Here There Be Pirates

Many of us have romantic notions about pirates, thanks to the Hollywood depictions we have seen, and the vividly written books of our childhoods. It's all swashbuckling and plank walking, swords and honor among thieves. These preconceived notions are dangerous right now, as piracy has once again made it to the headlines of international news outlets.

Somalia is a tiny sliver of a country on the coast of the African continent. It has been controlled by warlords for a long time, and is home to many of the Muslim faith. Recently, instances of piracy have become much more frequent off their coastline. No longer are pirates after military ships, or the plunder they can find on board cargo vessels. Modern piracy is a confidence game.

Historically, pirates often started as privateers. They carried letters of marque from the king of the country they were loyal to, and had the purpose of disrupting supply routes for military ships. Privateers were entitled to a large share of the spoils on the ship, and the King got another precious ship either taken out of commission, or captured, making his grasp a bit firmer. When wars were settled, many privateers became freelancers, flying their own flags and keeping cargoes and vessels for themselves.

The Somalian pirates are making headlines for their bold attacks on cargo ships. As many as 12 this month alone. These include a Russian shipment of military tanks, and a Saudi shipment of crude oil on a supertanker. Both of these attacks were carried out by approximately 20 men with automatic weapons, using a small fishing boat as transport. They managed to take the ships in a very short period of time. The cargoes of these ships is secondary to the pirates. The goal of these Somalians is ransom. The pirates contact the ships owners and demand ransoms ranging from about $1 million to $25 million dollars. They keep the ship moored in their shoreline and await the money's arrival.

I am a bit skeptical about the whole situation. I have questions. Why are they able to do this? Where is the money going? Why aren't shipments re-routed to avoid this new threat? Why haven't military options been exercised to deal with them?

I don't have the answers, but I think I can guess. The pirates are able to do this, because they have been given permission from their local warlord, who in turn is getting a piece of the action. I also think that a military option has not been exercised, because somebody out there wants the problem to grow larger. It is very expensive and time consuming to re-route ships. And finally, the world needs to have their attention diverted from our real problems, namely a crumbling world economy.

I think that something big is going to happen over the next week or so in Somalia. I don't think that it will be an assault from a military power, but rather, hired security. The Saudi's have already indicated that they do not intend to pay ransom. We'll probably see a company like Dyncorp, a company that has many government contracts, brought in to clean house. There will be plenty of headlines and TV news coverage of this non-event. Make no mistake...if this were a big deal, the powers that be would have dealt with it swiftly and harshly a long time ago. They didn't...because it isn't. They need this diversion and will use it. There may even be patriotic finger pointing letting you know that Somalian Pirates are actually Al-Queda. Don't be fooled by morality plays. Watch the REAL news buried on page 4 and find out what they don't want you to see.

The skull & crossbones on the Jolly Roger look strikingly familiar to the poison label we are taught to avoid as children. Stay away from this whole story. It will lead you nowhere and keep you from seeing what they are trying to hide. Time for my daily ration of grog and off to sleep.