Yar.

Open Democracy, 9-04-2009
Piracy Challenges Global Governance
Daniele Archibugi
Marina Chiarugi

We may be certain that many Hollywood screenwriters are now taking notes on the rebirth of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Pirates were believed to have become anachronistic in a world in which nations had occupied every corner of the earth and even of the seas along their coasts, to the point of attributing legal value to the oxymoron "territorial waters''. It was believed that satellites and smart missiles would be a sufficient deterrent against large-scale piracy, allowing pirates to carry out only small raids. Satellite-based anti-theft devices allow us to locate our automobile with pinpoint accuracy, let alone an oil tanker. And yet, these are the roaring years of a new piracy which, using old-fashioned means, is successfully defeating the technological society of the 21st century.

What is sensational about the actions of the pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and which distinguishes them from all the others, is that they are able to seize huge vessels and to take and keep their crews hostage, even for extended periods. They are, in other words, not like the pirates swarming along the west coast of Africa and in the seas of Asia, who conduct short, incisive operations and then flee with what little booty they have been able to seize.

The Somali pirates can lay claim to having carried out the largest ship seizure in history, that of the Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star, of having captured a Ukrainian ship carrying a cargo of T-72 tanks, and of having dominated the front pages of the New York Times and the Guardian. They are only relatively anonymous: thanks to new information technology it is quite easy to photograph their assault craft, to know where the seized vessels are being held captive and even to identify individual pirates on the deck. However, these marvels of modern technology have so far failed to solve the problem. According to International Maritime Bureau estimates, in 2008, there were 111 pirate attacks off the Somali coast alone, a good 42 of which culminated in the seizure of the ship. This new and unexpected trend seems to be something out of a movie. Indeed we may be sure that someone is already preparing the casting for a film on this subject.

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