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West Asia, explained.
Trailer: Captain PhillipsTrailer: Captain Phillips
About the author
Sam Roggeveen
Sam Roggeveen is Program Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace (Opens in new window), published by La Trobe University Press in 2023.
Topics
Captain Phillips tells the story of the Maersk Alabama hijacking in 2009, which was eventually brought to end by US Navy SEALs in what was interpreted as an early foreign policy victory for the new Obama Administration. The Wikipedia page on the hijacking tells a pretty hair-raising story, and the film potential is obvious. I just hope the Somali pirate villains are treated slightly more two-dimensionally than the trailer suggests.
For a more sober treatment of the piracy problem, check out James Brown's Pirates and Privateers: Managing the Indian Ocean's Private Security Boom. James notes that a private military security company played a role in defending the Maersk Alabama.
Sam Roggeveen
