The Wall Street Journal tends to take the other side of this issue, arguing for harsh international penalties on piracy. Here's a piece arguing for convoys to protect ships, for example. Another piece refers to this as a struggle of civilization vs. barbarism.
It certainly seems like some kind of desperate situation has arisen to make people take the kind of risks involved in piracy. While we deplore violence and lawlessness, we'd be wise to consider why it arises.
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I'll admit that I haven't fully researched this issue either. But, I happened to listen to a bit of Amy Goodman's report on the Obama's piracy crackdown and the hostage situation. There are a few interview segments with Somalians and a short (though underwhelming) interview with the author of a paper about piracy off the coast of Somalia and U.S. companies role in exploitation of local resources (i.e. overfishing, dumping, etc.).
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/14/analysis_somalia_piracy_began_in_response
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