Note to Somali-pirate self.

Avoid Russian ships.
Target American ships.

Pass it on.

In Soviet America, criminals judge you!

This is just a small example of why the sun is setting on the US. Sad. Darwin's law will prevail.

....that captured Somali pirates "have all died."

Yeah,died of lead poisoning!

I'm sorry - shoot me - but in the specific context of the identities and actions of the deceased, the understatedly tidy passive voice of the phrase "have all died" makes me laugh. It suggests they caught the flu, or fell down the stairs, or something.

Seriously, though, we need to hold a public inquiry into why I find that amusing.

Liberalism 101.

Even if they see an American prison, it would be a cakewalk and path to citizenship. That and early release on the testimony of some grey haired ponytail with glassy dreamy eyes.

Then comes the anchor babies and following that half a Somoli village.

95% of black judges give the rest a bad name.

Now is the time at SDA when I juxtapose!

This is me.

And this is a real man.

I recall being amused at the Russian's stating, "they've all died" it was a bit of ... "be careful on those stairs folks" A public inquiry could be useful, something with a decent hospitality suite.
although I remain torn by some of the recent Russian actions going on...

The Russians are very pragmatic. In some cases, such as the piracy situation, that's far better than the politically correct 'two-step' the US is playing to. Instead of capturing them it would be more prudent to shoot the pirate boats full of holes, and let them 'get away'. The sharks will mete out appropriate justice.

I don't know what libtards don't get about protecting citizens and goods in international and foreign waters?

They should have 50 caliber machine guns hidden in collapsible shipping containers, that drop down instantly, and blast the bast@rds to the bottom of the ocean in a nano second.

It would only happen a couple of times.

Remember the old "paper tiger" label for the U.S.?...
Can we be far behind with this Tamil nonsense?

In a way the two stories tell a tale of two nations. It is better to be incarcerated in America than to be free to travel back to Somalia from Russia. We have Lawyers for them while the Russians help them find their way to eternity!

So the Jackass didn't lay charges because their aim was off?

I still have trouble grasping that one Supreme Court judge, Chief Justice Brian Dickson appointed by Trudeau, caused all this spending of billions of dollars because of his decision to grant full Canadian rights to refugees in 1985 after a 3 to 3 deadlock. Of course he was responding to Turdeau's charter, the lawyers best friend and Canada's worst enemy.

Following the Supreme Court decision, the number of hearings needed for refugees has caused massive delays in the Immigration Department. The number of refugee cases receiving legal aid was also increased, with 1,610 cases in Ontario in 1989 rising to 15,247 cases in 1990 in that province.

More puzzling is why our parliament has not overruled this decision or changes the laws to remove any rights from non-citizens.

We still are holding many Tamil Tigers that have no papers and we can't deport them.

Didn't the Canadian Navy capture pirates then just turned them lose?

Hotel Canada, the sucker nation.

Shoot them all; let God figure out who's guilty or not.

The folly of applying domestic law systems to acts of war.

I think Stephen has it right; the inadequacy of domestic law to deal with acts of war or terrorism.

I don't support going The Russian Way, which is to ignore the process of law, but a major problem in dealing with terrorism and piracy is that we don't have the legal means to deal with them.

That's one reason why the US is so messed up dealing with Islamic terrorism, unclear whether to define these attacks as criminal or war actions or, heh, 'justified reactions of racial and other abuse by the West'.

Since the US and other nations haven't dealt with the definition and legal nature of terrorism, the decisions move to the societal, and we get the 'they only did it because they are poor and the US is responsible anyway for all of world poverty, and...'

The decline started when they graduated more lawyers every year than engineers.

Not so fast. Note that one (1) count of piracy dismissed; seven (7) charges pending, including attacking a vessel, attacking persons on a vessel, assault with a weapon on federal officers, conspiracy involving use of a firearm, use of a firearm during a violent crime---charges that carry of total of 35 years in prison.

