Those scrappy Somali pirates are at it again! Now they're taking on supertankers from their little dingys! Who are these pirates and why do their escapades sound familiar? I found a NYT story from September 30th that quotes a spokesman for the Somali pirates, Sugule Ali. He sounds quite the character with a good sense of humor. I don't think of Somalis as having a sense of humor, but if you're able to extract millions of dollars in ransom in cash from countries all over the world for simply boarding a ship and holding it hostage, you'd be looking on the bright side of life too. As Sugule Ali says in his interview, "You only die once." Well, that's reason enough to keep laughing all right.
Back in Thomas Jefferson's day the cool, hip pirates patrolled the Barbary coast of North Africa looking for prey. Though they have a cooler name, The Barbary Pirates, they've got nothing on the Somalis. The Somalis have the entrepeneurial spirit. Where they once just patrolled their waters looking for illegal fisherman to harass and tax, they saw an opportunity to make more money and seized the day. They appear to work only for themselves since there is still no formal government in Somalia. The money they earn is the money they keep. No government taxes redistributing their wealth! The Barbary pirates, however, worked for the rulers of their countries who received most if not all of the ransom money ponied up by the European Countries (and then America after we gained our independence.)
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