The Somali Pirate Fiasco
By Douglas Farah
One thing one has to admit-the criminal/terrorist elements holding the world's shipping lanes hostage have the game figured out. Although one hijacking of a U.S.-manned shipped was thwarted, they have the captain hostage.
Now, other pirate ships, loaded with hostages,are making their way toward the life boat to help insure the pirates escape with impunity.
The U.S. Navy is there, but able to do very little. it is a classic standoff of asymmetrical forces: the USS Bainbridge, armed with cruise missles, in a stalemate with a life boat that is out of fuel and adrift in the sea.
The hostage captain's attempted escape was thwarted. The ships are too far away to help him. And several boats with dozens of other hostages will be arriving before long. Not a pretty scenario, but one that will likely be repeated over time.
Anyone who doubts that non-state actors operating out of either complicit states or stateless regions will have a major economic impact on the world in coming years should now be disabused of that notion.
And, if you think economic shocks are not part of military contingency planning, see this story in Politico about how the Pentagon is now war-gaming different economic scenarios.
“Why would the military care about global capital flows at all?” asked another person who was there. “Because as the global financial crisis plays out, there could be real world consequences, including failed states. We’ve already seen riots in the United Kingdom and the Balkans.”
While the shipping lanes are not capital flows, maintaining them free of piracy (and, in this case, with part of the ransom proceeds going to radical Islamist groups intent on spreading other kinds of havoc around the world) is vital to maintaining capital flows. My full blog is here.
