Somali Pirates Falling on Hard Times
How the mighty have fallen.
Somali pirates spent several years terrorizing the seas. They made millions of dollars from their kidnappings and ransoms. They lived in wealth and splendor that most Hollywood celebrities would envy.
But now, international military efforts have increased, and most cargo ships have armed guards. The kidnappings aren’t as easy. In 2010, Somali pirates seized 47 vessels. So far this year they’ve taken five. (Not that that’s any consolation to the people on those five ships.)
The pirate leaders’ armies of bodyguards and thousand-dollar-a-night prostitutes — Gone. Most of the pirates’ luxurious villas are deserted and decaying. Their former owners are currently living in tiny unfurnished rooms, trying to hide from debt collectors.
Poetic, no?
And now, if there is a god — if Karma really is a bitch — maybe these other pirates will reap what they’ve sown.
Labels: Somali pirates
posted by Tom Harper @ 1:13 PM
8 Comments:
Maybe we could do a telethon or two for them, since they are falling on these hard times like everyone else in the world. Nah, I don't think so. They can use up their ill gotten gains till they are gone.
Not to defend the pirates but let’s keep a few things in mind here: When Somalia was going through it’s civil war, it’s neighbors were violating it’s waters, fishing, and dumping waste on their shores. They complained to them and to the UN nothing was done. The Somalians are upset that now the wrath of the world is on them.
More important the Security Experts told the shipping companies to either take the long way around or carry an armed detail (they go through the same thing in Asia). The Shipping companies screamed “too much money” and their lawyers told them about acceptable risk and loss “the crew is insured and signed releases” etc., etc., and we know the rest of the story. Problem is, most of the protecting came from Taxpayers money - the US and other navies who then patrolled the areas to do what they could have done or avoided themselves -as usual the Governments bail out the rich ones.
The idea of a few people in small boats were hassling huge tankers and keeping hostages was too much bad publicity and start to do the right thing and now it seems to be working. There at least, wait until Asia gets in the news
Erik
Cap'n Willard shows no signs of giving up any of his Bain booty. Aargh.
$1,000 a night prostitutes? Damn, at least they lived the high life for a while. It should be noted that very few, if any, deaths occurred because of the pirates and that they treated their captives with Islamic respect. Not justifying, just saying.
I think we've got about 6000 years of evidence proving the non-existence of karma.
Jess: Jerry Lewis is working on this as we speak.
Erik: That's true, the Somalis had some legitimate complaints and nobody listened to them until they started pirating.
JR: We should send Willard to a Somali pirate ship.
Mr. C: You're right about that. Plus, like Erik said, Somalia had some legitimate issues which kept being ignored by the U.N.
Randal: Probably a lot more than 6,000.
From the excellent linked article, "It is a slow process to change a culture. It will depend on whether companies consider sustainable business success worth the effort."
The greed-blinded financial industry bastard who's looking to make his first $100 million or billion isn't worried about sustainable business success. He wants tons of money and wants it as fast as he can get it, whatever way he can get it. Once he's got it, he doesn't care what happens to his companyor anything else. He's set for 100 lifetimes, so why should he worry.
OK, our greedy Wall St. bastard might be worried about criminal charges, but not much. He can afford enough lawyers and appeals to keep himself free and enjoying the good life until he dies of very old age. Besides, the precedent, as we've come to know it, is that we look forward and not backward. The precedent is that if our attorney general had been on the job in 1995, he probably would've shied from prosecuting Timothy McVeigh for lack of evidence, or something — anything.
The answer is to license the greedy bastards and make their little ethical lapses big criminal offenses. Then, be very, very ready to pull their license for minor infractions and prosecute the hell out of them for the bigger ones.
For what the banksters pulled last time, they should've been tried, convicted and deported to Somalia, with their wealth confiscated to pay back all the people they hurt. Oh, and a few bucks forwarded to the Somalis, to pay them for the really evil criminals we dumped in their midst.
SW: You're right, concepts like "sustainable" are totally irrelevant to financial slash-and-burn types. This line of work should definitely require a license which can and will be revoked for professional misconduct.
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