My excuse for Obama's action #444 of #444: I guess he didn't want to look weak.
This is bigger than "Piracy" - Following the money is difficult for the same reason that it's nearly impossible to go after the land bases of the pirates - Somalia has been effectively without a ruling central government since 1991. This makes it an ideal base for criminal activity like piracy....In an opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor late last year, Katie Stuhldreher suggested that focusing on ending commercial fishing ships' destructive practices off of Somali coasts may allow the "disgruntled fisherman" who became pirates to return to their jobs as fishermen. - Full Story
We don't all share the same heroes - He said that so far, in the eyes of the world, the pirates had been misunderstood. “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits,” he said. “We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.” - Full Story
The Somali Effect -- Blackwater Ad? - Take this fact: Over $300 million worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are "being stolen every year by illegal trawlers" off Somalia's coast, forcing the fishing industry there into a state of virtual non-existence. But it isn't just the theft of seafood. Nuclear dumping has polluted the environment. "In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed," wrote Johann Hari in The Independent. "Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since -- and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas." - Full Story
