This is how the French are different than us Americans – in one way anyway. They are proactively going after pirates. In the US this would be a politically incorrect drama. Surely somebody would ask are you certain that they are pirates, what if they are innocent. And the drama of suspected pirate rights would begin. I can just imagine some representative hollering about pirate racial profiling on the House floor.
No, I’m not anti-American. I’m not even pro-French. I just don’t see pirates quaking in their boots over their frozen assets. I am anti sitting around waiting for stuff to happen, stuff like guys named Ismail making good on their threats.
French raid pirate ship, US seeks to freeze assets
Meanwhile, French naval forces launched an early-morning attack on a suspected pirate “mother ship” 550 miles east of Mombasa and seized 11 men, thwarting an attack on the Liberian cargo ship Safmarine Asia, the French Defense Ministry said. No one was injured.The ministry said the vessel was a larger ship that pirates use to allow their tiny skiffs to operate hundreds of miles off the coast.
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In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced new diplomatic efforts to freeze the pirates’ assets and said the Obama administration will work with shippers and insurers to improve their defenses against pirates, part of a diplomatic initiative to thwart attacks on shipping.
