Malacca.

This is coolbert:

The Straits of Malacca have become a hot topic item among naval circles.

Good program on the way home today on National Public Radio [NPR] about the Straits and the piracy threat.

How this threat may expand to combine the piracy threat with the terrorist threat. Especially from the various Islamic terrorist groups operating out of Indonesia, where most of the pirates come from.

We have seen how the terrorists in Spain obtained their explosives for their bombing campaign from local criminals in trade for drugs. The terrorists supply the drugs and the criminals the explosives.

The Straits of Malacca are a choke point where some outrageous amounts of the world major commodity trade passes through. Something like a third of the world's exportable oil, half of the world's exportable liquefied natural gas [LNG], etc.

Oil and gas from Indonesia to other points in the world and oil and gas from the Persian Gulf region to Japan primarily, but not exclusively. And besides Indonesia, a lot of smaller players here. Brunei, Singapore in particular are very susceptible to disruption of this major sea lane. To read further about the Straits of Malacca click here.

The Straits of Malacca have been since the time of the earliest European colonists and explorers an important transit point.

First the Arabs, then the Portuguese, then the Dutch, and finally the British used Malacca as an important trading point.

Many battles and wars were fought over the fortress at the Straits of Malacca.

Now the strait separates Malaysia and Indonesia.

The former worried about ferment in Indonesia and the threat it poses to the region, the latter in a state of constant upheaval from many quarters. In the 1960's, the Sukarno regime of Indonesia actually launched a mini-war against the newly created nation of Malaysia. And the Al-Qaeda associated Jamaah Islamiyah hopes to one day create a Malay Muslim state out of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the southern Philippines.

Piracy has always been a serious matter in this region of the world for centuries, even before European colonialism came upon the scene.

The infamous Bugi men of the Banda Sea used to range as far west as Singapore and as far north as the Philippines in search of targets for piracy. These are the same Bugi men your parents used to scare you about when you were a kid, "don't let the boogie man get you."

And the famous white Raja of Sarawak, [on the island of Borneo] Brookes Raja obtained a 100 year rule agreement from the locals for himself and his progeny if he was able to defeat and control the pirates that infested the area [he was able to do so]. To read further about Brookes Raja, click here.

The modern day pirates in this part of the world are no better than the pirates of yore.

Board a ship, at best set the crew adrift in life boats or at worst murder the crew [modern ships carry small crews], steal the ship and sell the commodity cargo at some port, and then use the ship for other nefarious deeds. To read about such a boarding, only seven days ago, on 19 April, click here.

The governments in the area are not equipped to handle this threat.

The Indonesian government is not able to stop the pirates from carrying out their piracy from their territory, as they have too much internal strife on their hands.

The navies of Malaysia and Singapore are too small and ill-equipped to deal with the threat other than on a sporadic basis.

The U.S. Navy does have port facilities in Singapore, although as to how extensive they are is not known to me.

It would seem that U.S. Navy vessels are not properly equipped to deal with this threat.

What is required, and I do not know if the U.S. Navy possesses such ships, is gunboats of the Israeli "Reshef" or "Saar" class [click here to see these ships].

Not small, but not big either.

Gunboats have both a good and bad reputation in the world. Gunboat diplomacy leaves a bad taste in the mouths of most modern nations that had a colonial past. But gunboats were also instrumental in ending the African slave trade too. The fight against modern piracy would be an excellent example of how gunboats could be utilized in the modern age.

For surveillance over a large stretch of water, such gunboats could be equipped with radar held aloft by a tethered balloon or could use unattended aerial vehicles [UAV] for a peek over the far horizon. Such capability is already being used and would serve perfectly in this situation.

If real armed boarding force is required, it may be necessary to have Marines or SEALS on standby or actually on board the gun boats, using Zodiac type boats to launching counter-attacks against suspected pirates.

The terrorist/pirate combination here warrants inclusion of the U.S. Navy into the scene.

Economic disruption of such countries as Indonesia, Malaysia, or Singapore would be the goal of the terrorists.

Hijacking an oil tanker of a liquefied natural gas [LNG] tanker would be a disaster if the hijacked ship was used as a floating fire bomb or in the case of the LNG tanker, a floating bomb that would have the destructive effect of a nuclear explosion. Sail one of these ships into Singapore harbor and the disaster would be terrible, even to contemplate. Such a scenario has been proposed as a possible threat for some time now. Has not materialized, but is a definite threat. Read further about this threat by clicking here.

What is needed is a solution now.

Well, as in so many things, it would seem the terrorists and the pirates have the upper hand now and for some time into the future. Let us hope the problem can be properly addressed and solved. This should also be an indication that the terrorist threat is not confined merely to western targets. This is a world-wide scourge.

coolbert.