Eesh

$3.2 million is a lot of money if you're from Africa. It's even more when you're from Somalia, where running across a dead cow is considered an economic boon of Hollywood proportions.

The owners of a Ukranian freighter paid that sum for the release of the freighter, crew, and contents. Now given that the contents include a number of military assets like tanks and grenade launchers and guns, the Ukranians probably paid much less than the ship alone was worth, let alone all the stuff inside it. Which is good, because that means pirating jackasses won't be rolling around Somalia in stolen armored cavalry vehicles. I'd call that part a win.

What I'm more ambivalent about is just where that $3.2 million is going to go. I can assure you, it won't go anywhere that will make civilization very happy. It's been speculated that these pirates might be loosely associated with Islamic terrorist groups, and that seems pretty likely. But it wouldn't be necessary for there to be a problem, because they're pirates. They're not really savory people, even if they aren't befriending jihadis.

But that's damage done in Africa, and not the Ukraine, and the Ukraine will never have to cope with whatever hell gets unleashed, and that's why they made the payment.

Let's hope they start arming the crews. For Africa.