Who Is Responsible For Exterminating The Vermin?

I am a citizen of the United States of America. My opinions are from that point of view.

A sweet lady left a comment on The Dinghy. Her question to me was, “But why do you think it [is] the Americans responsibility to rid the high seas of pirates? The time for the US to be the custodian is passing. I await the Chinese navy to solve the piracy problem on the east coast of Africa given how much trade the Chinese do with Africa and how much weaponry the Chinese have sold to them.”

It is a good question, and I would love to address it. Also, I agree with her two statements.

First I want to state that I don’t believe, and never advocated the idea that the USA alone should rid the high seas of pirates. Personally, if I could pull a trigger and be rid of all pirates, I would have no problem doing so. But reality does not work that way. I will get back to this.

A very profound statement is attributed to one of our presidents, Theodore Roosevelt: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” The issue of USA being the custodian of the world is very controversial. My opinion is that is that this country never should have been the world police. I would rather live in a society that knows its worth, leaves all other countries alone, and strikes back with devastation if attacked. This belief is patterned after my own personal values with respect to people around me. I am polite and willing to serve, just don't mess with me.

What I hint above is essentially isolationism. But most of us are realistic enough to know that in today’s world that is not entirely possible. There are alternatives. Just as I rely on the local police to clean up the mess caused by criminals, today’s civilized world could rely on a world government to provide that sort of service. In fact, in our current administration there is a strong tendency to advocate exactly that. The problem is that this world is not yet ready for it. I definitely don’t advocate a one-world government at this time. The simple reason is that there is too much corruption even on a local level, and I would hate to experience what the emperor or empress would do.

A potentially viable alternative is relying on the United Nations to be the world police. They could, in theory, remove the piracy threat. Alas, they cannot and will not. If the UN were a man, he could not find his dick in the dark. This is why NATO is as prominent as it is in providing stability and force where the UN should have. The UN has had many “resolutions” to prohibit nasty dictators from doing evil things to their people, their neighbors, and to distant countries. And when these dictators do whatever they want, the UN makes still more resolutions. This is also why the USA is in Afghanistan and Iraq today. I would not trust the UN leadership to change the litter in my cat’s box.

The remaining alternative for the piracy problem is decisive action by those affected by it. There was a time in the history of the USA when our citizens could travel the world and be assured that if he or she were in trouble, the USA would take action in their behalf. Alas, those days are over. This was well demonstrated by former president Carter with respect to the Iranian “students” taking and holding Americans hostage. Carter did make an attempt to rescue the hostages. Of course, when politicians make decisions on the details of a critical mission, it is bound to fail, and so did this. It was not until president Reagan took office that the Ayatollah decided to let our people go. His holiness realized that he was no longer dealing with an impotent peacenik.

I said days before the dinghy rescue event that our Navy could take care of the situation if allowed to do so. Once their leash was dropped, they did. Of course, now we have made the pirates angry, and they have threatened to treat Americans with extreme prejudice. I won’t go into details, for we all have some ideas on how to handle this. I have already proposed one, and there is just one more. First, our navy must protect American ships. Next thing is to search and destroy all pirates in coastal areas and the seas. Once other nations see that this is possible, the pirates would not have a chance. This would also demonstrate that we take it very personally if any of our citizens are arbitrarily put in jeopardy. I also see no reason why other nations should or could not do the same. Of course, this action would take balls.

Our Navy has balls, whereas our government is emasculated. Our only hope is that the UN will protect us while we sit in trepidation.

I see another UN resolution coming. Assuming the pirates can read, maybe they will laugh themselves to death.