Leave aside the lunacy of treating the (alleged) attack as a legal matter, and therefore one in which the (alleged) aspiring pirates are entitled to all the rights and protections of the law meant to promote justice for citizens. Once in the courts, we have a good example of the all-too-common spectacle of a judge who can’t think his way from actual statutes and case law to the principles which underlie them. And so the judge in this case would have an action (piracy) prohibited, but not its attempt; a judge that construes piracy as (successful) robbery, dismissing those cases in domestic and foreign law which include under the definition of ‘piracy’ depredations that do not include actual takings, because that’s how ‘piracy’ is defined In Black’s Law Dictionary!

"The Most Dangerous Branch" indeed.

Pity those pirates, they all tripped at the same time and tragically fell down 10 flights of stairs. Just like there was insufficient envidence for a conviction there will be insuffient evidence for a conviction. Two left feet and an open stairwell are not a good combination. Don't mess with the Russians - they will quietly take care of "business" in their own unique style. Cheers, I think.

To be fair if the Russians had no law to prosecute the pirates would it not be kidnapping to take them to Russia? They are not breaking Russian law, they are breaking International law and the penalty is still death. Rough encounters merit rough justice as far as I'm concerned.
Bringing them to the US and giving them 3 squares a day isn't going to improve the situation. Horrible examples work so well.

Stephen # 8:33 has it right. There is an old expression, "generals and engineers build countries, lawyers and politicians destroy them". This seems to be the problem in so many ways in the West today.

When the swine are in charge swill is at a premium and pearls are worth nothing.

Raymond A. Jackson say's it's OK to go shoot at his house as long as you don't "ravage" it.

richfisher nails it !!

The proper tool for managing pirates is a large caliber deck gun. You let them shoot their small arms at your boat, just to establish bonafieds y'unnerstand, then you shoot back. Once.

Because if you capture them, the likes of Mr. Jackson get involved and all common sense goes out the window. If a guy fires on a Canadian ship, the very least that needs to happen to him is a loooooong stay in a Canadian prison. One up around Churchill someplace, by preference. No fence, no road.

OTOH, the difference between Russian government and Somali pirates is strictly the size of their boats. Just because they aren't being crippled by liberalism doesn't mean we should emulate them.

It really appears there's an international epidemic of stupidity on the Bench in the Anglo nations. One of this epidemic's characteristics is a remarkable direct correlation of stupidity and arrogance.

Phantom, the only problem with your suggested capture-trial-imprisonment scanario is this:

The pirates (sea-going terrorists, IMO) would be incarcerated in conditions probably far better than they've ever experienced in their lives, followed by leftard "human rights" lawyers -well paid by taxpayers, natch- acting on their behalf, getting them "refugee" status, then Canadian citizenship-of-convenience. Post-prison lives accompanied by the life-long strong background sound "cha-ching" of welfare cash registers disgorging taxpayers' money. And they also breed...

Dave: "More puzzling is why our parliament has not overruled this decision or changes the laws to remove any rights from non-citizens."

The only possible answer after 25 years of inaction is that Parliament likes the law just the way it is.

This brings to mind the incident a few years ago when the Iranians seized a Royal Navy launch and imprisoned the crew. (While a Royal Navy destroyer was not far away)

Many reported that they could see tears coming from Nelson high atop his column in Trafalgar square.

nothing to see here just move along .....S.N.A.F.U....the ususal.

Paul in calgary

In all fairness it appears that this loonet-tunes judge just dismissed 1 charge out of several.

The Russians....when law is absent....justice and injustice both occur.........

The Chinese have naval units deployed in the area. Do you suspect their protocols are less pragmatic than the Russians.

In all fairness...recall the 3 pirates, with american hostages, shot by the marine snipers on the US tin-can.

Then there was a hi-jacked vessel on an intercept course with another merchantman....who called for naval assistance....

.....which brought an Indian frigate to intercept the interceptor.....and then a pirate had the temerity to fire his AK at the Indians......

....The usual elements protested that there were "likely" hostages on the hi-jacked vessel.

And from that point on, no Soviet ship will ever be bothered by pirates again.

I wouldn't be surprised if lots more ships fly the Russian flag in those waters.

Just release them in a small row boat.....in the middle of the Atlantic ocean with five days of fresh water. So, you want to be a pirate, eh, aaargh!

