Maritime Nightmare

Recently an escalation of hijackings have occurred off the coast of Somalia in the Aidan sea, this area is a busy shipping lane in which thousands of vessels carry cargo, and tourists on a regular basis. currently there are over two hundred people being held for ransom, most of which work for companies in the maritime cargo industry. These ships are boarded, and hostages are taken, and usually released when the companies insurance carrier pays the ransom. Last week the U.S. flagged Maersk Alabama was boarded and the captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage, in exchange for the Maersk and her crew. The ordeal ended with Phillips unscathed after a highly elite team of Navy Seal snipers shot and killed the pirates from the deck of their ship. This incident has brought great debate on how these hijackings should be dealt with, without causing an A-symmetrical war or other conflicts such as Black Hawk down in which many military personnel were killed. Talks are under way, with arming vessels with weaponry and security personnel at the forefront of solutions. In the meantime Barack Obama has logged his first armed conflict decision successfully, by leaving the call to shoot to kill to the commander of the naval vessel.