Enough With The Yarrrr!

So here is yet another post on pirates.

These were novel when we started making them some months ago, because pirates, really, shouldn't exist in the 21st century, save in MMORPG's and Disney movies.

As the novelty has faded with each new instance of piracy off the African coast, so has the amusement. Huffpo reports that they went after a cruise ship yesterday, a disturbing escalation. It's one thing to hold tanks or oil for ransom, another entirely to hold people who have to be fed and cared for.

Following the seizure of the Saudi oil tanker last week, news coverage has rather exploded, and has shifted to focus on the people doing the pirating. This Reuters article talks about the new beachfront hotels going up in Somalia to cater to pirate-patrons. Much of this coverage has turned to the idea that the ultimate cause of the piracy is a lack of economic development in Africa.

Certainly, there is something to the observation that much of Africa should be better integrated into the global economy on terms that actually generate wealth for more people who live there. But that doesn't really fly in Somalia. Somalia remains effectively lawless - if you still had money to invest, how much of it would you invest in Somali port development, roads, factories? There are places where international aid could be the answer, but Somalia, right now, isn't one of them.

Which sorta reduces the possible solutions, and I guess I don't really understand all the hand-wringing. I hate to be so crude, but the solution to this problem is probably about 600 years old- you put guns on your ship, and when pirates try to board it, you sink them. What kind of weapon systems could you fit to a tanker for half the cost of the 20mil USD you'd have to pay for a ransom? The whole business model of seizing incredibly valuable, defenseless assets evaporates once the assets are no longer defenseless. Certainly, there is no way to sink a tanker with small arms. Yes, there might be some escalation from the pirates, but as the Indian Navy recently demonstrated, once you force the pirates into bigger ships, the professionals can deal with them in the time-honored fashion. Open sea lanes have been the foundation of the world's economic order since the British put themselves in charge of patrolling them, and people who threaten the great global commons should be playing for the highest of stakes.