Why do we pay ransom to pirates instead of just killing or arresting them after they let the hostages go? Won’t paying them just make them keep stealing ships and holding them hostage?
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Yeh this is the choice faced basically, and different countries choose different options. As I understand the I think France for example will pay for french citizens, but here in the UK we don’t. The thinking being that in doing so you make it more likely for your citizens to be targeted in the future, and trying to track down and kill the hostage takers is a better options (although this is rarely possible in practise)
Oftentimes, that is the decision of the insurance companies. For them, it is cheaper to pay a couple million dollars in ransom that have to pay out for a lost ship and cargo. There simply are not enough naval vessels available to be able re-capture these seized ships. The priority is the keep the ships running with as little downtime as possible, and for now, paying ransom is the quickest solution to the piracy.
Because then they end up killing the hostages and the people paying the ransom are typically people that don’t want the hostages dead. They’re more concerned with their loved ones not dying than they are about the long term ramifications for strangers.
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