WTF? 21st Century Pirates - Opportunity for Bush or Obama
Ahoy!
There be pirates about the seven seas and they are the real deal.
A couple of months ago I remember a story about pirates taking control of a Ukranian ship laden with arms. It seemed silly that there are pirates capable of doing such things in the 21st century - and getting away with it - and I didn’t write about it.
In the last two days however there have been more spectacular pirate attacks. The Sirius Star, a 1000 foot-long oil supertanker carrying $100 million worth of Saudi crude oil lies at anchor off the Somali coast after being hijacked. There are reports that the pirates are negotiating with U.K.-based lawyers on a ransom. A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship was seized by pirates off the coast of Yemen this morning. It’s carrying thousands of tons of wheat to Iran.
Sirius Star - Big Ass Ship Controlled by ... Pirates!
The problem is Somalia. The country has been without a legitimate government since 1991. It’s essentially lawless. A review of news reports shows most contemporary pirates are considered to be Somali. The problem is also the governments and businesses who own the ships. I was pretty surprised to find out that it is de rigeur to negotiate with pirates and essentially pay ransoms to secure the crews and cargoes taken. It pays to be a Somali pirate.
Political Opportunity?
If you think about it, it’s just ridiculous in 2008, with all of the resources, large navies and technology in the world that we have pirates. Aaargh!
The opportunity for George W. Bush is apparent. He is the black and white thinking president of modern times. This pirate stuff is just that: good versus evil - black and white. Bush is unpopular at home and abroad. What a great way for him to go out than by declaring a war on pirates! This one would actually be a winner. We’re not pissing on anyone’s sovereignty, we’re going after those who are already doing that. And, what could be a more true-blue American move than to rid the world of an evil menace.
I think if Bush captures or kills pirates on his way out, he moves the old legacy bar up a notch. This shouldn’t be a hard sell for the president. Pirates bad!
How about the Obama play? If Bush demurs, there’s still a winner - the next president.
Can you imagine the political and public relations capital Barack Obama will gain with the public and media if he goes after pirates? Obama hasn’t taken his first steps as president and the media have already annointed him Franklin Delano Obama. Can you imagine if this guy goes out and kicks some pirate ass? The sky’s the limit for him then.
Somebody needs to do something about these pirates. The whole notion of pirates who are so well resourced, trained, and lawyered up that they can ransom a supertanker is just incongruous with a civil world society.
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One Comment on WTF? 21st Century Pirates - Opportunity for Bush or Obama
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Indian Navy Destroys Pirate Ship - Is This How Far U.S. Has Slipped? : Clips & Comment on
Wed, 19th Nov 2008 5:05 pm
[...] suggested yesterday in this space, pirates are bad and they’re back. Ninety-one hijackings off the Somali coast in just this [...]
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