The Secrect Life of Pirates

by Megan Smith

Who would have thought that in the 21st Century we would be faced with an issue such as pirates. And not just any pirates, as Mary Harper of BBC News states, these are high tech dudes. Using ransom money on everything from weddings to brand new pirating equipment. Apparently, these new age sea tyrants have collected ransoms ranging everywhere from $500,000 to 2 million dollars in the past 40 ships that have been captured. One must now ask, "But what can be done about this?" There have been captives from all around the world, including most recently a group of Americans. Sure, the UN can make rulings, but these are pirates, I highly doubt they'll listen to the UN. And as for the Somali government? Well, apart from it being virtually nonexistent, again, we are dealing with pirates. So what's the solution? According to the Somali pirates themselves, only a stable Somali government can cure this problem. If this indeed is the only answer, then it looks to me as though this is going to be a long reign of pirates in the Indian Ocean.