Just ran across this story: Pirates 'bring shame on Somalia'.

I think they have it wrong - it is the world's shame that brought pirates to Somalia.

The Somali pirates at one point were honest do good hard working fishermen when major ship companies decided that it was ok to dump toxic waste off the shores of Somalia - and since Somalis had no functioning government (a situation which was also facilitated by the world at large), there was no one to stop the illegal dumping of waste.

Now, once the fishermen's catch died or shriveled to smaller levels, the fishermen moved onto bigger and better - those same ships that were the scourge that ruined their fishing industry.

Sometimes it is important to know the background to events.