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Greenpeace piracy?

Ranb

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Ranb
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http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/world/europe/russia-greenpeace-piracy-charges/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Russian authorities have charged all 30 people aboard a Greenpeace ship with piracy after two activists tried to scale an oil platform in a protest of Arctic drilling last month, the Russian Investigative Committee said Thursday.

They were arrested after two of the activists left the Arctic Sunrise and tried to climb the side of an oil platform owned by the Russian energy giant Gazprom in the Barents Sea on September 18.

"I think they (Russian prosecutors) will take it all the way to trial," Radford said. "I think Gazprom is using its political muscle to have the courts really crack down on these peaceful protesters. It's a serious and overblown charge.
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I've heard of a ship (Sea Shepard?) being called a pirate ship after its registration lapsed while at sea. This is the first I've seen of a protest group being arrested as pirates.

Ranb
 
"Piracy" is a broad term that covers several different criminal activities when they are committed at sea. Boarding another vessel without permission or authorization (or in the face of denial of these) does count as an act of piracy, yes.

I don't think it was Sea Shepherd's lapse of vessel registration that got them accused of piracy. Their vessel has been accused of ramming other vessels and in one case a fishing installation IIRC. On the other hand it's mostly rhetoric - I don't believe they've ever been officially charged with piracy.
 
Ranb said:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/world/europe/russia-greenpeace-piracy-charges/index.html?hpt=hp_t2



I've heard of a ship (Sea Shepard?) being called a pirate ship after its registration lapsed while at sea. This is the first I've seen of a protest group being arrested as pirates.

Ranb
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I am, for all I believe in protecting the environment, with the Russians on this. Greenpeace actually declares war (unofficially, thus pirates on their own) on whoever they decide is a "bad guy". The Sea Shepard, if I remember aright (and I do) has operated as a pirate ship on many occasions - other than taking people at gun/sword point.

Note, I do not like a lot of the stuff greenpeace doesn't but they are not my choice of how to change things and any country whose territory or property they invade has the right to arrest and try them as spies/POW's/criminals.
 
Greenpeace are idiots. Isn't Gazprom pretty much the Russian government at this point? I remember reading that they're the kleptiest of the kleptocracy. Considering what happens to rock bands that say things in Russia, a charge of piracy seems unlikely to end with case dismissed or a slap on the wrist.
 
Checkmite said:
On the other hand it's mostly rhetoric - I don't believe they've ever been officially charged with piracy.
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They have now.

I wonder if Greenpeace also describes the woman who rammed White House gates as peaceful. Based on the videos that circulate on the internet, I'd say Russian Coast Guards were peaceful too -- they didn't try to ram anyone and only fired warning shots.
 
Greenpeace has demonstrated some seriously whacko behaviors, ramming ships, doing stupid maneuvers that could get people hurt, etc.

If they aren't pirates, they are close to piracy, and they ARE boarding ships without permission.
 
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/27/sea-shepherd-pirates-us-court
A US court has declared the conservation group Sea Shepherd to be "pirates" and ordered it to stop its aggressive actions against Japanese whalers.
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I read a few years ago about one their ships losing its registry; it seems to have happened again.
http://longrow.wordpress.com/tag/sea-shepherd-conservation-society/
The ship has just lost its registry with Belize and now has no home country. Thus it is officially recognized as a “pirate ship.”
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Ranb
 
On our national news channel, a Russian Greenpeace activist says that the tougher the sentence, the bigger win it is for Greenpeace. (Link, unfortunately in Finnish.)

When Greenpeace activists go against the Russian government, my first instinct is to hope that they somehow find a result where both parties lose. However, if Greenpeace wants those folks to get the maximum (15 years), who am I to say no? I hope they had their tuberculosis shots.
 
jj said:
Greenpeace has demonstrated some seriously whacko behaviors, ramming ships, doing stupid maneuvers that could get people hurt, etc.

If they aren't pirates, they are close to piracy, and they ARE boarding ships without permission.
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the irony , the Arctic Drilling will hurt us very badly, but the Anger about that seems to be minimal..

lets swing our fists at those evil evil greenpeac pirate terrorists.....
they almost hurt someone...... :rolleyes:
 
It seems to me that Greenpeace wants publicity above all else. The carrier I was stationed on turned our firehoses on Greenpeace idiots in zodiacs five times between '86 and '89. Men in a zodiac have approximately zero chance against multiple 3" hose teams, but on they come, again and again, to have their boats damaged, their clothing shredded, and their skins reddened by high-velocity saltwater.

The only conclusion I could draw from these acts of utter idiocy was that it wasn't about painting anti-nuke propaganda on our side; it was about video, photos, and newspaper articles showing those stalwart lads' sacrifices on the alter of extremism.

Presumably their financial backers enjoyed such spectacles.
 
HighRiser said:
It seems to me that Greenpeace wants publicity above all else.
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When I lived up north it was pretty well known that Greenpeace would only act to save a stranded whale if there were a television crew there to cover it. No media, no Greenpeace. Perhaps it's changed now that people have smartphones and internets, but back then it generated a lot of bad feeling.
 
HighRiser said:
It seems to me that Greenpeace wants publicity above all else. The carrier I was stationed on turned our firehoses on Greenpeace idiots in zodiacs five times between '86 and '89. Men in a zodiac have approximately zero chance against multiple 3" hose teams, but on they come, again and again, to have their boats damaged, their clothing shredded, and their skins reddened by high-velocity saltwater.

The only conclusion I could draw from these acts of utter idiocy was that it wasn't about painting anti-nuke propaganda on our side; it was about video, photos, and newspaper articles showing those stalwart lads' sacrifices on the alter of extremism.

Presumably their financial backers enjoyed such spectacles.
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offcourse they want publicity. that is the whole point about such actions.
and the more spectacular the better. else you get no coverage.

Normal protests almost give you no media attention at all. liik at the protests at the whitehouse for actions against AGW, it almost got no coverage at all, the highlite was Hansen being arrested. and even that doesn't give you much attention.

this week at the local Champions legue match Greenpeace also protested Gazpron. and the media took care to not show the banner. and it almost got no media attention, despite being live on TV. it got some media attention because our local football club will face a fine most propably. but almost no word about the reason for why they protest.

only big spectacular actions give you attention nowadays. and might lead to some people wondering why they protest and maybe inform themself about it.

what else should they do.
 
DC said:
offcourse they want publicity. that is the whole point about such actions.
and the more spectacular the better. else you get no coverage.

Normal protests almost give you no media attention at all. liik at the protests at the whitehouse for actions against AGW, it almost got no coverage at all, the highlite was Hansen being arrested. and even that doesn't give you much attention.

this week at the local Champions legue match Greenpeace also protested Gazpron. and the media took care to not show the banner. and it almost got no media attention, despite being live on TV. it got some media attention because our local football club will face a fine most propably. but almost no word about the reason for why they protest.

only big spectacular actions give you attention nowadays. and might lead to some people wondering why they protest and maybe inform themself about it.

what else should they do.
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I dunno, maybe send out letters, develop mailing and other contacts, ask for money through the many channels that handle that, tweet, set up an informational website that covers problems everywhere, go try and save some glaciers. Don't do crap that endangers the lives of real people doing real jobs because they have real families to support but try to do stuff that might lead the way to different more environmentally sound jobs for more people. Just as a quick thought.
 
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