Somalian Pirates

Apparently this pirate issue is a very large one that's growing.
Most issues so far seem to be in Somalia. The hijacking of the ship with the Russian tanks from Ukraine is now being held for ransom for $35 million and was taken by a crew of Somalian pirates. They also took an Egyptian ship not too long ago and held the crew for hostage (whether it's the same exact pirates, I don't know, they're all just kinda being generalized as Somalian pirates). 30 ships taken this year.

I don't totally understand how this works at sea... What do these Somali pirate ships look like? What do they carry? How does a ship carrying hundreds of tons of military equipment and part of a military itself get hijacked?

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/5983664/Pirates-off-Somalia-demand-ransom-for-arms-ship

These pirates are saving the Somalian economy...

Before the pirates were an issue, British ships were illegally fishing in Somali waters and taking all the tuna the local fisherman -in much more underdeveloped boats- were trying to catch. Ships from Europe were also dumping toxic waste into the Somali ocean. These pirates began as a small coast guard to fight off the European intruders, and managed to develop into pirates as they realized the revenue was so much better.

Here's the tragedy... NATO wants to leave an mass action taken against the pirates to the Somali government.

(I think this is actually a better idea becuase then they can develop a sense of national pride knowing that they alone fought of their pirates and can use that to develop confidence in their own government, which seems to be the original problem between the citizens and their government in most of the African nations. We should help them when they ask for it rather than just going in and re-enacting another Iraq war.)

However... I don't think their government is going to do anything because even if they wanted to I doubt they'd get any civilian support. Notice how it's only been European ships? No African ones? Well... their actions as pirates has probably altogether ceased the toxic dumping and illegal fishing of European ships. On top of that, it's generated massive revenue for the economy.

I'm not saying the ransom money is going to the government. It very well may be... but I have absolutely no idea how accurate this is. What it's doing is increasing the spending power of these pirages, which have nearly quadrupled in populatin. This means when they get on shore they can buy consumer goods and the expensive prices most underdeveloped nations are forced to use to cover their costs of business. More buyers. More revenue for the sellers. This could lead to lower prices and more buying from the average civilian rather than loaded pirates. This is also attracting a lot of foreign investment. Businesses want the chance to sell to this new small, but rich population. These pirates are saving their nation; not only from European criminals, but from their nations empty wallet.

So what do we do? Attack the pirates and see them burn? Then we'll see Somalia return to the state it was a year ago, no money, no buyers, broke sellers. We can't attack these pirates. We need to offer the country support and protection from the original threat: European fishermen and dumping. We should do this by providing them with good ships. And I mean good coast guard ships that can defend their country from illegal oceanic practices. Then, employ the pirates. Give them a steady income at the same time you give them protection from Europeans. We know they can handle it, lol. I doubt they'd trust american or european trips to protect them anyways. Doing this will allow their economy to continue to increase, thereby removing the necessecity of pirates in the first place.

That is what needs to be done to really remove the problem. Anything else, any form of attack will only throw this pirate issue into an even faster spiral than it already is. More hate towards the western world... and for legitimate reasons.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4AM0QQ20081123?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0