A Lot More Pirates Where Those Came From

Even if all captured pirates were hung from the yardarms, how long would it take to end the problem of piracy on the high seas? Forever! Since more potential pirates are being made every day than would conceivably be hung every year, the piracy problem would never be solved by summary executions.Image SourceSomalia is the source of most of the Indian Ocean pirates who prey on freighters, tankers, cruise ships, and even fishing boats. Some companies have gotten smart and hired well-trained security crews.

Six men in a small, white Zodiac-type boat approached the Msc Melody at about 1730 GMT Saturday and opened fire with automatic weapons, Msc Cruises director Domenico Pellegrino said. They retreated after the security officers returned fire and sprayed them with water hoses. The ship continued its journey with its windows darkened.

"It felt like we were in war," the ships commander, Ciro Pinto, told Italian state radio.

None of the roughly 1,000 passengers and 500 crew members was hurt, Pellegrino said. The passengers were asked to return to their cabins and the external lights on board turned off.

Pellegrino said all Msc cruise ships around the world are staffed with Israeli security agents because they are the best trained.

The attack occurred about 200 miles (325 kilometers) north of the Seychelles, and about 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of Somalia, according to the anti-piracy flotilla headquarters of the Maritime Security Center Horn of Africa. _Yahoo

Image SourceA brief look at Yemen's population pyramid suggests that Yemen may well be the next big source of Indian Ocean pirates. In fact, pirates are already using islands just off the coast of Yemen as forward bases.

When I traveled the Saudi-Yemen border some years back, it was crowded with pickup trucks filled with armed young men, loyal to this sheikh or that, while the presence of the Yemeni government was negligible. Mud-brick battlements hid the encampments of these rebellious sheikhs, some with their own artillery. Estimates of the number of firearms in Yemen vary, but any Yemeni who wants a weapon can get one easily. Meanwhile, groundwater supplies will last no more than a generation or two.

I’ll never forget what a U.S. military expert told me in the capital, Sanaa: “Terrorism is an entrepreneurial activity, and in Yemen you’ve got over 20 million aggressive, commercial-minded, and well-armed people, all extremely hard-working compared with the Saudis next door. It’s the future, and it terrifies the hell out of the government in Riyadh.” The future of teeming, tribal Yemen will go a long way to determining the future of Saudi Arabia. And geography, not ideas, has everything to do with it. _RobertKaplan_via_ComingAnarchy

The "zones of lawlessness" are growing ever wider -- propelled by the demographic explosion of the third world, and abetted by the demographic implosion of the first world. Now that Barak Obama is the leader of the western world, the defenses are down and the gates are thrown wide open. The machinery of freedom and the marketplace begins to rust of neglect. Third world entropy swarms the half-built barricades.