Oil tanker sabotage crew were poised to cut more cables when caught, Finland says (www.reuters.com)
from LaFinlandia@sopuli.xyz to world@lemmy.world on 13 Jan 23:10
https://sopuli.xyz/post/21392899

#world

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NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 00:19 next collapse

I wonder if NATO is going to try and enforce a blockade where any ship travelling through the area of cables must be escorted.

lepinkainen@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 06:15 collapse

I hope so. And bill the “ghost fleet” for any costs.

shoulderoforion@fedia.io on 14 Jan 00:22 next collapse

"travel bans"? huh. you'd think the finish would be aware if russia wants their people back, and those people are free to roam the streets, they're gonna come and get em. these fuckers should be in jail, safely behind bars until trial.

Goingdown@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 05:48 next collapse

They are still on the ship, and cannot get to land because of the lack of visas.

kreskin@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:14 collapse

We can dump them in a rowboat near Russias border. Keeping them just means feeding them. They are not worth the food.

Taalen@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:32 next collapse

The crew isn’t Russian though. Just hired help that don’t care too much what they’re paid to do. Russia doesn’t care about their fate.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:23 collapse

Indeed. I for one would like these ass hats to have a good look at the culture they were so willing to fuck with, for such little money. The best view is not from a prison cell.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:21 collapse

One does not simply leave Finland.

Shawdow194@fedia.io on 14 Jan 00:55 next collapse

At this point it's literally a war crime. Claim denial and accidents all they wanted before, but if the sailors are outright acknowledging it was intentional to attack civilian infrastructure, it's by definition a war crime

https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/gciv-1949?activeTab=1949GCs-APs-and-commentaries

extremeboredom@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 02:15 next collapse

War crimes don’t matter anymore. Russia does them, Israel does them, the US does them. There is no justice.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:07 collapse

Does Germany do them any more? How about Ireland?

Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 14 Jan 10:37 collapse

Germany has supported Israel with weapons whilst knowing they were committing a Genocide, so the answer for Germany is probably “Yes”, at least as an accomplice.

The answer for the Republic Of Ireland is as far as I know “No”.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:54 collapse

Sounds to me like war crimes are still a pretty good way to determine who the good guys are, then.

lepinkainen@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 06:14 next collapse

Russia has been using the list of war crimes as a checklist of things to do for 3 years

Taalen@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:31 next collapse

Much, much longer than that. But yes, they picked up the pace again in recent years.

Maalus@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 11:58 collapse

Nah. You have just been paying attention for three years.

lurch@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jan 10:25 collapse

I don’t think it’s officially a war. So it’s a regular crime and I think that’s also better, because the victim country can react more quickly and more powerful.

shalafi@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 01:37 next collapse

Hang the captain and first mate, take the oil, sink the ship. This is how we’ve always dealt with pirates.

seven_phone@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 01:49 next collapse

An extremely public trial would be more effective.

GreenKnight23@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 01:50 collapse

can’t get more public than a hanging on the docks that’s live streamed.

friend_of_satan@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 02:24 next collapse

You definitely could. A hanging lasts less than a day. A trial could stay in the Overton window for much longer.

GreenKnight23@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 03:39 next collapse

like Trumps? or Epstein? or the Pandora Papers?

the list goes on and on.

Overton window is broken. Putin threw someone out of it.

friend_of_satan@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 12:16 collapse

The point in question here is how public the event would be, not how effective. So in that regard, yes, Trump’s and even Epstien’s trials were quite public, regardless of how effective they were at rendering justice.

You’re attacking a straw man, which is how effective the judicial system was. As for that attack, you’re absolutely right. Those three instances had laughable results and dumbfounding failures of justice.

kreskin@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:10 collapse

Sink the boat so it interrupts shipping into one of their waterways. Do it with every sabotage boat from now on.

seven_phone@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 03:12 collapse

Remember these are not pirates they are crew being told what to do with families back in Mother Russia and a great many pressures on them. Better a trial with all the details spewing forth and Russia blaming birdstrike and threatening armageddon over a cable.

GreenKnight23@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 03:43 next collapse

I can’t have sympathy for someone who’s committed war crimes.

I agree that having a platform to expose Russian interference is helpful, I also think setting an example to those who are helping Russia (coerced or not) is far more helpful than exposing Russia.

FelixCress@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 07:22 next collapse

they are crew being told what to do

Being told to commit crimes. So, like pirates?

seven_phone@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 08:47 collapse

Pirates are not state sponsored they are self motivated and opportunist, the people responsible here are likely reluctant state operatives, possibly not fully aware of the consequences.

kreskin@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:12 collapse

Pirates are not state sponsored they are self motivated and opportunist, the people responsible here are likely reluctant state operatives, possibly not fully aware of the consequences.

Thats one far fetched speculation after another.

