April 14, 2009 – 7:31 am
No links today. Just a word or two about pirates, and ambiguity.
Like many Americans, I was happy to hear that the captain in the lifeboat was saved. He is a brave man who was willing to die for his crew. The pirates were stupid, and in the world of theft and violence, the wages of stupidity are death.
One report is that the pirates are just desperate men, driven to hijacking by hunger. The failure of Somalia to provide protection from over-fishing by factory boats, or from the dumping of toxic waste, is condemning the people. Why wouldn’t they take the opportunity to provide for their families?
Attacking unarmed shipping instead of getting it together to establish a functioning state is stupid. Certainly not sustainable. Capping pirates in the full glare of media coverage invites retribution, which invites further retribution. Sweet revenge, you idiots. Drink deep.
The ocean is too big to patrol. That is the navy’s plaint. Wah.
Don’t go looking for them. Let them come looking for you.
Imagine, a sixty foot yacht, sailing a dozen miles off the coast. On deck, a white-haired couple sip champagne. Shiny hardware and a flashy sail, under an American flag. A gold watch glints from the man’s wrist, and diamonds sparkle at the woman’s neck.
Up zoom the pirates, one two three. As the powerful outboards rev down and the grappling hooks come out, the yacht lurches, up, up, what? Grey steel of a submersible weapon platform, a submarine, perhaps, clears the water. From the barrels of a gattling gun six feet above the water spins a thousand rounds at the nearby boats, sending pieces of pirates to an anonymous watery grave.
On shore, only the knowledge that this pirate crew never came back. No warning, no apologies, no threat of retribution. A wife’s tears, a hungry child.
Revenge fantasy #8,047.
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