Somali pirates are businessmen. They have a pricing policy. They have traders working with them. They even have a spokesman. Just as financial traders and market speculators can be, they can also become excessively greedy and aggressive. This is clearly what is happening today off the eastern coast of Africa.

These buccaneers-entrepreneurs certainly need support. They need weapons. They need a place to park their captured vessels – a function that Somalia has been serving. They also need a complacent international community that can let them be most of the time. All these conditions have been satisfied so far. Hence, the piracy trade has been proving to be extremely lucrative. Besides, it has also been less expensive to pay for some boats to protect them, as well as put up a sufficiently strong government in Somalia.

The piracy trade has, likewise, been proving to be beneficial to some people. The pirates seize some vessels, demand for ransom in the millions of dollars, and the booty can be spread around to so many others.

Faced with an activity of this type carried out in the open sea, the use of force is necessary. The US has called for greater and stronger coordinated efforts to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden. American marines, as well as the French, have shown these pirates what they can be up against should they persist in their nefarious trade. But time is another ally for the pirates. They still continue to play hard, unwilling to let go of a lucrative business.

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Via msn