8 comments so far
the root of the problem is a lack of opportunity in the state of Somalia.
Actually, the root cause we care about is the cost-benefits trade off has the costs too low. We’re not so rich that we can afford to care about whether or not an anarchic failed state like Somalia can give its young men economic opportunities.
This goes back to your earlier point.
The US has the most powerful blue water navy in the world by far, yet it does not have legitimate rights to police pirates
On my own blog, I argued that the pirates play by one set of rules and we play by another. I would suggest that ours is the result of fantasy, a superposition of theoretical moral constructs on a real world that does not recognize them.
AARRRHHH this is a tough issue.
Check out this audio story on a company in the UK that provides private protection against piracy.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97241722
On a side note, is it a long shot to equate this Piracy issue with the Unites States ilegal imigration problems. Humans will do what ever they have to in order to survive. If you lived in Somalia and saw that is was possible to make a quick million dollars by hi jacking a ship and holding it for ransom, what would you do. Now consider the fact that more and more Somalies are getting away with it and the non existant governement does not care. What would you do? Take the high road and starve or take a gamble and maybe make some money. What did people in South America do when they could not feed and cloth their families. They snuck into the U.S., worked illegally, and sent money home.
What would you do if you did not live in America and did not have the opportunities that you currently have?
-E
What would you do if you did not live in America and did not have the opportunities that you currently have?
But I do live in America. I live in an America with a $10T debt, a debt that’s growing all the time. I live in an America and in a civilized western world that’s spent itself into massive economic trauma. Because I live in that America and not one that has set aside money for a rainy day, I can’t afford to care just what the Somalis do once they get tired of shooting each other and wrecking their own cities.
I’m not sure how illegal immigration got into this.
I certainly understand the decisions the pirates make. I just want them to make other decisions and I want it to cost me as little as possible. We’ve got a massive currency crisis brewing and blowing money on finding compassionate, but expensive ways to deal with these crumbs isn’t interesting to me.
Slight change of pace. What’s your considered opinion of this article?
Humans will do what ever they have to in order to survive
Your assuming that everyone in Somalia lacks any morality. Comparing illegal immigrants to Somali pirates is a huge stretch. Illegal immigrants are working for their money. What’s getting lost here is that these pirates are prepared to kill anyone that stands in there way or their money. This is a serious choice the individual makes, not just one of “I had nothing else to do”.
I have visited Tijuana with the Build A Miracle foundation. Here you have similar extreme poverty and lack of opportunities. One man I met, the only job he could find was selling old, somewhat rotten fruit to poor people. He could not read or write. Now there are plenty of criminal opportunities in Tijuana, that he could easily have fallen into. For families like this, they aren’t looking for a “million dollar score”. All they want is for their children to be better off then they are. Somalia is a world away, but I bet you will find families that share these same values.
The point is that people must be held accountable for their actions. It is not up to America or anyone to ask “why” they have become pirates. I agree with KT, the cost of piracy needs to be severe, these pirates need to know that heading down this path could mean certain death.
My curt and rather shallow comment about the need for the Somalia people to have another form of employment/way of making a living indeed raises important questions about what the US policy should the country entail. As K T Cat stated emphatically, the US is not in a position to throw money at the problem, but Somalia’s desperate position does require close US attention as the Islamists are successfully fighting their way back into power and as the article concerning the financial trends of the ransom portrays, the failed state’s criminals have links to the greater Middle East, and this is a security concern in more regards than just piracy. In regards to fighting piracy, it would be wise for state’s to start following this money trail and cutting off each segment, making the crime more and more costly and less profitable.
I think it is scary, but unsurprising. Whenever there is a lack of laws/enforcement and smart people, crime like this will inevitably happen. The US has led to great improvements in curtailing criminal and terrorist financing since 9/11, but clearly it is not perfect. They should use some of the instruments in the place to more closely watch this Dubai segment. Of course, the US government may not want to offend some of these powerful men as Dubai is an ally and these bankers no doubt have influence in government. This story is an interesting case of two divergent groups, mega rich Saudis and dirt poor Somali’s, forming an alliance of convenience.
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[...] and international community to tackle this growing menace in the Gulf of Aden. Of course, this is not the first time pirates have been on the news in the last few months and just hours after this American rescue many [...]