The renaissance era flourished Rome into greatness; it exhibited an unwavering economy and prospering culture. From the earliest days of maritime industry, pirates have been marauding trade routes. The Roman Empire conducted punitive assault against the pirates to protect its resources and stature. Through era, the empire succeeded, but when the empire succumbed due to political and governmental demise, the coastline of Rome became a pirate’s haven. Ages and ages hence, maritime piracy takes over and dominates crucial shipping routes.
Sea-piracy has been attributed to the plummet of a country’s government. A country with no clear leadership and direction yields to economic instability and decline, which in turn significantly affects its people’s way of life. As unemployment arises, citizens are seeking means whether legal or illegal, righteous or wrongful, to deal with the ends such as: food, shelter, education, and health. Some people are willing to undertake immorality and threat to human life as they panic and crumble on fear. Thus, when a government falls, its people go with it. They created the causes and together they suffer and endure the effects.
According to Financial Times, the deteriorating domestic security situation in Yemen adds up to the concern of increase maritime-piracy incidents. Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen, has witness tragic and bloody days in streets. The events were attributed to the unexpected arrival of President. Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been reigning for 33 years and had sought refuge to Saudi Arabia after the June 3 mortar attack by militants on the presidential palace, as the government goes on the verge of civil war. In his absence, he declined to turnover his ruling. Instead, the government was run by his relatives and appointees. His failure to resign prompted more anger and revolt. With this development, various provinces have fallen out of government’s direction and some into the hands of militants linked to Al Qaeda. Yemen is reportedly drifting apart as this occurrence continues. Its populace is deriving ways to cope up. Some are considering sea-piracy or even facilitating related operations with the help of Somali pirates. The suspected collaboration brings about an increase in incidence for almost 40% as reported by the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre.
In Somalia, maritime piracy is ingrained with socio-economic factor such as: dominant poverty, extreme hunger, and civil security problems. These are attributed to the weak government condition and deficient policy and law-making. Without a coherent structure in terms of financial and human resources, decline of maritime piracy or even its eradication is just a mirage.
In comparison, piracy in Yemen and Somalia basically has the same origin, and that is a poor government framework. Instead of implementing short term measures such as re-routing, increased naval patrol and security enhancement, the root cause should be addressed and solved.
Gone are the days wherein piracy is viewed as a disorganized and mindless crime. According to the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, pirates of yesterday and today are incomparable. Pirates during the early times are impulsive and often times had lack of methodology. Today, Pirates live their lives on a knife edge where violence and bloodshed can be a way of life. They have developed a sophisticated intelligence network that enables them to discern vessels owned by large companies and who had paid a large amount of ransom money. Moreover, the intelligence network provides the location and destination of certain vessels.
As history unveiled, the Roman Empire was the largest and perhaps the most powerful in the olden times, but how did ancient Rome achieved its greatness? And why did it eventually collapsed? The rise and fall of the empire is a vivid model on government management that countries today should learn from. Ultimately, history manuscripts were already written, and fresh anecdotes are desired. The world needs a new template, definitely not about a rise and fall account but rather a stable and thriving narrative.
No comments:
Post a Comment