OT - Piracy

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by Fusilier

Capital punishment doesn't work. The only thing that can be done to improve the situation is an improvement in Somalia. As much as the current laws are frustrating, they are also kept in place because they protect your shipping during maritime disputes.

Hmmmm, if you get caught in the act of piracy and the navy double taps you, then capital punishment can be said to have worked, at least in your case!

On the other hand, there is no doubt that the Somalia pirates are doing this for two reasons:

First, the conditions in Somalia, with the complete breakdown of any sort of government, and the loss of all infrastructure is creating the conditions that encourage piracy. Until the various governments get off their collective fat asses and come up with meaningful assistance, the situation will simply get worse.

Second, the Somalia pirates have discovered the great weakness of the developed nations, the lack of will to do anything to resolve the problem. The "put a bandaid on it and forget about it" approach fails to protect the innocent, punish the guilty and put a final end to the problem. Until something is done to help Somalia, then the piracy patrols will continue, more innocent lives will be lost and another generation of pirates will be created.

Based on what I'm seeing on the boob-tube and reading in the various papers and journals....I just don't see any drive on the part of the various political parties to do anything other than bad mouth each other, come up with creative new ways to tax the people, and develop even more creative ways to spend tax revenue on, shall we say, rather brain-dead projects?