You have no idea if they are state sponsored or not, and no data to prove it either way. Their actions follow a pattern of state sponsored destruction, but somehow you deny it. Seems you are just making stuff up here.

seven_phone@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:27 collapse

You are being deliberately obtuse and using other accounts to mark yourself up so no more food for you.

kreskin@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 04:43 collapse

How am I using other accounts to mark myself up? I have no way to prove it (although I imagine maybe a mod could), but you’re wrong about my using multiple accounts too. This making up stuff is a habit for you, I see.

kreskin@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:10 collapse

Good point, Vlad.

HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 14 Jan 02:56 next collapse

Strap em to an anchor

tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 14 Jan 05:23 collapse

Fuck them with a rusty anchor

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 04:13 next collapse

Scrap the ship, don’t sink it. We have more than enough waste on the bottom of the various oceans and seas as is.

TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jan 04:50 next collapse

You can responsibly strip and scuttle large vessels to help facilitate reef development

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 04:55 collapse

Fair enough, but that’s still a form of scrapping as opposed to outright immediate sinking of the vessel. Far too often vessles are sunk, mostly intact, and that is causing countless amounts of pollution in our waterways.

Letme@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 05:19 collapse

You are really bad at pirate

b3an@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:36 next collapse

A Pirate can be eco-conscious without breaking Pirate ‘code’.

OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca on 14 Jan 10:59 collapse

But you have heard of me.

FelixCress@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 07:21 next collapse

Does hitting a Russian warship with it at full speed count as scrapping?

kreskin@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 09:02 collapse

They use end of life ships for this shenanigans anyway. They are essentially already scrap.

endeavor@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 11:00 collapse

This is normal for russian navy as even their flagships are in a state a civilized nation would consider “scrap”.

Moscow didn’t even know it was being sunk since its systems were in such disrepair.

lepinkainen@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 06:14 next collapse

Aim it at the port of St Petersburg and put it on full power. Let them deal with it

volodya_ilich@lemm.ee on 14 Jan 10:30 collapse

The captain is Georgian and the crew is Georgian and Indian according to the article, why saint Petersburg?

lepinkainen@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 15:44 collapse

Because its literally Russian black fleet ship

gaael@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 07:35 next collapse

In some civilized parts of the world, we’ve renounced death penalty some time ago and only the far-right wants it back.

ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 08:20 collapse

“They go low, we go high!”

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:26 next collapse

We are going to high-road the shit out of them.

Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org on 14 Jan 10:47 collapse

If not wanting state sanctioned killings is your “high”, you might have other problems.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:52 collapse

What is your “high”?

ZombieMantis@lemmy.world on 17 Jan 16:19 collapse

Not killing people, it seems.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:15 collapse

And how do we deal with saboteurs and enablers of sanctions evasion?

FelixCress@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 07:20 next collapse

Lock them up.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:04 next collapse

Pay them to sabotage the infrastructure of Russia and its allies. Plainly all this crew wants is money.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:55 collapse

Oh, also, steal the oil.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 11:02 collapse

Ah yes that’s it. Steal the oil, sell it, and use the proceeds to pay the crew to sabotage Russia and its allies.

brb@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jan 14:11 collapse

The oil doesn’t even cover the damages so I’m not sure that’s the best way to use that money

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 14:14 collapse

What do you think the money should be spent on?

brb@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jan 15:01 collapse

Repairing the cable. Sorry I thought it was implied

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 10:12 next collapse

The head of the investigation, Risto Lohi of the National Bureau of Investigation, told Reuters the vessel was threatening to cut a second power cable, Estlink1, and the BalticConnector gas pipe between Finland and Estonia at the time it was seized.

“Lohi” is Finnish for “salmon”. That’s right. Inspector Salmon is in charge of this investigation. Thankyou, Finland.

KnowledgeableNip@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jan 15:33 next collapse

This Lovely Bones sequel is weird

SkyezOpen@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 18:13 collapse

Oh my gosh people Finland isn’t even real. They’re is no landmass. FIN-LAND. It’s all fish! They’re even rubbing our faces in it with these stupid names.

hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 15 Jan 19:06 collapse

Shhh! Don’t give us away!

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 11:09 next collapse

Steal some of the oil. Replace it at correct stoichiometric ratio with ammonium nitrate or some other powerful oxidiser. Attach a detonator and tracking device to the ship. Don’t tell the crew. Let the crew go free. When the ship reaches its destination, detonate. Halifax explosion, round two.

Fuck you, whoever would buy Russian oil.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 12:37 next collapse

I should maybe add that I don’t think this is actually a good idea. I can just see that it’s scientifically possible, and I enjoy constructing scenarios like this.

But to those who are riding Putin’s dick, just know that these are the things the West could do, but chooses not to. And the fuck you to all buyers of Russian oil still stands. I don’t care how poor they are.

bomibantai@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 13:02 next collapse

“…these are the things the West could do, but chooses not to.” Yeah, the West does whatever TF it’s done in Afghanistan, Iraq, West Asia, whatever France has done in Africa. “fuck you to all buyers of Russian oil” You mean like the US and EU? What do u think happens to the Russian oil once it’s refined to actual useful oil?

