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...shown on film - and Earth is rated G. For a nature film, Earth also takes a notably G-rated stance on the subject of the environment. Climate change is mentioned a few times in passing - and we see a male polar bear in northern Norway struggling with melting sea ice - but there is no real message or explanation of it here. Instead of doom, the overall mood is joy, the renewal that comes with rain and sun and summer. Never mind that there's less rain and hotter summers - this film has a Disney-worthy happy ending, even...
...Defeating the pirates, however, took more than sea power. Combined with the greater military deterrent, many potential pirates' outlook in the region improved. Analysts believe that some of Malacca's pirates came from the Indonesian territory of Aceh on the far western tip of the island of Sumatra. That region had been torn apart by a three-decade battle between a local Islamic separatist group and the Indonesian military, isolating Aceh and annihilating economic opportunities. Desperate Acehnese took to piracy as the only way to earn a living, while arms-smuggling operations spawned by the conflict added an organized, criminal...
...What happened? Maritime security analysts say a combination of factors - both on sea and land - contributed to the pirates' near total defeat. Most significantly, the success in the strait shows how concerted and well-coordinated action by regional governments can prevent pirate attacks on commercial shipping. "From Roman times to the Barbary pirates, throughout history, the reasons [for resolving piracy] are always the same," says Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Marine Bureau in London. "For pirates, it becomes a much riskier activity. That is really the deterrent...
...results were a series of measures taken collectively, mainly by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, with some cooperation from Thailand, that significantly improved security in the strait. Beginning in 2004, the local armed forces organized coordinated sea patrols. Each side polices its own territorial waters, but they communicate with one another on potential pirate activity, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of the patrols. In 2005, they added regular sorties of airplanes to scout the strait for pirates. The flights are undertaken by crews with nationals from the different countries so they can better share information. Intelligence gathered on pirates is also disseminated...
...piracy. Those crucial elements are lacking in destitute and disorderly Somalia, where most of the pirates that are terrorizing the Gulf of Aden hail from. That fact alone makes the situation in Malacca and Somalia "completely different," warns Nazery of the Maritime Institute. "Piracy, whatever happens at sea, is symptomatic of a different problem - the instability of the political situation in Somalia," he says. As the nations along the Strait of Malacca learned, fighting pirates in the long term takes a lot more than some swashbuckling...