Latest report from the Guardian is that the captain was Russian as is most of the crew and the boat had been flagged before for lax safety and other problems.
This sounds like something Russia would do. With all the shady crude shipping they do for their allies, there is probably a commercial ship captains and sailors mafia.
Latest "development": According to the container ship owner, the captain is a Russian national! The plot thickens! He may have been selected at birth for this incident!
Remember what Buffalo Springfield said: Paranoia strikes deep! Into your life it will creep!
Thanks Julie, Good reporting. I would not doubt that Putin would have his intelligence ship jam the container ships GPS system. Hoping to make it collide with our fuel tanker ship
To be fair, the "reports" about the sodium cyanide seem all to stem from a source called Lloyds List, which in 24 hours has not been confirmed by either the LL or by any independent source. The container ship's owner released a statement saying:
"[T]hat the reports of a sodium cyanide consignment were incorrect, but that the vessel did have four empty containers that were loaded with the chemical.
“We are able to confirm that there are no containers on board ladened with sodium cyanide, as has been misreported. There are four empty containers that have previously contained the hazardous chemical and these containers will continue to be monitored,”
I now that "we're" never supposed to believe anything that an "owner" says, but the lack of follow-up by LL, which is apparently a respected maritime journalistic entity, seems to make the initial report problematic. Logically, if an evil entity wanted to destroy an oil tanker, attempting to "poison" the crew by ramming it and hoping that a few containers that may or may not even be affected by the crash is not the most efficient way.
As far as Russian "jamming" of GPS, there seems to be no indication that such jamming, while apparently used occasionally in the Baltic Sea and Ukraine, has ever been used to affect shipping near the UK. The fact that the Soviets have such capability does not necessarily mean that we should start WW3 over what seems to be negligence on the part of the container captain. After all, the US didn't declare war on Exxon when the drunken Valdez captain trashed Prince William Sound.
Good catch and I loved the “short story buried’. Immediately brought to mind a short story buried in the New York Times I read in the physical paper years ago about a Cheney energy task force meeting where sanctioned oil was discussed as being on the table… available to be exploited. I’ve searched for it in the intervening years… And never been able to find it online.
If this was a deliberate act of sabotage by a hostile foreign power against an American military asset, I would suggest that this changes everything. Whether this president does something about it is a different issue.
Ha, Yes. Well, I think Trump would simply express admiration for his best-bud’s, Putin’s, manliness and smarts. And that would be what changes everything . . .
What changes everything is that we have an incident that may or may not be terrorism but if it is, we will never know, because our president is with the purported terrorist.
The alternative, since this would constitute an attack on a US vessel serving the US military, could be another "Gulf of Tonkin" resolution. Perhaps authorizing tRump to invade Greenland!
Perhaps, but absent reliable intelligence, how could it be "proven"? And if tRump doesn't want reliable intelligence information, we all know what the alleged intelligence services will produce.
As for the attack itself, what changed after the USS Cole was attacked? A
"$ million dollar missile to blow up a $100 tent"? Even if the unthinkable were to happen and tRump permitted the CIA and NSA to confirm that the incident was definitely planned and/or executed by Russia, would that mean a declaration of war?
At the very most, it could force tRump to repudiate rasPutin and make nice with Ukraine and impose "sanctions' on the Soviet empire. But I wouldn't bet anybody's bottom (or top) dollar on that!
Also the flag of a ship doesn’t mean much, so it’s not quite accurate to say it’s a Portuguese ship. A ship’s flag is basically where the ship is registered or licensed for legal reasons, such as where its owners can be sued and what kind of limitations there are on its liability. Used to be that most ships were Panamanian flagged because it basically offered shipowners a free pass. Like most corporations are registered in Delaware because it’s legal and financially advantageous, not because they operate in Delaware.
Thank you for this.
Latest report from the Guardian is that the captain was Russian as is most of the crew and the boat had been flagged before for lax safety and other problems.
I'm pretty sure Putin caused the thunderstorm here last night because the Hydrometeorological Research Center of Russia studies such things.
Well, you know what Marjorie Taylor Greene said about that! And, a Congresswoman wouldn't lie, would she?
Ha ha. Doubtful
W O W
Well, THAT says it all!
This sounds like something Russia would do. With all the shady crude shipping they do for their allies, there is probably a commercial ship captains and sailors mafia.
I almost wish Europe would just start bombing Russia snd end this war on our marine life.
Sounds good.
And what happens when 10 megaton bombs land on Paris, Berlin, and London?
