Sea Lanes of Communication Analysis

The South China Sea is home to several nations which thrive off of trade. Southeast Asia relies off of trade to survive, and as the United States utilizes China more for the manufacture of basic goods, more important does the South China Sea become. China, Vietnam, Thailand, The Philippines, and several island nations have laid claim to chunks of the body of water, but the dominant nation in the area is China. Able to outspend and outdo any of the other countries in a military capacity, the state has basically taken the entire sea as their own. One of the possessions prized by both the Southeast Asian region and a good portion of the world are a scattered group of islands called the Spratlys. Diminutive, and almost useless for habitation or much else, they are home to some of the world's richest oil deposits. However, they go far beyond the territorial waters of any nation in the area, though many have attempted to set up outposts and housing. Because basic life cannot be supported on the islands, most of the land is only visible at low tide, they cannot be officially considered islands. Currently, the Chinese and several nations have naval craft deployed, each trying to make their claim at what could be the world's next Gold Rush, or an all-out war.

The Strait of Malacca is often argued as the most dangerous of all sea lanes and trade routes. This is common not only because of its truth, but its exposure to the public. However, the ferocity of the events occurring within the strait and around it is not all because those who create violence and mayhem seek to please themselves. Several Indonesian separatist groups exist, the sheer volume and mass of the nation and plethora of ethnicities against the current regime create a problem not unlike a small civil war. The Free Papua movement, Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, and the Free Aceh Movement, though all now defunct and their members reintegrated with civil society, are just examples of how the country and surrounding nations have managed to rip themselves apart over various battles.

This, in turn, forces those with no money or alternative way of life to turn to stealing. Because many vessels traverse the waters and the locals know them so well, it comes easier than having to actually find work. Vessels with a lower freeboard are favored by most pirates, but because of the traffic in the Strait of Malacca, there is a much higher chance of having one's ship boarded and having money and objects of variable value stolen. Many seek private gain, and others need to find ways to tend to their dependents. After the tsunamis that rocked the Southeast Asian region swept through Indonesia, piracy was not a threat for some time. Like all popular trades, especially those that bring in large sums of wealth, it would find a way to reappear, and attacks became much more common as time progressed and man adapted.

The strait of Bab el-Mandeb is conveniently located between two equally desperate areas, both devoid of material wealth and Western thought. In Yemen, where rule is assumed by those who commit to a life of the trade of terror, and where law is oppression or death, it is all too common to see individual cases of terrorism, like that of the Cole. Piracy is less an issue to the north, as monetary gain is not as important to those who operate along the coasts as spreading a doctrine of fear or coaxing others into submission or conversion by means of explosion and death. To the south, however, anything that is needed goes. The Somalis and other African peoples, who will at times do anything to save their own lives to work for warlords, will resort to piracy to fund the operations of their said employer. United Nations relief vessels, merchant ships, and even cruise vessels have been attacked farther than one-hundred miles off of the coast of the Horn of Africa, proving to those who seek to stop piracy that with advancement in quelling the ability of a pirate brings adaptation by others.

Overall, Bab el-Mandeb is much more threatening when compared to the Strait of Malacca. Both are highly dangerous areas, definitely a threat to commerce in Africa, Asia, and the world's interests. The Strait of Malacca has presented itself as a drain of maritime corporations' funds and financial loss of business all over the world. Bab el-Mandeb and the surrounding coasts are home to some of the most vile and violent groups on the planet, harboring both terrorists and on a lesser scale, pirates. Given that terrorism will often cause more disruption and often halt traffic in a specific area for an extended period of time, it does much to damage society, infrastructure, and international trade. Piracy, though in greater volume and resulting in more deaths over time, does not give the massive effect of a single terror operation, where the death was deliberate and meant as a warning to those who pass without the approval of the aggressive entity.