Two anti-whaling activists boarded a Japanese ship after trying to damage its propeller and throwing bottles of acid.
They are presently still on board - according to the organization to which they belong, they are being held by force, having been assaulted by the crew and tied to the radar mast. According to Japanese whaling officials, the two were not harmed, and such claims are untrue.
[See this article:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7190957.stm]
Quote:
.....the men had illegally boarded the vessel after trying to damage its propeller and throwing bottles of acid.
A spokesman for Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tomohiko Taniguchi, said that there was a strong desire on the Japanese side to return the two men.
Officials had contacted Sea Shepherd but received no response, he said.
A condition of the handover was that Sea Shepherd's inflatable boats agreed to remain 10 miles from Japanese vessels.
"If Sea Shepherd is not willing to do what the Japanese side wants them to do, I'm afraid it will take more time," he said.
Calling the two men hostages was incorrect, he added. "The two crew members were intentionally left behind on board."
Sea Shepherd, meanwhile, described a conditional release as unacceptable.[End quote]
Forcefully boarding a vessel in mid-ocean is an act of piracy. Much as I sympathize with 'my cetacean fellow world-citizens', it seems to me that the two men should be simply dumped overboard, in lieu of being clapped in irons and eventually tried. I advocate clubbing them unconscious first, though - it would be more merciful. Though I doubt either that they deserve or would appreciate the kindness.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said he expected the men to be returned "in a safe and secure condition".
The Aussie foreign minister should shut his honourable pie-hole.
This is outside his jurisdiction and none of his business. Two self-righteous nimrods puddling around the ocean intent on causing trouble are of concern only to those whom they inconvenience, and perhaps to their nearest and dearest - who should've counseled them against such a foolhardy course of action in the first place. Only one of the men (Benjamin Potts) is even Australian, by the way; the other (Giles Lane) is English.
This is NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, part of Mr. Stephen Smith's brief. Sticking his big Ozzie nose into this is no more than a bad case of post-colonial hubris.
[Furthermore, Australia does not rank high enough on the list of civilized nations to throw its weight around.]
The Japanese should not give into blackmail. Those two nuisances should rot until their organization agrees to terms.
I am not a proponent of whaling, and not overly fond of the Japanese (their military put paid to the sweetest bit of imperialist exploitation us Dutch-speakers every had going for us, and I count survivors of the death-camps in the East-Indies among friends and kin).
But this is not about whaling, it is about activist thuggery.
Restraining two hooligans who committed an act of piracy is perfectly legal.
Sinking the boats of their co-conspirators would also have been justifiable. Regretfully, this was not done. The Japanese are acting calmer and more rational than the Australians, and should be commended for it.
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"...in lieu of being clapped in irons"? Why not being clapped in irons and THEN thrown overboard?
According to a United States judge, the Sea Shepherd assholes are pirates, period.
Quote:
"A court in the US has labelled conservationist group Sea Shepherd "pirates".
Judge Alex Kozinski said the group's "aggressive and high-profile attacks" on Japan's whaling fleet endangered lives, ordering them to stop.
US-based Sea Shepherd has for many years chased the Japanese whalers, attempting to disrupt the annual hunt.
The two sides have frequently clashed at sea, blaming each other for collisions and damage.
Three Sea Shepherd ships have been involved a stand-off and clashes with the whaling fleet in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean for several weeks.
They have been trying to prevent the Japanese ships from refuelling from a tanker ship, the Sun Laurel. Both parties released video footage this week which they said showed the other deliberately ramming their ships.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
Japan is an island nation surrounded by the sea, so taking some good protein from the ocean is very important”
End Quote
Yoshimasa Hayashi
Japanese fisheries minister
Sea Shepherd has also accused the whalers of using water cannon and stun grenades against them, and says Japan has deployed a military icebreaker, the Shirase, to intimidate them - something Japan rejects.
'Embodiment of piracy'
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction last year banning Sea Shepherd from going within 500m of Japan's ships.
Its ruling on Monday clears the way for Japan, which calls the activists terrorists, to launch more extensive legal action against them.
Judge Kozinski overturned an earlier district court ruling which had sided with the activists.
"When you ram ships, hurl glass containers of acid, drag metal-reinforced ropes in the water to damage propellers and rudders, launch smoke bombs and flares with hooks; and point high-powered lasers at other ships, you are, without a doubt, a pirate," he said.
"The activities that Cetacean [the Japanese whalers] alleges Sea Shepherd has engaged in are clear instances of violent acts for private ends, the very embodiment of piracy."
Japan says the Sea Shepherd ships are endangering lives at sea (Image by ICR)
He added that the illegality of whaling in Australian waters did not excuse Sea Shepherd's activities.
"It is for Australia, not Sea Shepherd, to police Australia's court orders."
Sea Shepherd argues that the US court has no jurisdiction over foreign-flagged vessels sailing in Australian waters with an international crew.
There has been an international ban on commercial whaling for 25 years, but Japan sends its fleet to the Antarctic in the autumn or winter each year, returning the following spring, with the aim of catching hundreds of whales.
Tokyo says the hunt is part of a scientific research programme and that it is obliged by the whaling treaty to sell meat by-products. But critics say the hunt is commercial whaling in another guise and has no scientific value.
Australia is also taking legal action against Japan over whaling.
But Japan's fisheries minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has said whaling is part of Japan's culture and that it will never give up hunting the animals.
"Japan is an island nation surrounded by the sea, so taking some good protein from the ocean is very important. For food security I think it's very important," he told AFP.
"So why don't we at least agree to disagree? We have this culture and you don't have that culture... so I just would like to say 'please understand this is our culture'."
SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21589352.
Got that? It's a legal decision and a legal definition. So all of you raggedy unwashed Aussie bhainchote do-gooders kindly shut the fuck up and crawl back to your outback shitholes.
Thank you.
This blogger seconds the sentiments of Nippomatic, and adds that it also applies to the idiot Dutch and New Zealand activists, as well as the santimonious twat Yanks involved in piracy in frigid waters.
Further, Paul Watson should be arrested as an international terrorist in my opinion, based on his financial and organizational support for the illegal and dangerous acts that he has enabled.
I would also advocate that the Dutch activists are taken to court over this at the Hague.
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