(((Via Warren Ellis, who presumably would deftly raid a supertanker himself if it were full of Red Bull.)))
http://cominganarchy.com/2008/11/21/hostile-takeovers/
(((I can't wait for a world-affairs blog called the "Receding Anarchy."
Dare I hope?)))
"Some analysts write fearful tracts that the pirates have links with terrorists and extremists, that the chaos is a direct result of international neglect of Somalia, and try to link pirates to the islamist insurgency that control much of the south or the recent terrorist bombings in Somaliland. This is nonsense.
The origins of Somali piracy are not found in the southern half of the country, where a “transitional government” is dueling the Union of Islamic Courts with the half-hearted assistance of the Ethiopian military. Somali piracy originates in Puntland, a self-declared autonomous region of Somalia at the horn, hailed for years by policymakers as a model of a stable Somali state.
Piracy has its origins in the organized communities of the Puntland coast. In the 1990s, a group of fisherman in settlements there banded together to prevent illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste off their shores. This harmless community action inspired many analysts to designate Puntland a model for Somali civil society. When some ships illegally fishing were boarded in attempts to police the region, the reward offered for the boats return was enormous—amounts that were many times the monthly income of entire villages. Piracy took off as an attempt to gain income from this type of civic policing, and slowly grew to what Kaplan called the “innocence” of piracy.
It wasn’t long before the pirates became more ambitious, using the fishing boats they captured to hunt larger prey. And with the money that came in, small fishing towns were transformed into pirate havens. As responsible organizers, pirates have invested some of their profits back into the franchise, replacing barely seaworthy rafts with speedboats, AK-47s with modern arms, and GPS tracking systems to boot.
The East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme says there were just 100 Somali pirates in action in 2005, but there are now well over 1,000.
Professor Michael Weinstein, a Somalia expert in the political science department at Purdue University, accurately notes this history of this, but attributes the spike in attacks to a collapse of authority in the Puntland regime, with an administration “honeycombed with officials with links to the pirates.” But through reviewing all the reports on the ground, I see a different story—the piracy gangs are now fabulously wealthy and are enjoying a lifestyle beyond the wildest dreams of many people in East Africa that has given them what any rich businessman in a society enjoys—influence, protection, and power. Check out this report:
‘They live a high-profile life – driving luxury vehicles, using fancy mobiles and laptops, living in big, decorated houses, marrying beautiful women,’ says Dahir Salaad Musse, a businessman in the port town of Bosasso in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland… ‘Pirates are the best customers I have because they don’t bother bargaining like the others—they buy expensive shirts, trousers and aftershave,’ says Mohamed Ali Yarow, who owns a menswear store in Garowe. ‘Girls like to date pirates because they give them good money.’ Puntland officials, while trying to play down the popularity of the pirates, also admit that flashing the cash helps the gangs achieve acceptance.
Remarkably, hostages are treated well, with some pirates even setting up special kitchens onshore to cook western meals for their captives. Medical care available on the ship is not withheld to force the hand of parties that would pay a ransom. The Somali pirates are more businessmen that extortionists, and the strategy is paying dividends—according to a report by London-based think tank Chatham House, shipping companies have forked over US$30 million in ransoms to Somali pirates this year.
Welcome to growth enterprise in the anarchic societies of the 21st century....
(((Except for the minor unpleasantries with the guns, they sound a lot like real-estate speculators.)))
