Unions Beat Pirates

It was a tailor-made quote for the labor movement, and they picked it up and ran with it.

We're seamen. We're union members. We stuck together and we did our jobs.

Business leaders and their enablers in Congress still want you to believe that unions are scorned by the public. Wrong again. And this kind of reminder is great.

By the way, I like the accommodations I'm seeing in the labor movement toward larger goals. The blue-green alliance on climate issues is one of the more exciting developments in the progressive movement which could spur the development of good, green union jobs, and the historic accord on immigration adds another partner to the coalition. As the face of the average union member is increasingly Hispanic, getting AFL-CIO and Change to Win to support comprehensive immigration reform was almost an imperative for them, but kudos for them triumphing over fear and demonization which has crippled past efforts at coalition-building.

I know that the Employee Free Choice Act appears dead at this point, but this broad coalition that can now demand it has at least the potential to change some minds.

Bring On The Privateers

Ron Paul has a supa-awsom plan to stop piracy off the Somalian coast - Hessians! Fuckin' Rambo armed to the teeth Hessians!

A little-known congressional power could help the federal government keep the Somali pirates in check — and possibly do it for a discount price.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and a growing number of national security experts are calling on Congress to consider using letters of marque and reprisal, a power written into the Constitution that allows the United States to hire private citizens to keep international waters safe.

Used heavily during the Revolution and the War of 1812, letters of marque serve as official warrants from the government, allowing privateers to seize or destroy enemies, their loot and their vessels in exchange for bounty money.

The letters also require would-be thrill seekers to post a bond promising to abide by international rules of war.

We're supposed to dangle money as a kind of X Prize to get mercenaries to do the work of the foreign policy apparatus? Because private military contractors in Iraq worked out so well? And isn't Ron Paul the guy who doesn't want the federal treasury spending one penny?

Aha, but he has a cunning plan. You see, the privateers would get to keep the treasure they get from the pirates. That sweet, sweet treasure.

But privateering was essentially government licensed piracy. Say, we're at war with the French. Congress gives me a letter of marque and then I have the US government's permission to go out and capture French ships on the high seas. I then bring the French ship back to a 'prize court' and if everything's in order, it's mine and I get to sell it [...]

Now, there are a few problems with this. But here's the big one. Are you going to fit out a a group of small armed warships in order to vie for the chance of bringing in and being able to sell off some inflatable motor boats piloted by a few Somali 'pirates'? Maybe you could even sell one of their outboard motors on Craiglist?

Now, this think tank conservative from the Competitive Enterprise Institute recognizes that the pirates have no treasure, and they would have to be subsidized with bountys (which I'm sure would result in a very competitive bidding process). But he thinks it's a snappy idea anyway!

“If we have 100 American wanna-be Rambos patrolling the seas, it’s probably a good way of getting the job done,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute senior fellow and security expert Eli Lehrer. “Right now we have a Navy designed mostly to fight other navies. The weapons we have are all excellent, but they may not be the best ones to fight these kinds of pirates. The only cost under letters of marque would be some sort of bounty for the pirates.”

This is the same type of corporate lobbyist trying desperately to get Robert Gates to keep the military budget bloated and focused on massive weaponry, even though the challenges of the 21st-century are increasingly failed states and pirates.

Conservative logic is so convoluted it makes my head hurt. But I gather that Ron Paul actually believes this stuff. He thinks the "free market" has a better chance of stopping pirates than actually addressing the root causes of piracy.

Remember, he got more votes than Rudy Giuliani, and he kicked off this tea party movement.

Let's Get Them

John Bolton never passes up an opportunity to start another war:

FOX HOST: Ambassador, if you were serving in this administration, would it be your recommendation that they go in to, militarily with air strikes and/or boots on the ground, into these so-called feral cities, where these pirates are taking hold? Should we go in and take those people out, and take their installations out, now, militarily? Is that what you’re suggesting?

BOLTON: Yes. … Unless we go in and really end this problem once and for all, we will simply see it grow over time.

This is the same John Bolton, of course, who opposed the Clinton Administration efforts to prevent a failed state in Somalia.

Bolton isn't completely wrong - the crisis in Somalia absolutely feeds piracy. But a full-scale ground invasion that would FURTHER destabilize the area, if that's possible, clearly won't solve the problem. Unfortunately, I don't think the Administration has the political will to do what's necessary. Yes, they're talking about attacking pirate bases and aiding the Somali government both with economic development support and the kind of funding to go after the problem themselves, and they appear mindful of the need to get local support before doing anything. However there's nothing resembling a comprehensive solution, which would have to include a political accommodation that would be acceptable to a broad consensus of the Somali people, which probably means including the ICU. I'm not saying that would be at all easy to get, but there doesn't seem to be any attempt to try. Which turns the whole situation into a discussion about appropriate levels of military force.

In a related development, Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) saw his plane out of Mogadishu fired upon, allegedly in retaliation for the pirate deaths. Obviously, letting the piracy problems grow to this level means that such attacks are inevitable, but the significant work of nation-building, not nation-destroying, must be the response.

...and, um, this was not a military victory for Obama. Nor was it a military test for Obama. He followed the standard protocols and let the professionals do their work. If that's a victory, fine.

Daring Rescue

Nicely done.

An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a swift firefight that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, the ship's owner said.

A senior U.S. intelligence official said a pirate who had been involved in negotiations to free Capt. Richard Phillips but who was not on the lifeboat was in custody.

Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was safely transported to a Navy warship nearby.

This is obviously great news. Now hopefully we can orient US policy to stop piracy at the root, on land in Somalia instead of through great expense and effort on the high seas. It's not that our military is incapable of defeating this menace, as this rescue shows. But a legitimate government and economic opportunity in Somalia could save our military from 4-day standoffs in the Gulf of Aden when there are additional threats worldwide.

...apparently the Navy pulled an Ali-Foreman on the pirates. According to this report the Somalis ran out of ammo.

By Land, Not By Sea

As we wait another day for the resolution of this hostage situation by the Horn of Africa, it's worth understanding the nature of the piracy problem off the Somali coast, which has exploded over the past several years. Matt Yglesias, who unlike most people in the media has actually written a fair bit about Somalia, has a great short piece on this, and at the risk of just reiterating it let me just summarize his two basic points.

First, it's a big ocean, and no amount of sophisticated monitoring systems or military patrols will be able to proactively stop pirating. If the areas near the coasts become secure, the pirates just move out further into open water. You're not going to secure the entire 70-odd percent of the planet covered by the oceans. And accompanying every shipping container with a military protector vessel is impractical.

Second, the way to end piracy is to provide opportunity for the pirates on land. Somalia has essentially had no government for close to 20 years, and the money that can be made from piracy significantly dwarfs the money that can be made on land.

To make a long story short, to curb the Somali pirate problem you need to fight them on land. This was recognized by everyone back in December but it hasn’t materialized since nobody really wants to try to mount a serious operation to bring Somali territory under control. And far be it from me to question that decision. I don’t want to either. But given that reality, while we can try to mitigate the pirate problem at sea, we’re never going to resolve it and suggestions that the Obama administration should snap its fingers and make this problem go away are absurd. What we need to do is wait until such time as someone or other establishes some kind of coherent control over Somali territory and then deal with piracy issues as part of our relationship with that person / group / organization or whatever it may be.

Unfortunately, the last time it appeared that a coherent de facto government was emerging in Somalia—the Islamic Courts Movement—we helped sponsor an Ethiopian invasion that plunged the country back into chaos. We need to stop doing that!

Ian Welsh concurs. Peace can only be had with the groups that can secure it. The Ethiopians couldn't hand off Somalia to a transitional government that had no legitimacy. The new "unity government" in Somalia actually includes some more moderate ICU members, and they've vowed to deal with the piracy problem, if they get some funding help. But the hardliners in the al-Shabab movement continue to fight. The Obama Administration apparently is watching al-Shabab closely, but hasn't come to a decision. I don't think we know if the unity government has the legitimacy inside the country among the people yet, but I think striking the al-Shabab camps at this point wouldn't help matters. Whatever the case, there needs to be a larger effort to understand the problems on land in Somalia as a means of stopping the problems at sea, as Russ Feingold has been saying for years.

“With more than a thousand miles of coastline along the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, however, increased maritime patrolling can only do so much. Until stability, the rule of law and effective governance are established, Somalia will remain a safe haven for these pirates. Moreover, until a functioning economy can be established, piracy will remain the most lucrative business in the region.

Look For The Union Label To Kick Your...

Earlier this morning, the big news was that Somali pirates attacked and hijacked a US-operated container vessel in the Indian Ocean, with 20 crewmen on board. As it turned out, the crew regained control of the ship and put one of the pirates into custody. Go American shipping container crewmen! And, as it turns out, go unions.

...it's important to note that like all the people involved with the safe landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in January, the crew members of the Maersk Alabama are union members. The unions in question are the Seafarers International Union, which represents 12 of the 20-person crew, the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA), and the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P). As former safety chairman of the Airline Pilots Association, Chesley Sullenberger, the hero pilot of Flight 1549, fought to make sure his colleagues got the training they needed to do what he did in January. And as I just heard on Fox News (and confirmed with the SIU), crew members of the Maersk Alabama received anti-piracy training from (where else?) their union.

Surely that message won't get lost on the corporate media, which welcomes advertisers who organize against union membership and anti-busting efforts like the Employee Free Choice Act? Surely the go-America jingoists will point out this key piece of information?

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me

Like most people, I'm completely gobsmacked that Somali pirates can take over a giant oil tanker and plunder enough to make $150 million a year in ransoms. But as Matt Yglesias notes, this is a failure of policy as well as just something to snicker at.

In particular, at the end of the day it’s not easy to fight pirates at sea. The ocean is extremely large, boats move around, and circumstances are generally unfavorable to law enforcement. You need to fight the piracy on land. If you tried to run a pirate ring out of San Diego, you wouldn’t get very far — there are police in southern California. But Somalia has, obviously, been in a state of political chaos for a long time now. And when the country looked like it was heading for a measure of political stability under the Islamic Courts Movement, the US decided it would be smart to back an Ethiopian invasion-and-occupation of the country that ultimately wound up resulting in more chaos than ever. But whatever you think of the past, going forward you would ultimately want to solve this issue on land. In other words, by creating some kind of political stability in Somalia.

Interestingly enough, it's the Islamists who are stepping into the vacuum and claiming that they will now fight the pirates. If they succeed they will have the trust of a nation and probably a free hand to regain power, until we decapitate them again. That would be a mistake. It would be far better to create stability rather than let anarchy reign. That means that you make peace with those who can keep it.

...that said, if the pirates want to buy Citigroup that's OK with me. As long as my ATM card still works. (warning: parody ahead!)