James Stout

And this is a longstanding issue, right?

I think probably lots of listeners won't be aware of the long history of

Private security on ships, right?

I'm only going to talk about this in the context of the 21st century, but this goes a lot further back.

It's largely a consequence of the way the law governs the ocean.

It's actually the same... Wow.

Sorry, daddy long legs.

I don't know if there's an American word for that that I don't know.

Daddy long legs, that's correct.

Okay, yeah, absolute unit.

That's just entered my office space.

Yeah.

I will let him be.

The reason that we can have private security contractors, often with machine guns, etc., on boats is the same reason that horrific labor abuses are perpetrated on boats on a daily basis, right?

Perhaps the most well-documented or among the most well-documented are the ones off Thailand on fishing ships, which often involve Burmese refugees or people fleeing Myanmar right there.

essentially enslaved on these boats or in sort of indentured servitude of trying to quote-unquote pay off their trip out of the country they were fleeing, right?

When we're talking about labor abuses today, I want to talk more about private security.

Most of security provided to boats in the world in general is not provided by states.

It is provided by private military contractors, right?

Earlier on in the 20th century, the typical profile of one of these people would have been that they'd left the military in a state in the global north.