Pirates!!!

Pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia!!! Its strange to think that pirate attacks still occur today--they seemed like a passing trend, something that should have been squashed by the British empire. But nonetheless, they persist to this day. Today in the NYtimes, I came upon a tale of battle at sea between the Indian navy and the pirates. The Indian navy was able to sink the so called mother ship; however, the pirates escaped in high speed race boats.

I get all of my pirate related news from the Singapore Business Times, which surprisingly provides detailed coverage of different pirate related topics. The headlines today included:

Pirates seize 7 ships in 12 days, latest from Iran

Piracy driving ships to take Cape route, avoid Suez

Indian warship scores one against pirates

Are we very surprised that pirate attacks are occurring? Somalia is a failed state with no government, no order and a crumbling society. If you had a chance to escape all this chaos, wouldn't you become a pirate. If there was one thing we learned from Afghanistan is that we can not let a country become a black hole for chaos and anarchy. The more we ignore the problems in these areas, the more chance that we will see repercussions. Somalia needs humanitarian aid, it needs a function economy and political society. If the country and people can't do it for themselves, then the international community needs to step up and get the job done.