Why Where Matters, Part II

The Somalian pirate story we have been following all semester gets more global each day. Yet at the same time closer to home. A Reuters news analysis in the IHT yesterday says the surge in piracy raises concern about terrorism in the sea lanes, which are even more vulnerable than air transport. Terrorists could raise money by holding ships for ransom or turn one into a floating bomb to send into a port just like in the pirate movies. "And an attack aimed at shutting down a major port like Singapore or disrupting a key shipping lane like the Strait of Hormuz, though which as much as 40 percent of the world's traded oil passes, could do real economic damage," the writer suggests. I suspect you know where the Strait of Hormuz is. Not so sure the same could be said of your peers in the U.S. In reading international news, you don't have to have an atlas at hand, but do goggle to brush up on your geography to understand the significance of what's happening.