Eugene Kontorovich is guestblogging on the subject at Volokh: "International rules make detention and prosecution so costly that even the most powerful nations prefer to let the criminals go free, leaving them to continue looting the one-third of world trade that passes through the Gulf of Aden." And for comic relief, here's Susie Madrak at Crooks & Liars (by way of a jerry-rigged Johann Hari argument involving nuclear waste dumping and mutant babies) contending that "in the big picture, the Somali pirates are acting in self-defense". Earlier here. More: Bader.