Somali pirates: maybe nothing works?

I am almost convinced that Naval convoys are the best approach to the Somali pirates, though some have commented over at Orange Punch that they would be expensive and questioned whether that's the best use of naval resources. And now here's a dialogue on Bloggingheads TV between Dan Drezner of Tufts and Bob Farley of KY, which suggests maybe there is no good cost-effective solution. Here's a subsequent comment by Dan, and a piece from Foreign Policy magazine that goes through seven possible scenarios and concludes all would be less than optimal. So there's no solution? I still think a combination of arming commercial vessel crews and convoying them (you might not need warships) would at least reduce the incidence. But the point that it's hardly the most important ctisis around -- despite the compelling TV it made for a few days -- is worth considering also.

AIG bonuses -- another view

Daniel Drezner, of Tufts and Foreign Policy magazine, has a nice little post (that agrees with my views expressed earlier) that the AIG bonus issue involves much more distraction than substance. Of course it reflected a certain cluelessness on the part of AIG as to how it would play out -- though in truth it is always difficult to predict what will catch public attention and resonate, even for people who have been at the game a long time -- and of course there's a certain outrageousness to giving the bonuses to people who made huge mistakes. But the real outrage is the bailout itself, compared to which the bonus money is minuscule.