Pirates are violent rebels; libertarians are non violent rebels. I don't think Johann Hari praises the pirates, exactly. I don't know if he is a libertarian, either:
http://www.johannhari.com/about.php
The destination of the Maersk Alabama was Kenya, coincidentally the home country of Barack Obama's father. Kenya is not rich, except when compared to Somalia. Conditions in Somalia may not justify piracy, but they do explain it.
Pirates have always targeted ships of rich nations, understandably. Historically, not all of that commerce deserves to be called "free trade". For example, pirates raided the Spanish ships carrying the stolen gold and then the forced-labor crops of the American Indians back to Spain. While the Barbary Coast pirates plagued shipping in the 17th Century, a quarter of the ships leaving Liverpool were trading slaves. The Triangle Trade brought the African slaves to America to replace the Indians as laborers who were dying off.
Harland Harrison
----- Message d'origine ----
Harland,
I thought it was a terrific article, and did not see the author as praising piracy in general. I was not aware that nuclear and hospital waste was being dumped off the coast of Somalia, or that the waters were being overfished, by non-Somalians taking advantage of the lack of a Somali government to complain about such actions. I say "complain about" because if the warships of multiple nations cannot stop the piracy going on in the area now, then it seems obvious that a government in a poor country like Somalia would hardly be able to stop mere dumping. However, such a government would have access to international forums like the United Nations where it could make a stink, or the World Court where it could file a complaint, and would have a vote to cast in organizations only open to recognized governments, like the UN General Assembly, African Union, to back up its complaints. These organizations ought to be more open to non-government representation, so that justice in cases like Somalia's wouldn't fall through the cracks.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Every country has the right to use military force to protect the sovereignty of its shipping---the case is really no different that an individual who gets carjacked.
What the media is desperately trying to cover up though, is just how impotent the US Navy is to stop any of this (just like they're covering up how badly we're losing the war in Afghanistan and Iraq); and all this schmaltz about 'multinational task forces' is just a smokescreen so that our politicians can pretend to take the military lead while other countries do all the actual fighting.
Just as a case in point, the Indian Navy has sunk three pirate ships and captured one; the Saudi Navy has sunk two or three; and the French Navy retook a pirated ship this morning. The supposedly superior US Navy, meanwhile, is huddled around a pirate life-raft wondering what to do.
----- Message d'origine ----
From : brian perry <sfcrab@...>
To : lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com; lpsm-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject : Re: [LPSM-Discuss] You are being lied to about pirates - by
Johann Hari
I thought people like Pirates, Robin Hood, etc., people who steal
others' property, wouldn't be praised by libertarians.
This is a bit of a deviation, but this is a pet peeve of mine.
Robin Hood did not steal from the rich to give to the poor.
Robin Hood took money from the tax collectors, and gave it back to the
tax payers.
Let’s reclaim this legend, and stop allowing socialists to use it as
justification for the nobility of income redistribution.
~Chris