German frigate off the coast of Somalia, sent its helicopter to interrupt a pirate attack on an Egyptian merchant ship. One member of the Egyptian crew had already been wounded by gunfire, but the German helicopter stopped the attack. German sailors then captured and disarmed six of the pirates. The pirates were then set free. This is because German law only allows the prosecution of pirates who are attacking Germans (or German property.) The Egyptian ship was carrying a cargo of wheat from Ukraine to South Korea.
Since World War II, national and international laws for dealing with pirates (which used to mean trying and executing the pirates on the spot) have been discarded. But nothing took the place of those procedures, because it was believed that piracy was no longer a problem.
Germany is not the only country having problems with prosecuting pirates. Since all this happening in international waters, there is a problem with finding a country that will accept, and prosecute, the pirates. Kenya has agreed to accept, and prosecute, pirates arrested off the coast of Somalia. The pirates will be tried under Kenyan law, but foreign countries will provide money to help pay for the proceedings.
Some nations working the anti-piracy patrol, have signed deals with Kenya, which sends pirates captured off the Somali coast, to Kenyan courts for prosecution. These deals provide cash to help defer the costs of prosecution and incarceration, which would otherwise be a burden for a poor nation like Kenya.
Meanwhile, Chinese warships have just arrived off the Somali coast, and a Russian warship already there has not caught any pirates yet. Everyone is watching what will happen to pirates caught by Russian or Chinese warships. These two nations are known to be very ruthless when it comes to law and order issues. Most other nations are more politically correct. The Chinese are rather more blunt. Most of the criminals executed worldwide each year, are killed in China. 
December 29, 2008: A senior Russian diplomat Thursday denied the claim by a prominent Iranian lawmaker that Moscow had started delivering components of its S0-300 anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile defense system to Tehran.
"I am very surprised by the fuss this story has caused recently. I think this is due to a lack of interesting international news in the run-up to the holidays that many of our Western neighbors are celebrating. This causes an influx of interest in information, which has nothing to do with anything that is going on or will happen," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow, according to a report from RIA Novosti.
As previously reported in UPI's BMD Focus column, Esmaeil Kosari, deputy chairman of the parliamentary commission on national security and foreign policy, told Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency Sunday that Russia was already sending components for its formidable S-300PMU-1 system -- NATO designation SA-20 Gargoyle -- to the Islamic republic. In Washington, the outgoing Bush administration quizzed Russia about the report. U.S. officials indicated they also had intelligence information to support Kosari's claim.
However, Russian officials have lined up to deny the claim. Ryabkov insisted that while Russia's weapons and nuclear trading with Iran was continuing, it was all above board and complied with international law.
RIA Novosti also noted that on Monday the Russian federal service for military cooperation also issued a denial of Kosari's claim. "Reports on deliveries of S-300 systems are untrue," it announced in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has remained silent on the controversy, neither confirming nor denying Kosari's claim.
RIA Novosti also reported an Israeli Foreign Ministry statement that the Kremlin had also sent a message to the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that it had not begun to send the S-300s to Iran.
Russian military commentator Ilya Kramnik wrote for RIA Novosti on Dec. 19 that selling five battalions of S-300PMUs to Iran would comprise "up to 20 systems -- 60 launchers -- depending on the makeup of a battalion. Each of the launchers carries four 48N6E missiles -- 48N6E2s with the PMU-2 mobile launchers -- with a range of 150 kilometers -- 90 miles -- up to 200 kilometers -- 120 miles -- for the 48N6E2s."
"Each launch system consists of three launchers and is capable of engaging six targets at the same time, aiming 12 missiles at them. One battalion consisting of four systems is, therefore, capable of dealing with 24 aircraft simultaneously. After changing position and replenishing ammunition, it can be quickly redeployed for repulsing a repeat raid," Kramnik wrote.
Russia also sent to Iran 29 Tor-M1 air defense missile systems worth $700 million under a deal closed in late 2005. RIA Novosti confirmed that Russian technicians had taught Iranian engineers and technicians how to operate the Tor-M1, including the radar systems that guide it.
The issue of whether Russia has in fact already sent components of the S-300 system to Iran is still open. The Israelis appear more ready to accept Russian assurances that they have not than the U.S. government.
A war is even less likely as the United States, a key ally of both Islamabad and New Delhi, would suffer as a result, the experts warn.
"The risk of war has increased with troop mobilisation," Hasan Askari, a political analyst and former head of the political science department at the University of Punjab, told AFP.
"However this does not necessarily mean that the two countries will go to war. There are a number of considerations which impel the two sides not to cross the red line."
Senior Pakistani security and defence officials said Friday the military had moved a "limited number" of troops fighting Taliban militants in the tribal areas near Afghanistan to the Indian border as a "minimum security" measure.
This followed intelligence intercepts indicating that India had put its forces on notice to move to the border and cancelled all leave, they said. An Indian army spokesman however told AFP that no troops had been moved.
Retired Pakistani general Talat Masood said: "While the political and military leadership in both countries don't want war to happen, this action-and-reaction phenomenon is promoting escalation."
Both sides say they do not want war but would respond if attacked.
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that "all options" are open since the Mumbai attacks, which New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The attacks left 172 people dead.
"By declaring all options are on the table, New Delhi has pushed Pakistan toward a limited war scenario -- something which Islamabad was reluctant to contemplate a couple of weeks ago," defence analyst Riffat Hussain told AFP.
