jay bahadur the pirates of somalia inside their hidden world

Piracy will only disappear from Somalia when the authorities want it to. It is equally true that those who think they can make bigger and faster bucks will become criminals in any economy, no matter that they aren't poor and their country is rich.ĥ. It is undoubtedly true that if Somalia wasn't so poor, that people wouldn't need to become pirates or to be one of their many support services. Should they fail to pay off the right authorities or those who want to find out just who is doing what, they are going to get shopped and stopped and then another set of pirates will take over that patch, so plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.Ĥ. The pirates aren't doing it out of altruism, they are doing it to make money for themselves alone.ģ.

It is said that the pirates are the lesser of two evils as they guard the coast from illegal factory ships from Korea and China.Ģ. What's especially impressive (aside from Bahadur's sheer nerve in insinuating himself among these dangerous men in a lawless corner of the world) is the amassing of multiple perspectives%E2%80%94of pirates and policymakers%E2%80%94that support a rich, suspenseful account.1. Still Bahadur's interviews with the pirates reveal that they rarely relish criminality it's genuine desperation that motivates them. Coupled with the widespread addiction to the narcotic herb khat, conditions for wiping out piracy may be impossible to achieve. The institutionalization of these hijackings has created an economic order among the pirates not unlike other forms of organized crime. Few other economic options exist for young men along this harsh coastline, largely because of abusive fishing practices by foreign trawler fleets.

The inner workings of the world of Somali pirates are astutely explored by Bahadur, a journalist who embedded himself among them to detail how 'a level of international naval cooperation unprecedented in human history has been unable to stop a motley assortment of half-starved brigands armed with aging assault rifles and the odd grenade launcher.' It's an engaging account, full of solid analysis about the collapse of Somalia and the tight-knit clan and subclan networks that keep a failed state from dissolving into complete anarchy while fostering conditions ideally suited to ocean-going criminality.

Jay bahadur the pirates of somalia inside their hidden world