Dancing with the Devil.

• Author: Schindler, Sol
• Position: Book review

Dancing With The Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes by Michael Rubin, Encounter Books, ISBN-1-59407-723-X, 2014, 384 pp., $27.99 (Hardcover List).

The United States has a long history of dealing with rogue nations. During Thomas Jefferson's first term he learned that the Barbary pirates, who ruled supreme in the Eastern Mediterranean, demanded tribute; otherwise they would capture and loot every passing American ship. Since marine commerce was the one thriving industry the young nation had attained, this was a serious threat. The Secretary of Treasury informed Jefferson that it was simply cheaper to pay the tribute, as everyone else did, than to build and equip a naval force that could provide protection. Since his campaign pledge to balance the budget was much on his mind, and building a navy is horribly expensive, the politically correct choice should have seemed obvious. But like most Americans Jefferson hated paying tribute to anyone and chose the ethically correct course of armed protection for legally conducted trade.

Eventually a naval force was organized and sent to the Barbary Coast where the young and dashing Stephen Decatur made a name for himself and the U.S. Navy by soundly defeating the pirates in a series of engagements, which forced the Bey of Tripoli to sue for peace. The cause of international law with Jefferson as its advocate had triumphed.

Two hundred years later history in a way repeated itself. On April 8th, 2009 four pirates in a skiff attempted to seize the M.V. Maersk Alabama, an American cargo ship, about 240 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia. Unfortunately for the pirates an American destroyer met them the next day and three Navy seals killed three of the pirates and sent the fourth back to the United States for imprisonment.

The local reaction to these extraordinary events was generally of relief. The good guys had won and the kidnapped victim rescued. But this is the 21st Century and there was the inevitable counter action, asking were the lives of three boys (the pirates were aged 18-20) worth less than an old and rusting cargo ship? The well-worn arguments of the previous Century also appeared. Mohammed Megalommatis writing in the Somali Chronicle pointed out that piracy was simply the fishermen's reaction to the West's abuse of their marine resources, such as pouring toxic waste into their fishing grounds. How else could they gain the attention of the powers that be? Nevertheless, piracy has...