Piracy off Somalia

It was way back on Monday that James Carroll wrote in the Boston Globe about piracy off of Somalia. Ignore the title--the pirates don't say anything. But, as most of us know, piracy has been a big thing in recent weeks.

On the other hand, Mr Carroll is wrong to start with the line: "THE WORD 'pirate' has come into the news for the first time in memory..." There has been piracy in the news for about 15 years. In 1992 there was the incident in the Malacca Straits that resulted in two ships burning and all but two crew members dying. There was the strange capture of the supertanker DEWI MADRIM in March 2003 in the Straits of Malacca. The pirates stole manuals and practiced steering the ship. the Danish bulk carrier DANICA WHITE was taken off Somalia in June of 2007. So, this is a long standing problem and one that many nations are interested in. Wikipedia has a more detailed list of recent captures.

On the other hand, companies seem reluctant to act to arm crews in that it costs money and raises issues of insurance and legal repercussions. Plus, a serious response might require the shipping companies to make major increases in the size of crews, running up costs. Wikipedia speculates that perhaps only 10% of the cases are mentioned, to keep down insurance premiums. Apparently, like most things, economic laws apply. The pirates tend to not ask too much, thus keeping the cost of paying them off under the change in insurance premiums from making a fuss about it.

In a column that ran from the top of the page to the bottom, there is one inch that is correct:

Somali piracy began when the nation's failed government lost the ability to protect the rights of fishermen. Tuna abound in Somali waters, and in the 1990s vessels from other countries illegally moved in, prompting Somali fishermen to arm themselves and confront the poachers. Soon they confronted everyone.

Most of the rest of what he writes on the subject is rubbish.

While Mr Carroll uses most of his column to denigrate the actions of the United States, it is not always about us. With regard to the pirates off Somalia, while the US is in the area and has chased pirates, other nations are also taking action. For example, the Indian Navy is in the action, having sunk a suspected pirate mother ship. Denmark has dispatch HDMS ABSALON, which has been involved in fighting pirates. The Russians are also participating in the overall anti-pirate operations, having dispatched the Guided Missile Frigate NEUSTRASHIMY (Fearless).

Many of the ships are operating under Combined Task Force 150, which is a multinational effort in the Horn of Africa area. Command of CTF-150 rotations among the nations providing ships.

For a scholarly view on piracy, there is an article by Virginia Lunsford, a professor at the US Naval Academy, in the US Naval Institute Proceedings. The article is "What Makes Piracy Work."

On a side-note, I am puzzled by the fact that even though Mr Carroll writes a column for the Globe almost every Monday, he doesn't have a published EMail address. While I made excuses for the late David Nyhan in my mind, Mr Carroll is younger than I am, so there is no reason for him not to be able to handle EMail. One would think that the Globe would pick up the tab for Mr Carroll, giving him a Globe EMail address. But, if they can't, and no one tells my wife, I would be happy to pay for a cheap account with World Software Tool and Die.

Regards -- Cliff