Kenyan authorities escort a suspected pirate from the French frigate Nivose, part of the European Union's anti-piracy naval mission off the coast of Somalia. Tony Karumba / AFP / Getty ImagesFrom Time Magazine:
Somali piracy is not a "waterborne disease," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a gathering of more than 60 governments in Brussels last week. The solution to the problem lies on land, in the establishment of a Somali government deemed legitimate by its citizenry and capable of enforcing its writ. World leaders appeared to heed Ban's advice, pledging $213 million in aid to rebuild the Somali government and its security forces. But success in the effort will depend in no small part on foreign powers' avoiding repeats of earlier efforts to reimpose order on the chaos of Somalia — most recently in the course of the Bush Administration's war on terrorism.
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My Comment: The "hard choices" are not really that hard at all. The pirate bases are known. The money changers and the "pirate infrastructure" is known. The leaders for these gangs are known.
The problem has always been the lack of will to do what is necessary. To find and conduct military and/or special ops against the men who organize and profit from this trade. But because such an operation will entail risk and the killing of many people .... hence the "squeamishness".
Arguments for trying to stabilize Somalia is also (unfortunately) a waste of time. Black Hawk Down and the present failure of the Ethiopian military and AU peacekeepers has made it very clear to everyone that bringing stability to Somalia would entail tens of thousands of soldiers, and the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars.
This is not going to happen.
Hence, we are where we are today. We send billion dollar naval ships to patrol a huge ocean, and when merchant ships are hijacked .... all the navies of the world just sit back and watch the show.
Somalia is a country at civil war. Few people in somalia know a life of security. Somali people work just to survive, no matter what that work may be. theres little time for any sort of education. secondly somalia's coasts have been polluted where there used to be a relatively thriving fishing industry. What a perfect combination for a country to begin producing pirates: a population of young men looking for a way to make money without fighting in the war, and a pissed off fishing industry. Now im sure this isnt the case all the time for every group of pirates out of somalia but, doesn't this make sense? even so, somalia has so many infrasturctural problems, it makes piracy look like a life of luxary for young men. well maybe not luxary but this problem wont be solved by "taking" them out. we, or more preferably the somali government, needs to "take out" the appeal to piracy. what ever happened to preventitive thinking and looking at what the cause of piracy is? isn't it more worth it to solve a problem at its source? rather then eliminate the pirates now just for a new generation to take its place.
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