> take some of the money saved on salaries and use it for foreign aid to countries such as Somalia and you'd have stopped piracy before you know it.

No, that certainly won't work. With all respect, it's naive to think that foreign aid can solve the problem of poverty. In many cases it makes the problem worse.

Consider the Diem regime in the early 1960s, South Vietnam. Copious American aid made the prior situation much worse, led to large amounts of corruption, and in part contributed to the eventual fall of South Vietnam.

Look at foreign aid programs that don't also address political and social issues like basic human rights and reproductive choice for women. They always fail, and many make the original problems worse.