Abrahamson | You Ain't Seen Pirates Yet

YOU AIN’T SEEN PIRATES YET
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/21/you_aint_seen_pirates_yet?page= 0,0&%24Version=0&%24Path=/&%24 Domain=.foreignpolicy.com,%20%24Version%3D0
By Professor J. Peter Pham, James Madison University
Reviewed by James L. Abrahamson, contributing editor

pirate
American Diplomacy recently published two items on the problem of piracy off the Somali coast. The first urged President Obama not to become distracted by the capture of American ships or crewmen and make “risky” attempts to rescue them Officials should “downplay” the capture, refuse to become emotionally involved, “diminish expectations about the utility of American power,” and “learn to tolerate [a crew’s] long-term captivity.” The second item, a reader comment, took issue with that advice.

This article by Professor Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs, responds to the July capture of the Arctic Sea shortly after its passage through the English Channel, which he described as “a spectacular act of piracy and one of the first in European waters since the 1700s.” Other coastal areas whose piracy has received little media attention include Nigeria, Southeast Asia, and the Far East. The global totals for the first six months of 2009 are 78 vessels boarded, 31 successfully seized, and 75 fired upon with 561 crewmembers taken hostage.

With the number of attacks recently doubling year on year, Pham anticipates piracy’s spread, especially after the end of the monsoon season in the Horn of Africa. Despite an “unprecedented” mobilization of naval power off Somalia, “You Ain’t Seen Pirates Yet,” he predicts. No time perhaps for downplaying the threat of piracy to the world’s trade and the safety of its seamen.