Since the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance, the world has been conscious of menace on the high seas.  The operetta is delightfully playful and amusing.  In contrast, the scenario about and the decision on December 4, 2014 concerning Somali pirates made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a farce, ludicrous and far from amusing.   The Court, elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of human rights, is considered a totally independent body.  Its decision on December 4 reached the height of absurdity, and it suggests that its independence has transmuted into irrationality and incomprehensible arrogance.  Indeed, the Court has made absurdity one of the fine arts. The U.S. has become familiar with the problem of piracy.  Hollywood presented in the moving film, Captain Phillips, the hijacking in the Indian Ocean in 2009 by...(Read Full Article)