Piracy

Off topic for this blog but...

Is anyone else wondering why the Somalis have suddenly resorted to piracy? There is no tradition of piracy along that coast as far as I'm aware.

Could it be that their land is wasted by war and desertification and the seas are poisoned so that the local Somalis cannot support themselves by traditional fishing and farming? And so some are resorting to piracy - just as some are becoming economic migrants.

And yet the West is prepared to spend a fortune on the military to deal with the symptoms or piracy - and deal with the symptoms of illegal immigration - but is not prepared to provide aid to re-establish the local economy, or address desertification, or respond to the threat of climate change.

And it is worth noting that the US and French Special Forces killed pirates but we have no reports of the pirates actually killing anyone. Protection of property is obviously the priority.

And while I'm ranting - watch out to see if we get any reports of the 12 alleged terrorists siezed in the North West being released for lack of evidence. For some reason this doesn't seem nearly as newsworthy as the initial raid.

OK - got that off my chest...