What's going on, you might well ask yourself. Apparently a ship from the Ukraine was headed for Mombasa in Kenya when it was high-jacked by pirates. Piracy is rampant in the Red Sea and Somali pirates are reported to be holding more than a dozen captured ships in the port of Eyl, part of the bit of Somalia that's fighting the government there. This all begs quite a few questions. First off, is what the hell are these guys going to do with 30 great big lumbering T-72s, not particularly effective tanks anyway but difficult and expensive to refuel and operate. Then, why on earth were the Ukrainians shipping tanks to such a discredited source as the Somalian government? They're hardly likely to get paid, after all. Finally, why doesn't someone go and sort out the aforementioned pirates (not that it's our fight, of course). A moderately well-equipped modern destroyer should suffice. It's all a bit like Barbary Coast pirates in the 18th and 19th centuries, who got so cheeky as to raid the coasts of Cornwall for slaves. Finally the Royal Navy got its act together and sorted them out. But, of course, we don't have swift and vengeful frigates these days, just plans for two ginormous and useless aircraft carriers. Just bizarre. Summon the ghost of Palmerston and send a gunboat!