“In 2010 and 2011, groups of armed Somali men were hijacking merchant vessels off Somalia’s coast at an almost daily pace,” washingtonpost.com reports. “Thousands of hostages of myriad nationalities were taken, and billions of dollars were lost in ransom, damage and delayed shipments.” And then . . .
The crisis was so severe that a naval task force with more than two dozen vessels from European Union countries, the United States, China, Russia, India and Japan banded together to restore order to one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. They largely succeeded.
In 2015, there were 17 pirate attacks near Somalia, down from 151 in 2011. Many of those attacks were on smaller fishing boats from nearby countries, mostly by disgruntled Somali fishermen, but not on commercial ships.
Hmmm. I wonder why the WaPo neglects to mention the real reason Somali pirate attacks went from hundreds to none: the ships cruising those pirate-infested waters tooled-up against pirates. And shot pirates.
It was this “precaution” that ended the reign of high seas terror unleashed by Somali pirates. An “alternative fact” that doesn’t jibe with The Post’s anti-gun rights animus.
In keeping with their slant, the Post seems sympathetic to the “plight” of the Somali pirates who carried out the most recent hijack — the first in five years — on the oil tanker Aris 13 (above).
Concerns about piracy’s reemergence in the region have been growing in concurrence with greater exploitation of Somalia’s waters by foreigners engaged in illegal fishing. Deprived of a livelihood, some Somali fishermen have turned back to hijacking to get by.
Salad Nur, described as a “local elder” by the Associated Press, said that the men involved in Tuesday’s hijacking had been searching for a commercial vessel for days on the open water. “Foreign fishermen destroyed their livelihoods and deprived them of proper fishing,” Nur said.
As the Christian parable reminds us, teach a man to fish, then watch him turn to piracy when someone steals his fish. Wait. That’s not it.
Anyway, I don’t think this will end well for the pirates. Remind me to feel sorry for them when the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet reads them the riot act.
And expect the same private ballistic solution to an outbreak of piracy off the coast of Nigeria. And the same result. ‘Cause more guns equals less crime. Who knew?