Like I said, I almost wish.
OK; I'll take the "almost"!
Latest "development": According to the container ship owner, the captain is a Russian national! The plot thickens! He may have been selected at birth for this incident!
Remember what Buffalo Springfield said: Paranoia strikes deep! Into your life it will creep!
Deripaska
Geshuntheit!
PD. Plausible Deniability.
Ok. Who is denying what?
PD. Plausible Deniability.
Thanks Julie, Good reporting. I would not doubt that Putin would have his intelligence ship jam the container ships GPS system. Hoping to make it collide with our fuel tanker ship
To be fair, the "reports" about the sodium cyanide seem all to stem from a source called Lloyds List, which in 24 hours has not been confirmed by either the LL or by any independent source. The container ship's owner released a statement saying:
"[T]hat the reports of a sodium cyanide consignment were incorrect, but that the vessel did have four empty containers that were loaded with the chemical.
“We are able to confirm that there are no containers on board ladened with sodium cyanide, as has been misreported. There are four empty containers that have previously contained the hazardous chemical and these containers will continue to be monitored,”
I now that "we're" never supposed to believe anything that an "owner" says, but the lack of follow-up by LL, which is apparently a respected maritime journalistic entity, seems to make the initial report problematic. Logically, if an evil entity wanted to destroy an oil tanker, attempting to "poison" the crew by ramming it and hoping that a few containers that may or may not even be affected by the crash is not the most efficient way.
As far as Russian "jamming" of GPS, there seems to be no indication that such jamming, while apparently used occasionally in the Baltic Sea and Ukraine, has ever been used to affect shipping near the UK. The fact that the Soviets have such capability does not necessarily mean that we should start WW3 over what seems to be negligence on the part of the container captain. After all, the US didn't declare war on Exxon when the drunken Valdez captain trashed Prince William Sound.
Has Manafort repaid his debt to Deripaska?
Thank you so much for this article and information! Very important event that get buried by all the other BS going on.
Good catch and I loved the “short story buried’. Immediately brought to mind a short story buried in the New York Times I read in the physical paper years ago about a Cheney energy task force meeting where sanctioned oil was discussed as being on the table… available to be exploited. I’ve searched for it in the intervening years… And never been able to find it online.
So, this narrative doesn’t nearly live up to the headline. You never get to how this collision could ‘change everything’
If this was a deliberate act of sabotage by a hostile foreign power against an American military asset, I would suggest that this changes everything. Whether this president does something about it is a different issue.
I also read somewhere that the captain of the Portuguese ship was a Russian national. That may just be rumor but it wouldn’t surprise me.
The Cardinal of The Kremlin by Tom Clancey
Russian tactics. Russian torture tactics. Russian poison tactics.
Bone Chilling.
Ha, Yes. Well, I think Trump would simply express admiration for his best-bud’s, Putin’s, manliness and smarts. And that would be what changes everything . . .
What changes everything is that we have an incident that may or may not be terrorism but if it is, we will never know, because our president is with the purported terrorist.
So in effect...nothing will change!
The alternative, since this would constitute an attack on a US vessel serving the US military, could be another "Gulf of Tonkin" resolution. Perhaps authorizing tRump to invade Greenland!
In and of itself, ignoring an attack on the United States, if proven, changes everything.
Perhaps, but absent reliable intelligence, how could it be "proven"? And if tRump doesn't want reliable intelligence information, we all know what the alleged intelligence services will produce.
As for the attack itself, what changed after the USS Cole was attacked? A
"$ million dollar missile to blow up a $100 tent"? Even if the unthinkable were to happen and tRump permitted the CIA and NSA to confirm that the incident was definitely planned and/or executed by Russia, would that mean a declaration of war?
At the very most, it could force tRump to repudiate rasPutin and make nice with Ukraine and impose "sanctions' on the Soviet empire. But I wouldn't bet anybody's bottom (or top) dollar on that!
But it was a Portuguese ship that hit ours?
Also the flag of a ship doesn’t mean much, so it’s not quite accurate to say it’s a Portuguese ship. A ship’s flag is basically where the ship is registered or licensed for legal reasons, such as where its owners can be sued and what kind of limitations there are on its liability. Used to be that most ships were Panamanian flagged because it basically offered shipowners a free pass. Like most corporations are registered in Delaware because it’s legal and financially advantageous, not because they operate in Delaware.
Yes, a Portuguese-flagged ship owned by Germans. It was operating via GPS, which Russia has a history of jamming.