have been misplaced. Either way, their reaction to live fire from pirates was correct, even if the circumstances may have been misinterpreted.