Piracy & Public Relations on the High Seas
While America justly celebrates the breathtaking rescue of the Captain Richard Phillips from the Somali pirates and President Barack Obama can breath a sigh of relief that unhealthy comparisons with the former President Jimmy Carter have turned, with the precision of snipers' bullets, into contrasts, there is a worrying flipside to their public relations coup.
Had the saga gone on much longer, or Phillips have been killed either by the pirates or during a bungled raid, then Obama would have been fighting for the high ground having failed on the high seas, and that kind of crisis management could have hijacked his agenda not only at home, but around the globe.
Let's remind ourselves that public relations is the quest to gain not only publicity but also the less tangible word of mouth promotion that in these circumstances is helping brand America and especially Obama as the Captain's return is orchestrated for the media. There had been enormous pressure for his safe rescue, not least after France lost a hostage in similar circumstances just a few days ago.
However, much as the preparedness of shipping owners and nations to pay ransom money for for their crew, ships and cargoes to be released has simply encourage more piracy, the killing of the pirates involved in this incident will probably not act as a detterent.
The Somali pirates are not swashbuckling heroes of romantic legend, they were heavily armed criminals who until the last week had been content to only really use fear as a weapon. Well, while the cargo itself will always have a value within the lawless Somalia, the crews - well they just got a lot hotter to handle.
Given the choice a jumpy pirate may opt to slaughter the crew of future vessels they capture simply to avoid the kind of stand off that did not end so well for the buccaneers. After all, there is not going to be a queue of ex-pirates down the local job centre tomorrow.
What options does Obama have now? Surely there has to be an aggressive international navy presence and a safe shipping lane where pirates venture at their own risk. Only such maintained pressure will stop this PR coup from sparking a PR nightmare.