Friday, April 10, 2009

On Those Pirates

As the drama of Captain Richard Phillips continues to unfold, we note with dismay one element of the story.

As the pirates wait for "reinforcements," their partners in crime are coming to the scene with an estimated fifty-four additional hostages from around the globe.

We don't mean to minimize the dilemma of addressing piracy, kidnapping and other forms of terrorism and extortion. But we do wonder whether this "bubble" of nefarious activity is the consequence of shipping companies and their governments having for too long calculated the cost of ransoming their crews as less than the cost of fighting pirates.

Choosing appeasement over war
seems generally to yield war, at higher cost.

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