Charlie Self wrote:

Sure, Amway. Something does need to be done to help improve conditions
in the area, so that piracy is a less attractive option. With a few
more operations such as the one yesterday, piracy is going to look
less good to unemployed, and unemployable, youth, but there seem to be
few other options avaiable.

What I can't understand is how these impoverished people come by all
their AK47s and RPGs and other weapons, none of which, in operating
conditon, is cheap. Not to mention the ammo they seem to blast into
the air every few minutes to express anger, joy, dismay or peaceful
intent.

AK47s go for as little as $30 in most parts of the world (of course $30 is a
lot of money is most parts of the world). The weapon itself only has seven
moving parts and can be fabricated from scratch in most machine shops.

I have one and am impressed with how simple the sucker is. Search the web
and compare exploded diagrams for an AK47 and an AR15. Heck, even a modern
Smith & Wesson revolver has twice as many parts as an AK47!

AK47
http://www.ak47rifles.net/ak47rifleschematics.asp

AR15
http://www.dogfightink.com/ARparts.html


And, yes, there are machine shops in Somalia (and TV stations and
waffle-irons).