A Jolly Roger jam

Shiver our timbers -- there be pirates afoot. Only today's pirates don't sport parrots on their shoulders or hooks in place of hands; they tend to be Al Qaeda-affiliated, drug-addled thieves and kidnappers who operate off the shores of a country that in some ways makes Afghanistan look like the garden spot of the Middle East. And, unlike the days when the British Royal Navy and the East India Company could be counted on to blast pirate ships to Davy Jones' locker on sight, the world's naval forces are doing shockingly little to stop them.

October 6, 2008