pirates

Over the last week, the piracy business off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean finally made news in the United States. The pirates have been in business for quite a while; going on two years. But as is the case with most world trends, America awakens when it directly involves US citizens. Today, the pirates have over 200 hostages in various ports awaiting ransom. It’s a lucrative business and the men doing the hijackings, young and tough, know that the rewards still outweigh the risks. Somalia does not exist as a nation state despite its appearance on world maps. Chechnya, Afghanistan, and Somalia; three “countries” populated by resilient, willful people who continue to successfully poke a stick in the eye of Cyclops. My inclination is to leave these people to themselves, and concentrate upon learning from them instead of trying to fight and change them.