Pirates of the Indian Ocean

Image from Yahoo! news

What’s a better Easter story than pirates raiding American boats and taking the Captain hostage?

Modern day pirates have taken a step backward from the swashbuckling heroes in Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Somali pirates and their guns do not have the same mystic allure as swords and broken compases and cursed Aztec gold.

The picture above are French soldiers going to negotiate with the pirates holding the captain hostage. After some time, the Captain and ship left unharmed, and three of the pirates were killed. One of the surviving pirates might be facing a life sentence in an American prison.

Yeah, I think that most people won’t be quitting their day jobs to become pirates anytime soon.

Which is a shame. Pirates of the Caribbean is the best movie ever, and it’s disappointing to know that there aren’t any Will Turners or Jack Sparrows out there sailing the seas and getting themselves into epic maelstrom battles with Davy Jones and his beard of tentacles.

I’d like to thank a certain security consultant for crushing my half hopes that I might somehow end up in a seafaring adventure with modern day Pirates. Here’s his take on the whole Somali Pirate incident: (citation)

“I think when most people think of pirates, they think of Johnny Depp and the Pirates of the Caribbean,” said security consultant Crispian Cuss of the London-based Olive Group. But these guys are “just fishermen paid to act as pirates by warlords and armed gangs who have taken over a lawless state.”

Darn. What a shame.

Who knows? Maybe in the future pirates will return to their origins. Maybe they’ll abandon their bazookas and dust off the cobwebs on their swords and commandeering skills and roam the ocean in search of freedom… and rum.

Not that I’m rooting for the criminals that call themselves pirates. Why would I do that?

Still keeping an eye out for a return in the old fashioned (and more glamorous) pirate fad,

-Rika

More citations:

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Somali-Pirates-Somali-pirates/ss/events/wl/093008somaliapirates#photoViewer=/090412/photos_wl_afp/a84a38c1668dbff383f91245ea537baf

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/piracy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/piracy_somalia_s_swashbucklers

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Somali-Pirates-Somali-pirates-US-Navy-USS-Boxer/ss/events/wl/093008somaliapirates/im:/090412/480/b5a021fb27b7463baedeacef2b78fc5f/;_ylt=AsAZwfSiFoBTMbFaexvP8ZYHcggF#photoViewer=/090412/ids_photos_wl/r1047705631.jpg

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_piracy_legal