I had the weirdest Amerrrican reaction to the whole "pirates have my captain hostage" thing last week. It was all "We're America, and we have our big ships, and don't we have a few snipers who can just take these bastards out?" I just wanted them laid waste. It was such an odd feeling. Every time I heard a story about it on the news, I would get mad all over again.
Never mind that Somalia is a mess, and we have been no help, and their government is struggling... PIRATES?! Screw you.
2 comments:
http://votersforpeace.us/press/index.php?itemid=1323
Obviously these pirates were not entirely altruistic but it is interesting that the rest of the story behind them is basically ignored.
This is why my knee-jerk reaction to it was troubling and interesting to me. I know enough to know that there is a broader story here. I have been doing some poking around this morning about this, including the link that you posted, and have come up with...
this interesting article:
http://www.metimes.com/Opinion/2008/11/25/somali_piracy_reflects_a_troubling_world/2050/
This tidbit: "It all started about 15 years back, when commercial fishing fleets from all round the world plundered the tuna-rich Somalian waters without any opposition. Watching their livelihood getting destroyed by international ships, local Somali fishermen took matters into their own hands and started raiding fishing and commercial boats and ships demanding ransoms leading to an eventual rise of piracy."
and this: http://www.geocities.com/gabobe/illegalfishing.html
and this: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.htmlNews
As with terrorism, it's a negative feedback cycle. Real issues lead to violent action, and things spiral from there. Policy debates and responses do not often have the necessary nuance to address the larger issues.
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