Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

When a parent dies, when disaster strikes, that's when you know who truly cares.

So in a time when its government is shut down, the American people need to know who its friends are. Thankfully, the Russians are yet again standing firm at America's side.

Not wanting to see NASA's Web site languishing without the gravity of hosting, some fine Russians have stepped forward and offered their services.

As Techdirt reports, Russia's Pirate Party has girded its buccaneering loins and come to the international rescue.

In a letter on its own, fully-functioning, Web site the pirates wrote:

To NASA, USA from Pirate Party of Russia Dear Madame/Sir, We do care about the situation around your web site and the budget crisis in USA. Thereby we would like to offer you bulletproof collocation or dedicated servers on our hosting platform till the end of the crisis. We stand for Internet privacy, and as the result you would not have to worry about programs such as PRISM and other illegal activities of secret services of different countries. Your traffic, your activity and the activity of your users will be in safety. We love Mars!

Some people, you see, love Mars even more than they love their own country. They are prepared to offer "bulletproof collocation," which, quite frankly, many of us wish for in these troubled times.

Moreover, Russia has long been seen as a veritable hotbed of Internet privacy.

Why, it is currently even hosting Edward Snowden when so many countries decided that offering him a bed would be far too hot.

Oddly, the sheer openness of the Russian government hasn't stretched to recognizing the Pirate Party as a political organization. It's something to do with the word "pirates" representing a certain level of criminality, something that has always been frowned upon in Russia.

Indeed, Russia recently enacted an antipiracy law, which rather caused a lather in the Pirate Party.

Let's overlook whether it's Russians, pirates, or Russian pirates who want to help.

America has spent so much of its recent history helping others. Sometimes, it's true, that help has not been appreciated.

But let's now accept a little assistance. We are in dire need. Our extra-terrestrial Web site is all over the space. Aliens might attack us. Asteroids might come out of nowhere to land upon Washington DC.

For once, there are actually people who want to hold out a hand and help us.

To an offer as generous as this, we would surely regret a nyet.