The Perils of Modern Piracy

Somali pirates want $15 million in ransom money for a Saudi tanker carrying $100 million worth of crude oil. The capture of the Sirius Star, which was taken earlier this month, is the most daring modern pirate escapade to date, and this morning, there's news that yet another cargo freighter has been captured, this one from Yemen. That brings the total of ships now being held by pirates to seventeen. There've been more than 200 incidents this year, with a doubling of attacks off the Somali coast. That’s bad news for a world in which eighty percent of international goods travel by sea. Why has the coast of east Africa became such a dangerous place for shipping? What has caused the resurgence in piracy on the world's oceans? Who are the pirates targeting? Why can't they be stopped? How is the international community responding to the problem?