I read an article today on msn.com about piracy and hostages that are taken for ransom for months. This astonished me because I could not believe that these hostages are held until the pirates have their ransom met. The article featured a seaman that has been held captive since November 1o, 2008 because his company has been unable to meet the 5 million dollar ransom set by the Somali pirates. The article stated that are currently over 300 seaman held by Somali pirates living in deplorable conditions. I think that the piracy problem definitely needs swift action in order to free the seaman currently in hostage situations. Although the United States is dealing with it's own economic problems, I believe we should step in and help out poorer countries to help free the hostages. As we saw recently, piracy can affect rich and poor countries.

Pirate Hijack Spree Not Over

Somalian pirates have seized four more ships today with 60 more hostages. The pirates have stated that they vow vengeance for their colleagues that were slain by Navy Seal sharp shooters on Monday. This is perfect reason why something swift may need to be done in order to get control of the piracy situation in international seas. President Barack Obama has stated that America and its allies vow to put a halt to the rise in piracy. My biggest questions is how will piracy be punished? With the need for deadly force sometimes to end hostage negotiations, how exactly will piracy be combated? In my opinion, fighting piracy will not be an easy task but maybe placing heavy military presence at these locations may help to reduce piracy. Or maybe even placing undercover military personnel on ships may also help to fight piracy.

Somalian Pirates

I have to admit that I was a little shocked and hard to convince when I heard that a couple of pirates had taken over a ship a few days ago. My initial reaction was one of surprise and I had to ask myself....do pirates still exist? When I think of pirates the first thought that comes to mind is "Pirates of the Caribbean". The image that automatically comes to mind is a dirty, disheveled man with a wooden leg and a patch over his eye. The movie depiction of pirates is somewhat comical in my opinion. The events that took place 5 days ago, however, was no laughing matter. A cargo ship carrying a US captain and crew members was attacked and the crew members taken hostage. Once I heard about this story on the news, I immediately decided to research piracy in the world and international seas. To my surprise, piracy is actually a serious problem to international shipping off the Somali coast and due to the most recent event I believe that something needs to be done to help fight piracy. Should the United States government step up to the plate and help combat piracy in lawless countries like Somalia? What type of consequences should be in place against captured pirates?