The three-masted sailing yacht The Ponant was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, off Yemen, a week ago. An operation by the French military has freed the crew, although the BBC report says nothing about the fate of the boat. Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, and is plagued by lawlessness. The US tried to intervene in 1993, but had to pull out sharply after suffering high casualty rates. Ethiopia fought a war with Somalia over the Ogaden Desert in the 1970s, which makes the expected rate of success of its own intervention asymptotically close to zero.
This will continue to fester, endangering shipping (a year ago, a cruiseliner was under attack by said pirates) and regional stability. I wonder what will happen to sort out that mess. Like in Zimbabwe, the stakes are low (there's no oil there).
No oil = no US intervention
ReplyDeleteLisa
I didn't even realize that pirates still existed........... okay, so I'm not really up on my history or world events:)
ReplyDeleteCould be overcast a lot of this weekend here, some thunderstorms and such. It's mostly clear right now, warm! to maybe reach high 70F's!
Enjoy your weekend, Guido!
I wouldn't want to take a cruise in that area....Linda in Washington state
ReplyDeleteI've been reading more and more about pirates overtaking ships. We hope to go on a cruise some day but this makes me so much more wary. Maybe we'll have to stay inland. I want to go to the Greek Isles, to Italy, to France and Spain and would enjoy visiting London again. Think I'll stay off cruise ships though. Flying will be my best bet.
ReplyDeleteWe have nice temps here about 70F, and flowering trees all around. Wish you could see so we can share. Going to rain the rest of the weekend though.
P.S. Did you read how little Katie's new fun is to pretend she is a Brit? lol
Nelishia
http://journals.aol.com/nelishianatl/PRAYINGANDBELIEVING/