The issue goes way beyond mere piracy: Somalia is a hotbed of Al Qaeda activity and has been for years. My guess is that the hijacking of these ships is for the sole purpose of raising money for Al Qaeda, and if that is true, it makes the piracy issue one of grave international concern.
Now - will any nation (or for that matter, The UN) have the testoserone to go in there - do the right thing - and clean house? When pirates along the Barbary Coast plundered international shipping in the early 1800s, The United States Marines went in there and kicked their pirate asses and put them out of business.
RWC
Hmmm.... Yeah, I dunno, it would make sense for Al-Qaeda to be doing SOMETHING there, since there's that big Islamic Fundamentalist uhhh... party? guerrilla? quasi-government? Fuck I don't even know what it is. The Islamic Courts or whatever. I mean, it might not be next to Afghanistan, but I'd imagine a huge chunk of land next to the middle east with no government would be a hotbed for terrorist recruitment. But then, I don't know if the pirates are associated with them, maybe they're just pirates. Got any links?
As for no nation having the testosterone... well, I'm sure you remember the Battle of Mogadishu. Hell, not even the Americans managed to stick around. In fact, I've heard that it was that sort of thing that emboldened Bin Laden, and he's always saying that Americans are weak once the body bags start coming, that they can't stomach conflict, etc. But fuck, I mean, there were 160 people in the US side (some Malaysians, Pakistanis, and Italians too) against 4,000 militias? Goes to show that you have to go in strong or not gone in at all. Afterall, America is the superpower... it CAN pretty much quash any objective it chooses, but it's gotta get that internal support.
I mean, you say not even the UN, but that's obvious. The UN can't do anything... it doesn't have an army! The UN can only do as its members states allow. So if no nation has the 'testosterone' to deal with the problem the only solution is to get MANY nations to do it co-ordinating through the UN. That way it's more fair... Americans shouldn't have to shoulder the full responsibility of cleaning that place up. Once we FINALLY agree to do something about Somalia it should be a whole international force (but a real one, one that can actually tame the goddamn place), and you know, most likely its gonna need a mini-Marshall plan once the mess gets cleaned up.
I know- it won't come cheap, but it's gotta be done eventually. We might as well go halfs.
