Arrgh!

So this pirate phenomenon is on my mind the last few weeks (I guess it helps that up until the recent terror thing in India this was the main topic in the press). Its funny to think that while we have these vast warships that can launch airplanes and WMDs, we are pretty much helpless in trying to stop piracy. A couple of days ago a cruise ship outran two pirate boats. The reports are saying that shipping companies are turning to private protection firms. Essentially what we are going to have then is some sort of privateer industry that is designed around protecting sea bound vessels. The scary thing to me then is do they really have the legal ability to fire on pirate vessels. I am sure that there is some protection code in the law of the sea (UNCLOS) which the US has yet to ratify (losers).

Yes it is interesting that these massive naval forces are able to do so little, but then on the other hand, they were designed to fight each other instead of small bands of economically disadvantaged Africans who don't really have many other options for entrepreneurship. Of course as a German newspaper has noted, by protecting the ships and not trying to offer the pirates other means of providing income, the wealthy nations are only proving that their capitalist system is exclusionary and that if you are on the outside that is where you belong.