Annals of Power Projection

Roger Ailes says that the pirate adventure means that Obama's military achievements now exceed Ronald Reagan's. But wouldn't Obama have to conquer a 344-square-kilometer island first?

Privateering Again: Lesser Breeds Without the Law

Somebody had to do it: the aptly named Competitive Enterprise Institute is proposing that we fight piracy by licensing privateers with letters of marque and reprisal. At The Atlantic's blog, Conor Clarke is skeptical; he thinks there isn't enough money in it.

Clarke is overlooking a key principle of human behavior here: soldiers of fortune aren't in it for the money. They may say they are and think they are, and they won't turn down the money when it comes their way. But the real motivation is not really about hard cash; it has a lot more to do with testosterone-driven high spirits and sheer bloody-mindedness.

This is not to say the CEI is misguided. Every society, if it hopes to survive, has to figure out something to do with its surplus young males, and without foreign wars, they'll just make trouble at home. Sending them off to beat up on dark-skinned people at the other end of the world is a tradition that goes back at least as far as Lord Clive. These guys are like Dylan Thomas' poet who labors "by singing light/Not for ambition or bread" and "seek[s] no praise nor wages." It's an art, this métier of the roving marauder, and I suspect the auto body shops and plumbing supply stores of America (and, sadly, the unemployment lines) are just full of guys who would jump at the chance.