Mongolia becomes new U.S. maritime ally

Somebody should have looked at a map.

The State Department with great fanfare on Tuesday signed an agreement with landlocked Mongolia that will allow Mongolian ships to be boarded and searched if they are suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

This despite the fact that Mongolia – a vast land that’s home to the Gobi Desert, windswept steppes and largely populated by nomadic yak herders – has no navy at all and lies thousands of miles from open waters.

Still, its tiny merchant marine is recognized as one of 32 “flag of convenience” countries by international maritime authorities.