AIUI, this seizure was not legally piracy because the ship that has been seized has been itself sanctioned for participating in helping Iran and -- wait for it -- Russia violate sanctions on it. It seems to be in accordance with international law.
Of course that's not saying that it was a wise move, or that our current Administration is not using international law as a fig-leaf to cover what is clearly an attempt to ratchet up pressure on Venezuela in an attempt to perpetrate either a war itself of the ouster of a foreign government.
I'm just saying that the action itself is prima facie legal.
While you might be right that the seizure is,
on the first impression, legal, the fact that this was carried out by an administration who has killed survivors hanging on boat wreckage, something that is totally illegal under both civil and wartime law, and
then publicly stated that it was acceptable in wartime makes me strongly question the legality of the tankers seizure.
Any person who claims that killing civilians who have not been tried in any court of law and then further killing the surviving civilians who are hanging on to boat wreckage
is legal in wartime needs to face an internation court and the same applies to anyone who ordered, and anyone who carried out, this unmistakeable breach of international law. Again I remind you that the Nuremberg trials made it excruciatingly clear that obeying an illegal order is NOT grounds for defence. For two hundred years the US was known as the best example of
the rule of law and the concept of
innocent until proven guilty. It distresses me that this no longer applies and that under the current administration the policy is
kill first and destroy all the evidence that a crime was committed by the dead. It heartens me that I have seen no evidence that the majority of US citizens no longer believe in
the rule of law. If the public opinion polls on Ukraine are any indication the vast majority of Americans still support law and order.
Yes the ship seized is a well known Russian shadow fleet tanker but it is still subject to international maritime law. Until I see some evidence
in the form of the exact wording of the laws applicable to this seizure I will continue to classify it dubious at best, even though I do hope that it is totally legal and that therefore Ukraine and all it's supporter nations can go ahead and seize Russia's shadow fleets sanctioned ships either in their own ports or in international waters. The fact that countries that do follow
the rule of law have failed to do this in the last four years makes me believe that this seizure is not legal.
As I said before - this issue vexes me and is likely to lead to Russia's "partners in crime" sanctioning and seizing pro Ukrainian ships. Even worse this could result in pro-Russia parties sanctioning and seizing aircraft.
This is a really slippery slope and may well lead to a massive dose of unintended consequences.
www.politico.eu
www.abc.net.au
WARSPITER says "'Black & white' is never going to be as common as endless shades of grey" and the shade of grey is what we are discussing.
