Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/103039
Book shelf Reviewed by Roy Thomas, MSC, CD, MA (RMC) B The face of modern piracy If Johnny Depp is the face of piracy to some and Long John Silver remains the epitome of a pirate to others, Canadians may well wonder about the face of modern piracy that our sailors are encountering in the Gulf of Aden. A treasure trove of recent books can perhaps shed some light. Piracy on the High Seas Noah Berlatsky, Editor Greenhaven Press, 2010 Published by an arm of Gale, Cengage Learning, this collection of articles and extracts is one of the organization's At Issue series of books. The fourteen contributions combine to provide an overview of modern piracy, although none discuss Gulf of Guinea pirates. This thin volume is valuable for a range of quick reads, including a piece on the need for the Indian navy to engage pirates. Oceans of Crime: Maritime Piracy and Transnational Security in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh Carolin Liss Institute of Southwest Asian Studies and International Institute for Asian Studies, 2011 The most extensive book in this collection, Oceans of Crime is 425 pages of detailed analysis. Interesting facts spring out. For example, more fishing boats than any other type have been robbed by pirates in this region. More attacks take place in port than in the shipping lanes. There is no suggestion of terrorism; rather there are individual robbers and very organized criminal organizations. An example of the later is seizure of oil tankers, the placing of replacement crews aboard, re-naming and reregistering the vessels, all done by pirates in the employ of a crime boss. The role of collaboration and cooperation in combating criminals carrying out acts of piracy is discussed and analyzed. With the current emphasis on increasing Canadian trade with Asia, this study, while not a quick read, offers intriguing data. Pirate State: Inside Somalia's Terrorism at Sea Peter Eichstaedt Lawrence Hill Books, 2010 Written by an award winning journalist, Pirate State brings the Somali piracy situation down to the individual. One chapter, for example, tells the story of an oil supply boat "skipper" off the coast of Nigeria. Eichstaedt proposes a step-by-step process for dealing with piracy which would have the international community assist in strengthening the Somaliland coast guard as the first step. He recommends establishing a NATO base in this former British colony and also suggests boots on the ground might be required to restore government control in Puntland. Both he and Mary Harper seem to agree that a change on land is required to address the piracy at sea. Piracy and Maritime Crime: Historical and Modern Case Studies Bruce Elleman, Andrew Forbes and David Rosenberg US Naval War College Press, 2010 This collection of twelve case studies is directed at the naval community and scholars. It is available as a free PDF download and offers useful electronic maps. Many readers will appreciate the historical perspective, which puts modern piracy in context. Several contributors to this work also appear in Piracy on the High Seas, but their research is updated here. Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State Mary Harper Zed Books, 2012 The author, a BBC African specialist, argues that Somalis have managed to do well without a strong central government and that "the idea of a nation-state is not very useful for Somalis." Within this larger view of Somalia, Harper feels that piracy is best dealt with through "largely home-grown Somali solutions" and she argues that "effective solutions have been found by small, local and relatively weak authority structures." Contemporary Maritime Piracy: International Law, Strategy, and Diplomacy at Sea James Kraska Praeger, 2011 Kraska, a retired USN naval officer, was involved in developing U.S. policy on piracy, so this volume might seem like a book-length briefing note. After providing the "genealogy of piracy" and some history, Kraska, who has contributed previously to Vanguard, provides concise chapters on contemporary piracy in South East Asia and East Africa, the response of the maritime sector, naval strategy and policy, international law, the work of diplomacy (from an American view), and international criminal prosecution (albeit as of 2010). There is an extensive collection of primary documents at the end of the book including, for example, six relevant UN Security Council Resolutions on Somalia as well as copies of two Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) circulars, which will shorten Google searches. www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 43