After the French Luxury ship the Ponant was hijacked by Pirates the French did what you expect any sea-worthy nation to do. They attacked.

After the owner of the ship payed a ransom of $2 million dollars a team of French Commandos went into action:

Once the crew had been brought ashore safely, French attack helicopters tracked the pirates, believed to be fishermen, to the village of Jariban and moved in when they saw some of them attempting to flee the scene, the general said.

A sniper disabled the engine of the get-away car, while another helicopter dropped off three French commandos who captured six of the 12 pirates.

The pirates “gave themselves up without too much difficulty”, the general said, adding that those captured would be handed over to French justice officials.

“It was an intervention, not a pulverisation,” he added.

Now the French stance on Piracy is one I can get behind. The pirates are currently facing trial in France for their crimes. The British on the other hand have a different strategy:

The British government on the other hand, to the incredulity of many in the maritime industry, has taken a curiously pathetic approach to piracy. While the French were flying six of the captured pirates to Paris to face trial, the British Foreign Office issued a directive to the once vaunted Royal Navy not to detain any pirates, because doing so could violate their human rights. British warships patrolling the pirate-infested waters off Somalia were advised that captured pirates could claim asylum in Britain and that those who were returned to Somalia faced beheading for murder or a hand chopped off for theft under Islamic law.

I’m stumped. Isn’t this the same empire that would just as soon string your dead pirate ass up in Execution Dock?

How far they’ve fallen.