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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

When All Else Fails

Try the bleeding obvious to halt Horn of Africa piracy:

Some major seafaring nations, like China and India, are talking more aggressively of attacking the pirate bases. The EU (European Union) recently authorized its ships and aircraft off Somalia to hit individual targets on land (like fuel storage, vehicles and other key pirate assets.) This would lead to civilian casualties, and would be publicly condemned by the UN and many nations. But the seafaring nations would quietly encourage such action, a solution for piracy that has worked for thousands of years.

But the hope that a less direct response could defeat or cope with the piracy dragged on for years. Let's hope that the impact of years of a piracy culture and economy hasn't led to problems that will outlast the destruction of the pirate havens when the world finally gets to the point of doing that.