France says it has seized an oil tanker in the Mediterranean suspected of being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the tanker, named the Grinch, was “subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag”.
The French navy, with the assistance of allies including the UK, boarded the vessel on Thursday morning between Spain and Morocco. French maritime authorities said that a search of the vessel had “confirmed the doubts as to the regularity of the flag”.
Russia’s embassy in Paris said it had not been informed of the seizure.
So now the EU stealing oil as well?
Well technically it’s embargoed oil so not quite the same as the Venezuelan fiasco (and Venezuela just got a $300M cheque from Trump for some of that oil).
If you beat up someone and then leave some money in their pocket, this is still an assault, not a boxing match.
You’re stretching it - it’s not highway robbery when you catch someone driving a car with fake plates and smuggled goods in the back
Your scenario makes sense only from the perspective of basically the police and in international relationships there is no police.
Flying false flags is a valid reason for a country to board a ship, according to UNCLOS.
And america painted their planes as civilian ones.
This is a war crime. I am pointing it out because my point is that international law doesn’t exist. The only differentiating factor is wether you are strong enough avoid being judged.
The existence of crime is not a proof of the inexistence of law. Not that I disagree with the general sentiment that international law is applied to the convenience of whoever is stronger, but the US doing something wrong and not getting punished for it has very little to do with France doing something specifically allowed
So countries should be entirely free to do anything they want and nobody is morally correct to stop them?
Of course not on either of the statements.
But I am wondering how can enforcement be done without concentrating power in one county like the US because as we can see this system is very easy to abuse.
When Finland has been boarding ships in the Gulf of Finland (not just oil, the last one was carrying steel), it has eventually let them go.
But the context has been different: Finland has boarded ships when they’ve dragged their anchors, which places a gas pipeline, electrical and communications cables in immediate danger, and has resulted in those breaking in the past, which is very expensive and threatens people with loss of services.
France boarded the ship because they suspected it was not displaying its true flag.
Last I checked, they ordered it to travel to an anchoring place and wait, while officials and courts move to sort out the matter. What will become of the ship is not yet known. But there is a precendent, if you read the article: