May 16, 2008

Pirates in the 21st Century.
posted by polychrome 16 years ago
  • That's an excellent read. I tend to not think of trade happening so much on the seas, and it's really interesting to realize how much we still depend on water for merchant transport.
  • Great post, thanks.
  • I tend to not think of trade happening so much on the seas Yes, indeed. As I recently noted in another thread, shipping has vastly increased since WWII. Think about it for a second: all that stuff you have in your house that's made in China? Most of that came by sea. Probably a lot of food in your house went by sea too: think of all those bread-loving Europeans eating Canadian wheat. Oil too, famously, goes by sea to many places: from the Gulf to Europe and East Asia, from Venezuela to the USA. Even from one part of the US to another. This vast increase in the world's shipping needs has coincided with new legal frameworks that have allowed ship owners to bypass the workforce and safety standards of the traditional shipping nations. This has caused real social and environmental problems and is one of the most well developed 'globalisation challenges' to the traditional power of state actors. But, despite all this, most Westerners are often completely unaware of globally critical shipping issues. When I tell people that I study navies, one of the most frequent reactions I get is 'why would you want to study navies when we don't really have ships any more?' I think that part of the reason is that most ordinary people don't travel by sea any more. Forty years ago, most people who travelled outside their continent would go by sea. Many of them would take passage on merchant ships, rather than fast liners, and would spend many days living in the company of seafarers (remember all those stories of dining at the Captain's Table?). Furthermore, shipping companies, these days, tend to draw their crew from very poor areas, so that they can pay them less and give them crappier work conditions. So many fewer people in developed countries personally know a sailor.
  • Grand post, thanks polychrome. The pics in the photo gallery accompanying the article are beautiful as well. And thanks for sharing your always-interesting insight, Dreadnought.
  • Glad everyone liked it. There's a link to an interview with the author too. And ))) for Dreadnought (apt name).
  • OK, if the navy is fighting pirates now they just got a whole lot cooler. And I have a thing for sailors anyway.