There have been two concurrent incidents involving Somali pirates, one of which has received an appreciable amount of media coverage, the other of which has gotten very little attention. Yet the Voice Of America, in this VOA article, states that the issue of Somali piracy may be overblown, while granting that there is a danger the trend may extend out into the Indian Ocean, which would be far more difficult to patrol.
Its easy to see their point. Most major shipping would be too heavily guarded to warrant undue concern, but there is certainly cause for some degree of alarm, mainly because the pirates are operating out of a country which has no functional government to speak of. Somali piracy is a lawless act, originating from a lawless land. As such, it might be a problem for some time to come. Yet, it should be a relatively minor problem. For now, it doubtless doesn't seem so minor to the American captain who, offering himself for ransom in order to secure the safety of his fellow crew members, is still yet being held captive by Somali pirates. The US is at a standstill with the pirates, and at a seeming loss as to how to bring this episode to a successful resolution.
In the meantime, a successful resolution was reached earlier in the matter of the private French vessel commandeered by Somali pirates. The crew members of this ship had set sail in an attempt to get away from what one described as our consumer society, and had stubbornly ignored previous warnings as to the danger of venturing into the waters where they were in fact abducted by the pirates.
The French attacked the pirates, killing two of them, and though one of the hostages was also killed, the others were safely retrieved.
To summarize-
Americans are being held to a stalemate with a handful of Somali pirates in a small craft, while the captain of an American vessel waits helplessly, his life in growing danger. He, and his American compatriots, are helpless.
The French attacked and killed the pirates who abducted a yacht which held a number of their citizens.
The world has really, really, really, gone to hell in a hand basket.
