Side effect of fighting crime

The pirates who seized a French luxury yacht a few weeks ago have now been charged by a French court.

This is of course excellent news. The innocent civilian crew on the ship, who were all taken hostages, can now feel that they are better protected on future trips outside Somalia, and so can thousands of other sailors. Pirates will now know what awaits them if they attack French ships, and probably ships from other rich countries as well.

However, they are likely to face no worse consequences than before, if they attack Somali ships - and perhaps Eritrean, Yemenite, or ships of many other Arab and African nationalities. If the innocent crew had been North Korean or Cuban, would the French have taken so swift action to liberate them?

It is difficult to demand of the French or any other country to spend as much resources on protecting and liberating foreign nationals as their own. But, surely, it is an unfortunate situation.

Pirates outside Somalia now risk concentrating on ships from countries that are too poor to protect their nationals efficiently.