Outside of the intellectual property definitional context, The New Oxford Shorter Dictionary defines a pirate as 'a person who robs and plunders on or from the sea; gen. a plunderer, a despoiler, a bandit.
Today Meet The Press started with an update from NBC News Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski and the chief executive officer of the U.S. Naval Institute, Major General Tom Wilkerson in regard to the fate of Captain Richard Phillips who is at this moment being held prison by Somali Pirates. There's been a daring escape attempt, gun fire, blockades, investigation, debriefings, and now stalemate. Bottom line is that we want our man back, but the conversation only touched on the larger issue of Somalia as a failed state, and more importantly neglected to discuss this is much larger terms, the fact that this is a problem the global community is not addressing as a collective. We realize that corporations who own the ships are being attacked and not countries per se; however, these bandits don't discriminate internationally and after 66 ships and $88 million dollars, where does it stop? Well, these Somali pirates were stopped today by the U.S. Navy who have rescued Capt. Philips. Way to step it up boys and get the job done, restoring a little faith in the training, patience, and skill of our military personnel. If only our civilian leaders would show the same skills when it comes to hostile encounters. Yet they remain impotent.
And the world has taken notice, most obviously Iran who are in no way giving up their goal of dominating the middle-east and by extension the region's trajectory. They want nuclear capability and they're going to get it. The United States doesn't have the stomach for bombing Iran. Besides, we make the distinction between Iran's population and the disproportionate who rule it. Israel, on the other hand, does not make the distinction between such despoilers and it gives the U.S. the shivers. Again, our impotency to do anything is on display.
We engage Iran with the great anvil of Iraq around our neck (now the most expensive war endeavor since WWII) leaving us without any leverage at all - not to mention that Iraq limits our agility to react to our crises - diplomatically or militarily. As former Washington Post reporter, Robin Wright said, words spoken with sincerity will not necessary changes things. And though there has been a slightly more positive vibe from both sides in the area of engagement, agendas and determination solidified during the Bush Administration's time in office on both sides are too far along for any change of course.
That can also be applied to engaging the Taliban as well, which has also been mentioned. It is helpful to be able to look into the eye of your enemy during a fight, but with any time-tested enemy, you won't be able to see its soul no matter what President Bush once said. They remain the enemy - it's a matter of pragmatism. But as Byron York, Washington Examiner, pointed out, this new approach and the apologist stance taken recently in Europe grated on Republicans like nobody's business, and he felt that it was unnecessary because President Obama could have signaled that without issuing such perceived verbal concessions. He and the Republicans have a point, but they're only half right. The Bush Administration was arrogant because they left an important piece of the puzzle on the table - diplomacy - they never touched it. They were looked at as plunder's of Iraq's oil, using the war on terror as a pretext. However, where they are correct, unfortunately they probably don't realize, is that concessions for terrorists do encourage much more emboldened attacks and should not be granted. The next thing you know, you have a whole new recruitment class of pirates with a bigger boat and more AK47s setting out for the deep water of the Indian Ocean.
Postscript: We'd like to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Easter.
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