Pirates

The most adventurous people I know--those who have relished the opportunity to report from Gaza or the front lines of Hamas, recommended vacations in Yemen, and got detained roaming around Hezbollah territory in Lebanon for no other reason than to see it--have said that they would never, ever go to Somalia. The result of no government for 17 years in a poor and ideologically divided country is ruling warlords, widespread violence, and masses of people fleeing to Kenya and Ethiopia. Can you imagine a situation so bad, that you would leave everything and flee to Kenya? 

Civil Wars and attempts at peace talks and international aid have been fringe news items for the better part of two decades; since Somalis seem to keep to themselves, we don't seem to care too much. We concern ourselves with situations that affect us. But now, the instability has reached international waters, and we aren't happy. We have been inundated with the details of the harrowing story of the Maersk Alabama, we celebrated when we heard the end result, and now we have some follow-up questions. What are we going to do about this?

First, I ask, seriously, what is going on that we allowed this to happen? These people control (or at least have strategic proximity to) some of the most valuable shipping lanes in the world, and clearly have no authority to answer to, whatsoever. Because of pollution and overfishing, fishermen make $50 a month--put in this situation, wouldn't anybody try and go steal an enormous floating barge of easy cash? The shipping companies don't want blood on their hands, so they will pay ransoms on top of the cash for the commodities. In a lawless country, why wouldn't anyone do exactly what these pirates are doing? 

Clearly, an international response is unnecessary for this scrap in which three punk-ass Somali fishermen (who are horrible negotiators, by the way) were shot. But shouldn't something be done for these cargo ship captains, who are risking their lives just by driving a boat? Are there laws that can be written, or patrol ships to be dispatched? We don't need to descend an army onto a bunch of rogue fishermen, but lets make these American working men safe.

I see in Cairo all the time the motivation to take a bribe or a handout in exchange for letting things slide in a job. It makes good business sense for a cage cleaner at the zoo to take 10 pounds and allow a customer to play with a baby monkey. He's making zilch! And, it makes good business sense for the manager at the zoo to turn a blind eye, since he is paying that guy nothing to do a disgusting job. And if the owner of the zoo doesn't really care that its rating and prestige will fall slightly, then this kind of thing is going to happen. 

My point is this, and it never really occurred to me until I lived outside of America. The only way things like corruption, blackmail, kidnapping, stealing, and bribery aren't going to take place is either if you make it worth people's while to do their job honestly, or you give them a great enough penalty for doing it dishonestly. Incentives and accountability. They seem so simple, and yet, it remains to be seen what can be done to protect these Americans.