Piracy

 Piracy Effects Piracy has a long history so that it should be no surprise that piracy is flourishing off the coast of the lawless Somalia. Today these are a few of the most dangerous waters in the world. Due to the political unrest and ramped warlords that control Somalia, piracy lures many men. Who can blame them? Piracy is a lucrative business right now. The short term effects of piracy are, of course, death, injury, or captured and held for ransom to any seafarers, ship captains, and anyone else on a ship that is boarded by pirates. This article from LA Times shows some of the dangers for seafarers “Young thugs shot the chief officers on board and assembled the rest of the crew on deck” (Sanders). It is a scary thought to think of these dangers and the reality of the problem. “As many as one-fifth of Kenya’s working seafarers have been held hostage by pirates” (Sanders). A long term effect of piracy is increased costs for products shipped through the Gulf of Aden and the Somalia Basin. It is now a common practice for shipping companies to demand higher prices for transport through these seas. This is due to the increased insurance price on cargo ships. Most shipping companies have not stopped shipping through these waters; the CEOs of shipping companies know the risk and yet they take them. The most that many pirates

want from these ships is any money on board or possibly a few hostages to be held for ransom. It may seem illogical to you and I but these companies are still making their profit. Staying safe is not as important as staying in the black. It also has become evident in some cases that piracy “Is disrupting the delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalia” (Counter-piracy operations). The humanitarian efforts by national governments and relief aid charities have been undermined by pirates. “Pirates have been known to search for and seize cargo from the Red Cross and other aid groups for personal or clan use” (Counter-piracy operations). Piracy will… has caused lasting ripples in our global economy. “This year alone, Somali officials say, pirate profits are on track to reach a record $50 million, all of it tax free.” (Gentlemen) Not only has this caused even more fighting for Somali’s poor population but the loss of $50 million has residual effects that cannot mend. The final, possibly the daunting effect would occur if Somalia pirates were to capture a vessel that has onboard weapons. Like what occurred to a Ukrainian military vessel Somalia pirates captured a Ukrainian military ship containing weapons, tanks, and ammunition on Thursday (September 25, 2008). The weapons seized ranged from grenade launchers to 33 Soviet tanks, the Ukrainian defense ministry told the press. 17 multi-national crewmen were also captured.

The "Faina" was making a delivery to the Kenyan government, which is a Western ally against terrorism. (Cawthorne) This sparked a worldwide race to re-capturing this ship for the Ukrainians, Kenyans, and the rest of the people in this world that like his or her safe homes. Piracy runs deep in our veins. People who pirates ships are not out of the norm and, likely, there will not be a time without piracy.

The Future of the World with Piracy When we think of pirates, we think of jolly and loveable rascals such as those in the __Pirates of the Caribbean__ movies by Disney. The fact is that real world pirates are nothing at all like the ones in the movies. Pirates are bloodthirsty, greedy, merciless thugs who have no purpose in the world other than to kill and pillage innocent people and their ships. //"Piracy is the act of boarding any vessel with intent to commit theft or any other crime, and with an intent or capacity to use force in furtherance of that act." (//McDaniel) Governments around the world are taking action throughout the world to try to extinguish this problem. It’s simply not enough. Pirates continue to have a choke hold on the merchants of the seas. If the world’s nations do not take action to put an end to these international felons, the pirates will continue to rob, murder, pillage, and kidnap innocent seafarers.

Piracy is often referred to as a "movable crime" because new hot spots tend to pop up all the time while other locations return to relative peace (McDaniel). The biggest problem areas are the Gulf of Aden off the coast of West Africa and the entirety of South-East Asia (NYTimes). There are even hotbeds of pirate activity in South America, showing us that no continent is safe. (McDaniel)

Governments across the world are doing things to support the anti-piracy effort. They are creating maritime security forces such as the Japanese Maritime Safety Force or the Philippine Coast Guard (McDaniel). Some retired soldiers are even gearing up and creating their own private navies to combat these thugs such as the quite fierce Ex-British Army troops, the Gurkhas (McDaniel). These are only the concentrated efforts of a few countries, but not enough support is being generated to stop this threat. Some governments, such as China, even turn a blind eye to piracy, allowing pirates to operate in their waters so that they in turn get a cut in the profit (NYTimes). Pirates continue to pillage innocent seafarers and continue to show themselves as a major threat that is being ignored. The most common type of attack is where pirates board the merchant vessel, rob the crew and escape (McDaniel). These raids on merchant crews yield an average US $20,000 haul, but considerable cash amounts of up to thousands of dollars are commonly held in a merchant ship's safe for payment of port charges and payroll fees, thus increasing the prize gained by raiding pirates. The second type of pirate attack is a more ambitious one where pirates not only rob the crew but steal the cargo (McDaniel). The third type of pirate attack is used to create a Phantom Ship. This is the most sophisticated version of the crime, where pirates take literally everything including the merchant vessel itself (McDaniel). These crimes cost companies billions of dollars a year, so much so that most companies add in the expense of ransoms into their payrolls and expenses, and the price is ultimately paid by the consumer for the billions of dollars that are lost (suite101). We must not allow this to go on any longer. The nations of the world must unite to protect ourselves on the seas against these vicious marauders. If we do not unite anytime soon and strengthen efforts to defeat pirates in the future, then we will continue to be terrorized and robbed each day on the high seas. The terror shall live on and we will continue to find empty boats floating on the seas, abandoned.

Work Cited http://merln.ndu.edu/index.cfm?secID=263&pageID=35&type=section Sanders, Edmund. "Kenyans pay price of piracy." n. pag. Web. 13 Jan 2010. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/16/world/fg-seafarers16 //Counter-piracy operations // 1-4. Web. 19 Jan 2010. http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_48815.htm Gentlemen, Jeffery. "Somalia's Pirate Economy ." (2008): 2. Web. 8 Feb 2010. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/somalias-pirate-economy/ Cawthorne, Andrew. "Somali pirates grab Ukrainain ship loaded with tanks." //Somali pirates grab// //Ukrainain ship loaded with tanks // 26 September 2008: 5. Web. 8 Feb 2010. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE48P7IC20080926

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