You may or may not have heard about the Pirate problem off the coast of Africa. This region has been plagued with pirate activity for about as long as anyone can remember.
The international community is stepping up and now providing extra ships and manpower to combat this problem.
from the Times Online…
Europe is setting up an anti-piracy taskforce to help protect the lawless sea lanes off east Africa, where heavily armed Somali hijackers have overrun more than 30 ships this year and raked in at least $30 million in ransom.
At least 10 European Union countries have volunteered to contribute to the joint air and sea operation, which is expected to comprise three frigates, three surveillance vessels and a supply ship.
Britain has indicated its probable support for the taskforce, which could be in place within days to help combat pirates who have stepped up their hostile attacks 100 per cent in the last year.
This will effectively put the pirate trade out of business in the region.
The pirate trade was successful because it was small and relatively harmless in the grand scheme of things. I’m not downplaying the murder, mayhem, and other bad things they have done. I’m trying to put them in perspective. They stayed out of site for the most part and didn’t attract too much attention.
They didn’t need all of this attention and now, it looks like the party may be over. Whether by greed, a healthy dose of stubbornness, or a mixture of the two it looks like the pirates have attracted the wrong kind of attention.
It effect, they’ve made themselves “walk the plank.”