Hussain, the head of strategic studies at Islamabad's Quaid-e-Azam University, said any escalation could lead to a catastrophic point of no return that no one could envision.
"As nuclear-armed adversaries, India and Pakistan cannot afford any kind of shooting war between them," he said.
Analysts say while tensions in South Asia may persist for some time, they will eventually be defused because of international interest in the region, especially in Washington.
Askari said US and Western interests in Afghanistan would be "threatened" if Pakistan were to pull significant numbers of troops out of the tribal areas, as it would expose foreign forces to more cross-border militant attacks.
Such a withdrawal would also endanger the flow of supplies to NATO and US forces in Afghanistan, as the roads through northwest Pakistan would not be secure, he said.
Masood agreed, saying: "Pakistan should be focusing more on the tribal territories to fight Al-Qaeda and control Talibanisation. Any diversion will be disastrous for the country, for the region and for international peace."
New Delhi-based security expert C. Uday Bhaskar said Pakistani troop movements "seem to be part of the army's strategy to obfuscate the real issue of the (Mumbai) attacks."
"It is a signal to the Americans that they should not push the Pakistani army beyond a point. Although it seems like an India-Pakistan issue, the operative part is Pakistan-US ties," Bhaskar told AFP.
Hussain warned that India's tough stance would backfire if maintained, as it would embolden the forces of extremism in Pakistan -- a price neither country could afford to pay.
"That would not only imperil the internal security of Pakistan but also permanently damage prospects of a lasting peace between the two states," he said.
The New Balkans?
its Afghan troop strength are in flux. The most recent plans are to basically double U.S. strength there (from 32,000 to 60-65,000.) 
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou presided over an elaborate military exercise, saying the island needs a strong defense despite its growing ties with rival China. .jpg/300px-Two_F-22A_Raptor_in_column_flight_-_(Noise_reduced).jpg)
US F-22 Raptor stealth fighter planes since it expects the United States to stop producing them, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Japanese government had been trying to persuade the United States to sell it F-22 Raptors to replace its own aging F-15 fleet, despite Washington's reluctance. Tokyo, however, is now abandoning the plan amid signs that US President-elect Barack Obama's new administration may halt production of the aircraft, the Daily Yomiuri said, quoting government sources. "We have a firm impression that its production likely would be halted," a high-ranking official at the defence ministry was quoted by the daily as saying.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, reappointed to stay in the post under Obama, has said publicly that he favours halting production of the F-22. Washington is also said to be skeptical about continuing production of the expensive planes due to the financial crisis and declining tax revenues.
US law prohibits export of Raptors as Congress remains anxious over the possible leaking of details of the Raptor's state-of-the-art technology. They are built to evade radar detection at supersonic speeds.
Japan's possible alternatives are the Eurofighter Typhoon, jointly developed by NATO members Britain, Italy, Spain and Germany, said the English version of the Yomiuri Shimbun. Among other candidates are the US fighter F-15FX and the F-35 Lightning II, produced by the United States, Britain and other countries, it reported.
Some ministry officials favor the F-35, a high-performance fighter with sophisticated bombing capabilities, but this plane has not even been deployed so far by US forces, the daily said.
Japan has been officially pacifist since its defeat in World War II but has one of the world's largest defence budgets and is gradually expanding its military role.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - December 28, 2008: A pro-rebel Web site says Tamil fighters have killed at least 50 government troops in Sri Lanka's embattled north.
The TamilNet Web site reported Sunday that the soldiers were killed in fighting in the rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu on Saturday.
The rebels also found 16 bodies of soldiers and 15 rifles, said the Web site, citing unidentified rebel officials.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara dismissed the TamilNet account and said only nine soldiers were killed in that area.
Both sides routinely exaggerate enemy casualties while underreporting their own.
It is not possible to get independent accounts of the clashes because the war zone is restricted to journalists.
The official Korean Central News Agency said in separate dispatches that Kim, accompanied by military leaders, visited an Air Force unit and an Army unit. The dispatches, dated on December 27, did not say when he made the trips.
A Pakistan army soldier stands alert at a bazaar in Mingora, the main town of Pakistan's troubled Swat Valley, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008. Pakistan moved thousands of troops from the Afghan border toward India, officials and a witness said, raising tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors Saturday and possibly undermining the U.S.-backed campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban
All schools that teach girls have been ordered by the Taliban to close by that date or face the inevitable consequences - being blown up being the most usual of these. They have already blown up well over a hundred girls schools, principally those operated by the government, but have moved in recent weeks to blowing up private institutions as well.
'Female education has virtually ceased anyway, and the Taliban announcement merely puts the seal on what is a manifest reality - the government has lost the battle for Swat and the Taliban have won,' the editorial said.
'They operate at will, go where they like, issue orders and proclamations that a terrified public are unable to ignore and broadcast their message of obscurantism on the radio for all to hear - and obey,' it added.
Noting that the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government had called for assistance, the editorial said: 'But little seems to be forthcoming.
'Refugees stream out of the valley, the operators of private schools try to fight a rearguard action, the tourist trade is dead and buried long ago and the beautiful valley of Swat now enters a time of darkness.'
President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a junior partner in the NWFP ruling coalition that is led by the Awami National Party of Chief Minister Asfandar Wali Khan, grandson of the legendary Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan - better known as the Frontier Gandhi.
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