FEDERAL REGISTER, JAN. 26, 2011 SELF-DEFENSE OF VESSELS OF THE UNITED STATES (COMMENT PERIOD EXPIRED MARCH 1, 2011)
Federal Register
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Volume 76, Number 17 [Notices] [Pages 4706-4707]
[FR Doc No: 2011-1571]
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard [Docket No. USCG-2011-0012]
Self-Defense of Vessels of the United States
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: [EXPIRED] Notice; request for comments [EXPIRED].
SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 912 of the 2010 Coast Guard Authorization Act, the Coast Guard is reviewing its policy regarding standard rules for the use of force for self-defense of vessels of the United States and is requesting comments on the current policy.
[COMMENT PERIOD EXPIRED MARCH 1, 2001]
FEDERAL REGISTER: MARCH 23, 2011: US COAST GUARD MERCHANT MARINE PERSONNEL ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO RENEW CHARTER AFTER 1 YEAR EXPIRED CHARTER
A Notice by the Coast Guard on 03/23/2011
The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined that the establishment of the Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC) is necessary and in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties of the U. S. Coast Guard.
Name of Committee: Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee. [MERPAC]
AUSTRALIAN SHIPOWNERS ASSOCIATION: THE INCREASING THREAT TO WORLD SHIPPING
Australian Shipowners Association
Media Release
The Increasing Threat to World Shipping
Monday, February 28, 2011
Over 800 seafarers are currently being held hostage in appalling conditions by armed gangs of Somali pirates. Subjected to physical and psychological abuse for months at a time, they are held ransom for millions of dollars. Merchant ships are being attacked daily and run a gauntlet of gunfire and rocket propelled grenade attacks.
“The piracy crisis in the Indian Ocean is getting worse, and not just for the shipping industry” said Ms Teresa Hatch, Executive Director of the Australian Shipowners Association. “The impact on the key supply routes and vessels having to look at alternative routes will mean increased transport costs and delivery times.”
“Recent figures show that piracy is costing the global economy billions of dollars a year” Ms Hatch said.
To highlight the severity of the crisis the international shipping community has now resorted to placing adverts in the world’s media and calling for action from governments.
The Australian Shipowners Association has raised the industry’s concern over this increasing threat with the Gillard Government.
The world relies on freedom of the seas for the safe delivery of 90% of food, fuel, raw materials and manufactured goods. This freedom is threatened. The lawlessness has spread right across the Indian Ocean – through which half the world’s oil supply passes.
As part of the campaign to increase awareness and a call for government action, the SOS Save Our Seafarers website was launched today – http://www.saveourseafarers.com/ Supporters can send a pre-prepared letter, signed by them to their chosen heads of government. The website will also have up-to-the minute information on the piracy situation, and an SOS TV page with film clips and pictures.
Orchestrating the Response to Piracy
NATO Community, February 14, 2011
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency, has launched an action plan to tackle the problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia.
[MY COMMENTARY: IMO is avoiding any consideration for a new maritime treaty on the arming of merchant vessels and their crew (not just armed contract security teams). Criticism of IMO's reluctance in this regard is increasing.]
ETERNAL VIGILANCE AND THE PRICE OF FREEDOM: SHARIA AND MEIN KAMPF COMPARED
The ultimate goal of Sharia and Islam, like Hitler’s Mein Kampf, is the achievement of a global empire. Sharia must never get a foothold in the United States! First order of busines for Sharia and Islam is the overthrow of our Bill of Rights! It will be, on that basis alone, the predicate act triggering World War III.
The quote, “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom“
has never been traced to Thomas Jefferson.
INTL MARITIME ORGANIZATION AND THE ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC CONFERENCE COMPARED
ITF MOCKS SOMALI ANTI-PIRACY EFFORTS – THREATEN BOYCOTT OF THE INDIAN OCEAN
Excerpt from William Shakespeare – Hamlet 3/1:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.
Here I present a POINT: Prosecute and Imprison Somali Pirates and COUNTER-POINT: Hang captured pirates at sea or sink pirate ships at sea with all hands aboard. This age old question is reflected in two Latin maxims:
Via antiqua via est tuta
The old way is the safe way.
Salus populi est suprema lex.
The safety of the people is the highest law.
YACHT QUEST: DID FBI HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR VIOLATE THE TRUCE UNDER THE LAW OF NATIONS?
If “Piracy and Armed Robbery on the High Seas” and the connsequential murder of innocent seafarers can be couched in terms of war, especially when Somalia is choatically devolving into civil war with civilian refugees fleeing into Kenya then I concluded that the Djibouti Code of Conduct and the international coalition of naval forces operating under The Law of Nations short of initiating a full scale war on Somalia is a complete failure to suppress piracy and armed robbery on the high seas. The next step must be war on Somalia to circumvent the imminent risk of destabilizing the region, though it could be said that initiating a war on Somalia is itself an act the further destablizes the region. It may very well be. But like that old saying, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, kind of like a tornado or a hurricane coming at you.
According to the ECOTERRA International Bulletin, Status of Seized Vessels and Crews in Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Ocean, February 23, 2011, “at least 50 foreign vessels plus two barges are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 815 hostages or captives – including a South-African yachting couple – suffer to be released” are being held hostage by the Somali pirates. Under the Geneva Convention this hostages are prisoners of war.
I cite excerpts from Vattel’s, The Law of Nations (1797), concerning a truce during war, and current news events as noted below to conclude that the FBI Hostage Negotiator violated the Rules of War under The Law of Nations when he wrongly concluded that the two Somali pirate leaders aboard the USS Sterett (DDG 104) were not serious about the negotiation and decided to throw the two Somali pirate leaders into the brig. [CORRECTED FEB. 28, 2011]
