These Pirates Aren’t Funny! Another Hollywood Lie!
“We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” — Oliver Hazard Perry
Last weekend, the U.S. Navy rescued Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates, killing three hijackers and taking the fourth into custody. Mad that we didn’t play their game, the pirates then threatened to kill American sailors as retribution for their fallen comrades.
The political blog The Huffington Post seemed to almost take glee in Somali actions, posting “THEY’RE BACK!” at the top of the page the day after the succesful rescue mission, as though the threat of Somali attacks was sometime that demanded fearmongering or something.
Look, international oil shipments, since tankers seem to be a favorite target of pirates in the region, are not floating cash cows that exist to subsidize failed governments. I’m sorry your country is in collapse, but holding people hostage to get money is not admirable nor will it fix the problem.
If nothing else, this only breeds resentment from the rest of the world.
Now, I read that the reason why most governments and businesses choose to pay the ransom demands is because the hostages are generally treated humanely by their kidnappers. Yes, and often times abusive husbands buy their wives flowers and tell them they didn’t really mean it. Folks, piracy is wrong. Taking people hostage is wrong. Holding a gun on someone is never a good idea, because you may be pushed to use it.
We don’t solve the piracy problem by appeasing kidnappers. But we don’t solve it with gunfire either. I’m not sure what can be done in the short-run to end these actions, but we’re going to have to get serious about dealing with these issues. Africa is a mineral-rich section of the world, and it’s in everyone’s best to share the wealth.
–Stephen Payne, Editor, Oil and Gas Investor This Week; www.OilandGasInvestor.com; spayne@hartenergy.com
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