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 13:04 next collapse

The US and EU might buy a little, but most of it is being bought by China, India, and Africa at a steep discount. As I’m sure you know. Everybody buying Russian oil deserves scorn, even if they are living in the EU or the US.

bomibantai@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 13:07 collapse

Lol first of all thats not true, please post any source and try to group by EU, China, India and Africa.

And what about the other point? Does Russia also need western democracy? Is that before or after Greenland?

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 13:09 next collapse

I don’t give a fuck how Russia is run as long as they stop trying to steal land.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 13:13 next collapse

Afghanistan and Iraq were terrible mistakes. And many (most?) NATO states had nothing to do with Iraq. Not that it matters right now. I’m talking about Russia’s imperialism right now.

wanderingmagus@lemm.ee on 14 Jan 17:31 collapse

Okay Bucha pillager.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 13:22 next collapse

Throughout the deeply stupid and shameful invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and this is true, the US never detonated a cargo ship sized bomb killing ten thousand people in a busy port city just because they bought sanctioned oil.

ubergeek@lemmy.today on 14 Jan 14:01 collapse

Spoiler: Russia did the same thing in .ost of those regions, too.

Hell, they just did a speed run of Afghanistan, before we did… hence the nickname “Graveyard of Empires”.

eatCasserole@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 14:52 collapse

Oh yeah, it’s just fun to imagine murdering a bunch of civilians, who have absolutely no say in whose oil just sailed into their harbour. Disgusting.

Would you rather buy Saudi oil? American oil? Yeah, like that’s any better.

Saleh@feddit.org on 14 Jan 13:33 collapse

You realize that a lot of Russian oil gets “laundered” and then imported to the EU? So you would likely blow up an EU port, which is like a double Christmas and birthday gift to Putin.

etuomaala@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 13:55 collapse

It would probably blow up the port doing the laundering, which is unlikely to be happening in the EU.

But it would even more likely blow up an Indian or Chinese port.

It doesn’t matter. Like I said, I think this is a really bad idea. Mainly because it is collective punishment, and almost all of the thousands of victims would have had nothing to do with their corporations’ and their governments’ decision to buy that oil.

Saleh@feddit.org on 14 Jan 14:45 next collapse

They also pump oil from ship to ship while at sea. It is said that this ship in particular also was involved in such maneuvers, which of course are highly dangerous and can easily result in oil spilled.

HoMaster@lemm.ee on 14 Jan 18:57 collapse

Last year I read that Italian oil refineries were refining Russian oil. Anything for a profit for some businesses.

Nighed@feddit.uk on 14 Jan 13:48 collapse

They are russian flagged vessels right? What does that mean in terms of ability to do things about them?

I assume you can’t legally just board/sink them, even with cause?

zaphod@sopuli.xyz on 14 Jan 14:30 next collapse

They are russian flagged vessels right?

No, this specific ship is registered in the Cook Islands.

atzanteol@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jan 15:29 collapse

As are many I believe? Like how most US companies incorporate in Delaware I think it’s for tax reasons.

KeenFlame@feddit.nu on 15 Jan 20:20 collapse

Yes and no delaware are for giving as little as possible back and Panama is when they want to take money from people and not give any back

It’s not the same with boats just a home port thing

Skua@kbin.earth on 14 Jan 16:07 collapse

Edit: I thought that the gulf of Finland was narrower than it is, and this affects the relevance of my comment. See boredtortoise's reply below

Under UNCLOS at least, a country can board a ship within its territorial waters to investigate a crime "if the consequences of the crime extend to the coastal State" (and some other reasons). Sinking it is almost certainly illegal, but it's an unarmed ship and Finland has marines so I can't imagine that they'd have much trouble boarding it if they wanted to

Nighed@feddit.uk on 14 Jan 16:46 next collapse

Ty, I was expecting them to be russian flagged to ‘dare’ NATO to mess with them as an excuse to do… Something

boredtortoise@lemm.ee on 15 Jan 13:35 collapse

The boat was caught on international waters without an anchor when the event happened. The Coast guard asked it kindly to move into Finnish waters where the police boarded the boat with the border guard giving a chopper ride.

No marine equivalents were actually needed which has the benefit of the apprehension not being a military action which could’ve easily been made escalatory in propaganda.

Skua@kbin.earth on 15 Jan 18:29 collapse

Ahh shit, I had just assumed that the gulf of Finland was narrow enough that it was all someone's territorial water, but it isn't. Thanks for the correction, I will edit a note into my comment

Regarding the marines thing, that was not because I thought Finland actually had used them, more an "if the crew actually did try to fight about it, Finland is quite capable of winning that fight"