Kathryn, sadly you are right. Despite statistics that show 3rd world immigrants earn less and cost far in social services than earlier immigrants. Of course to Liberals they are votes.

"the all-too-common spectacle of a judge who can’t think his way from actual statutes and case law to the principles which underlie them"

It’s not that they can't think, it's that liberal judges look for ways to inject their own political views. They twist imperfect laws to justify their preconceived positions; completely ignoring the spirit which was intended. I say “liberal judges” because in liberal circles “by any means necessary” is the accepted dogma, so Leftists are prone to justify any means to reach an end; where as, such a dogma is anathema to typical Right-wing thinking.

My initial reaction to this story is a bit different. Personally, I feel rage when I hear of judges that would put American, Canadian and Allied troops, not to mention civilian vessels at risk to push his jackass view of justice. Judges should be implementing harsh justice on culprits like these, using their “expertise” to make it so; not the other way around. The judges work for us! Not pirates and terrorists.

I disagree with ET. The Russian solution is the most logical solution for these and other situations in the absence of a proper legal framework. Like the discussion about ethics the other day, what’s important here is results, not process. The only ethical action without the proper legal framework is to ensure the safety of citizens by applying common sense (or Russian thinking) until such a framework exists. Unfortunately we would likely step on a few flowers in an attempt to weed the proverbial garden. But weighed against the harm to the flowers of leaving the weeds unchecked is unacceptable in my view. Anybody can read and interpret a document, what we need is leadership when the answers are not so clear; and we run the risk of making the wrong decision. That’s leadership! That’s what the Americans are desperately missing. Keep in mind that the Americans CHOSE not to choose a leader when they elected someone that voted “Present” 95% of the time. Fortunately for Canadians, we’ve got leadership. PMSH is the Peyton Manning of politics.

The bottom line is, and ET might agree, that we cannot assume that people here at home have ours and the troops best interest in mind when making important economic, legal and defense decisions. Where we’d disagree, is that I believe the responsibility of making the correct decision falls to military leaders on the ground if our politicians will not; even at the risk of personal sacrifice. They MUST protect their subordinates and our interests regardless of the personal consequences.

That's my rant!

Translated from Russian. Captain I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is the pirates were able to go under the ship from bow to stern. The bad news is they didn't survive the swim. Permission to feed the fishes?

Why don't the Russians just be honest? No one is every going to hold them to account for their massive crimes against humanity. They should come out and say: "We killed them in cold blood. What are you going to do about it?" The answer to that, of course, will be nothing.

I never saw large crowds of foaming at the mouth leftists protesting in front of the Russian Embassy.

Any leftist reading this want to reply ?

Please do.

The remaing charges for the would-be pirates:

(1) Attack to Plunder a Vessel.
(2) Acts of Violence Against Persons on a Vessel.
(3) Conspiracy to Perform Acts of Violence Against Persons on a Vessel.
(4) Assault with a Dangerous Weapon on Federal Officers and Employees.
(5) Conspriracy Involving a Firearm and a Crime of Violence.
(6) Use of a Firearm During a Crime of Violence.

So they probably won't go scot-free.

A critical factor for dismissal may be that, as the judge notes, "at no time did the defendents board or attempt to board the USS Ashland."
But if they were just float-by shooting, I don't understand why he didn't dismiss (1), too.

This is what happens when you give so much power to Judges. They begin to think their infallible.
Hence no law. No recourse to sanity.
Just a black robe with an Individual who has never lived the lives he Judges.
Crimminals are just part of his family. Piracy used to be an automatic hanging offense. Why? It was to protect international trade from murders.
Judges I figure don't think about such esoteric to them problems.
I read Caesar was captured by Pirates off of Asia Minor (Near Tarsus in Turkey). He was most genial. Telling them to laughter , once he was bought back. He would return with a fleet to crucify them all. After he was ransomed he returned & did exactly that.
Not one escaped alive. They took piracy seriously in the day.
JMO

I can't help but think of the movie RedHeat with Arnold telling Belushi--Soviet method is more economical,..after breaking the dudes hand in the doorjamb.

Just wait 'till Suzuki gets his hands on an Iranian nuke.......