Why be a pirate? What's the deal?

Most of these Somali pirates are only going on one or two excursions to take a ship. They aren't making careers out of it. The reason why for all of these, is because if they are successful, they can make millions of dollars from it. Which is especially a lot in Somalia...

Well, with the exception of the three that bought the farm this weekend and the one who was arrested with the American incident, along with those who were picked off by the French the other day, over the last several years pirating off the coast of Somalia has proved to be very safe and lucrative (as well as in Indonesia/Melanesia, although that's not in the press as much lately).

Dozens upon dozens of ships and boats have been captured, and hundreds of millions in ransom have been paid out. Each successful pirating has paid like lottery winnings to guys who are otherwise impoverished and unemployed. As far as the shipping companies are concerned, given the value of the ships and the cargo, which extends into the billions, the relatively small (millions) amount they are paying in ransom is generally thought to be an affordable part of their "overhead."

The killings over the last week may change the way the players calculate those odds now, and it may not be for the better.

The Somali Government is just another example of organized crime. They supply the weapons and collect most of the money.

And of course, they all get to talk like Robert Newton, who invented pirate talk in the Disney movie Treasure Island.