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Photo: Nick Humphries |
Somali pirates recently got a $3.2 million ransom for returning a Ukrainian ship filled with Soviet-era weaponry. Last year they captured 42 ships in the Gulf of Aden, and they've captured at least three more so far in 2009!
Somalia is a long way from here, and it's hot and disorderly place, but if you've been laid-off, at least keep this idea in mind. So far I think only about five pirates have actually been captured, which is pretty good for a violent, illegal, not to mention reprehensible, business. The risk/reward seems much better than, say, being a drug mule.
Since there's not much in the way of a central government in Somalia, a perennial condition caused most recently by a U.S. backed invasion from Ethiopia, it's very difficult to catch pirates on land. It's only at sea where anyone is even trying to catch you.
Now the U.S., along with a host of other countries, have beefed up their naval presence in international waters in the Gulf of Aden where Somali pirates operate , but anyone who knows the history of piracy (call it a hobby...) understands that unless you can take out their safe-havens on land, you can't stop pirates at sea.
Being a modern-day pirate isn't flashy or glamorous, but at least these guys are making money, and they're probably less hated than investment bankers.
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