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Somali pirates appear to have determined that passenger and crew ransoms are the most lucrative part of their business, and they're targeting accordingly:
Earlier today gCaptain received reports from Australia that the M/V Athena was attacked by 29 pirate boats while transiting the Gulf Of Aden. This was the second cruise ship to be attacked and the first to witness an attack at this scale. The sheer number of boats and the coordination of this many individual assets left us in disbelief.Three days ago, a cruise ship carrying 1000 passengers and crew escaped a pirate attack. In the parlance of our times, it's reasonable to say that the seizure of a thousand hostages by pirates would be a "game changer." Rules of engagement would broaden, resources devoted to anti-piracy activity would increase, and options such as airstrikes and commando assaults against pirate bases would receive new attention.
Via War is Boring. On a related note, Yoav Gortzak and I have an article about the EU's participation in the piracy fight up at Foreign Policy.
--Robert Farley
