Petulant Iran Engineers High Seas Incident
Heres an idea, Lets ask Hillary what she thinks,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
It’s 3am Bitch, whatchgonnado.
Ladies and gentlemen, let’s call this for what it is. This is Maritime Terrrorism. Piracy pure and simple. Unless the iranian regime could give a VERY damn convincing account of why they did what they did ASAP, due retribution should be done. And even if they can I don’t think we should believe them.
Iran sees the Persian Gulf as an imperial lake, and has for a very, very long time. It’s sort of like the complex the Chinese have towards the South China Sea, or (for a more geographically approximate comparison) the Danes and Swedes had towards an ideal (for them) Baltic, only in many ways far worse. It’s completely at odds with the idea of freedom of the seas and This was a problem that weeeellllll predates the Islamist dictatorship in Tehran*, but the Mad Mullahcracy disinterred it and made it an even bigger nightmare. Because while they will happily launch terrorist attacks- or finance those who do- across the globe, in the Gulf they will actually intervene with their own uniformed, fully stated soldiers and sailors. All with the intent of strangling freedom of navigation in one of the most heavily in-demand regions of the planet.
Today they’re most infamous for their naval war on Iraq and Kuwait leading to Operation Praying Mantis (when we retaliated against them mining one of our ships by blasting the unholy hell out of their naval assets). But that’s just a symptom of the problem of how aggressive they are in naval operations and diplomatic/intelligence operations ashore.
In some ways their naval assignments are rather like the early US cicra Jefferson, if ONLY in equipment and ship types. They know they can’t muster any proper military vessels worth a damn, and that in any naval war against the West they will be sunk so fast it isn’t even funny. That’s why they go small, fasat, and budget. They deploy *thousandS* of speedboats manned by the Revolutionary Guard and Naval personnel as their main naval combat force, doing harassment runs like this with the intention of hitting sluggish civilian ships or second rate warships at minimum cost and then bugging out.
They supplement that with outright deranged mine laying and some maritime platforms (like oil rigs) they’ve turned into weapon stations, which they can use a bit like how the Japanese used Rabaul. Strongpoints that can project power and launch attacks from afar.
But that’s just the battle for the Gulf waters, and since when has a totalitarian state ever stopped there? Lord knows the Iranian regime sure hasn’t.
They’ve gotten most of the press recently from the war in Yemen, but they’ve also been propping up sectarian militias in Iraq (particularly- for the purposes of this subject- Basra) and have been highlyhighlyhighly suspected to have a hand in things like the Bahraini protests.
All of this tells us one thing. This is Not an Accident, this is Not something that should be glossed over, and it is not a product of a mindset compatible with the laws of the World, let alone the West. In addition to being in a state of war with the US, Israel, the moderates of Lebanon, and others Iran sees itself as being rightful dictator of the Persian Gulf and master of the Middle East.
It has believed so for millenia, and for the last two centuries that has been diametrically opposed to Western interests. So it’s long past time to respond.
Either they return the ship and crew and stop interfering with independent shipping, or they should have their main ports cratered and their militarized ships and platforms swept from the Gulf.
* I briefly touched on this in my analysis/ripping of Naipaul in the link below, mentioning how Iranian claims to hegemony over the Gulf was one of the factors sending 19th century Kuwait’s leadership running behind the kilts of the Royal Navy begging to be made a local protectorate. It was a secondary threat at the time to the threat of rivalry from (then-Ottoman) Arab Basra- which was both getting absolutely devastated by Kuwaiti competition and had the resources to retaliate, but it has been a constant in Gulf History.
http://www.barking-moonbat.com/index.php/weblog/comments/21555/
Of course, this wasn’t much of a problem before two centuries ago, and particularly before 1979 saw them go rabid and Islamist.
Posted by Turtler
04/29/2015 at 12:01 AM
Whilst I have no time for the mullahs in Iran, I actually agree with the Pentagon on this one. It was ironically the US that started the flag of convenience nonsense. If Panama, Monrovia, Liberia and the Marshall Islands want to protect their shipping let them fund their own navy. At one time Britain had the worlds largest merchant fleet and the Royal Navy would not tolerate this crap. However ship owners wanted to crew their ships with turd worlders and avoid having their ships subject to regulations so fuck them. You reap what you sow.
I can see your opinion from my house Lyndon, but what Turtler says is also true. This is “Somali Pirates” all over again, only bigger and closer. Instead of a fly buzzing around by the backdoor, now there’s an entire huge nest of hornets hanging from the dining room ceiling. And you can’t spray them because dinner is on the table.
It pains me to admit it, but having the Pentagon disavow any duty to protect this ship might be in their best interest. That’s the roll of the dice I see here; with no American connection, the crew will be questioned for a few days while the cargo is “searched” and the good stuff stolen, then they’ll be let go. But this is IRAN, and the dice too often roll the other way. That risk is bigger than 50:50. Just as easily they could convict the crew of spying and put them in jail forever. Then what happens, war with Denmark?
Meanwhile, over in the Marshall Islands, having forced Obama to tip his hand about being a paper ally, forces from China, the Soviet Re-Union, and the islamic islands MILF brigades put the squeeze on the Marshalls to an extent not seen since the Japs in WWII.
This is a global chess match, and Obama’s weak pawn threat last week has now been countered by a skewer, or one of those other fancy chess moves Christopher used to sort of teach us.
Apparently this was about the failure by the ship to pay some sort of fees.
Posted by 0007
04/30/2015 at 08:49 AM
@LyndonB
The problem is that the Pentagon absolutely isn’t right. If this were Panama, modern Liberia, or the like it might be different. But the US is under treaty obligation to defend the Marshall Islands, its’ citizens, and its’ shipping. And that alliance has existed for longer than our alliances in Eastern Europe.
The Marshall Islands and the Pacific states like them are practically self-governing American territories that are a step away from being states. If we roll over on places that are practically OUR TERRITORY, where do we draw the line?
You’re right, the Royal Navy did not tolerate this crap. But they didn’t only focus on their own ships. When the Dey of Algiers betrayed his word with the US in 1816, the British and Dutch went over and bombed the cr@p out of Algiers. In spite of the fact that they had just been at war with the US.
When the Wahhabist Pirates (yes, them) rampaged in the Persian Gulf during the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Royal Navy made it a policy to outright exterminate them and defend all non-hostile shipping. Whether that was their own or a dingy local Dhow.
Because they realized pirates are an enemy of humanity, and claiming “It’s Not My Problem” will only make it your problem later.
@Drew
Exactly. That’s the problem. While our enemies may not be that smart, they certainly can sense weakness and hit on weakest links. If the US indicates it isn’t willing to defend territory that is practically its’ own and honor treaty obligations, the question they will push is how far they can push.
And besides, we’re at war with Iran anyway. So if we had the nerve we should’ve already been pounding these scum.
Posted by Turtler
04/30/2015 at 01:44 PM
You expected from Ovomit? Sheeit.
04/29/2015 at 09:17 AM
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