FBI joins negotiations with Somali pirates for release of Captain Richard Phillips.

It simply astonishes me that, in the 21st century, we still have such a thing as pirates, and that they are stupid enough to think that they can stand up to the US Navy.

But the Somalis holding Captain Richard Phillips continue to do so even with the US Navy now starting to surround the lifeboat where they are holding him. The Somalis are threatening to kill Philips if they are attacked and there is even talk of the Somalis sending reinforcements, although why anyone would want to embark on a mission that suicidal is simply beyond me.

I presume the plan now is simply to starve the Somalis into submission by cutting off all supplies to the lifeboat, which is why the US will stop any reinforcements from getting near the lifeboat.

Mohamed Samaw, a Somali resident of the pirate stronghold in central Eyl town, who claimed to have a "share" in a British-owned ship hijacked on Monday, told the Associated Press four foreign ships previously captured by pirates were heading towards the lifeboat.

General David Petraeus, the head of US central command, said the US navy was also sending more ships - including the guided-missile frigate USS Haliburton - to "ensure that we have all the capability that might be needed over the course of the coming days".

But despite an apparently hopeless position, the pirates show no signs of giving in. "We are safe and we are not afraid of the Americans," one of the pirates told Reuters by satellite phone. "We will defend ourselves if attacked."

The US navy last night called in a team of FBI negotiators to try to secure the release of Phillips, who is being held by four Somali gunmen in a lifeboat some 300 miles off the Horn of Africa.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said: "We are bringing to bear a number of our assets, including naval and FBI, in order to resolve the hostage situation and bring the pirates to justice,"

Why is it that, at times like this, I always imagine Martin Sheen sitting in the Situation Room of the White House telling everyone the history of Somali pirates and offering the only way out of the crisis?

All I know is this, there is no good way out of this for the pirates. They can bullshit as much as they want, but this script doesn't end well for them.

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Tags: Somali pirates, Clinton, Petraeus, Captain Richard Phillips