Greeenpeace Ship Arrested by Russia

quentingargan · 23-09-2013 11:15pm #1

A Greenpeace ship was seized four or five days ago, with Russian Navy storming the vessel and holding the crew at gunpoint. See BBC report here.

What strikes me as odd is the lack of news coverage that would have been wall to wall with Greenpeace some years back - Greenpeace used to be the master of media. But its ship is heading to Murmansk and there doesn't seem to be much fuss about it. Their protest over drilling in the Arctic has a lot of merit, but maybe in scaling a Gazprom rig, they messed with the wrong guys?:eek:

Nukem · 23-09-2013 11:39pm

quentingargan wrote: »

A Greenpeace ship was seized four or five days ago, with Russian Navy storming the vessel and holding the crew at gunpoint. See BBC report here.

What strikes me as odd is the lack of news coverage that would have been wall to wall with Greenpeace some years back - Greenpeace used to be the master of media. But its ship is heading to Murmansk and there doesn't seem to be much fuss about it. Their protest over drilling in the Arctic has a lot of merit, but maybe in scaling a Gazprom rig, they messed with the wrong guys?:eek:

If they ain't on the Discoverey Channel people dont know what to think :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Macha · 24-09-2013 8:11am

quentingargan wrote: »

A Greenpeace ship was seized four or five days ago, with Russian Navy storming the vessel and holding the crew at gunpoint. See BBC report here.

What strikes me as odd is the lack of news coverage that would have been wall to wall with Greenpeace some years back - Greenpeace used to be the master of media. But its ship is heading to Murmansk and there doesn't seem to be much fuss about it. Their protest over drilling in the Arctic has a lot of merit, but maybe in scaling a Gazprom rig, they messed with the wrong guys?:eek:

It is quite extraordinary: a clear violation of international law, the illegal arrest and detention of activists at gunpoint with no information on what they're accused of. Between this and Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's description of life in a Russian prison, we're getting a real insight into some of the uglier parts of Russia.

Sadly, I think the only reason this isn't getting much coverage is that it's about environmental issues which are at the bottom of the news media pile. We've seen some very high-profile resignations of environmental journalists in recent months in protest over what they see as editorial censorship of environmental stories. David Fogarty resigned from Reuters over the summer, accusing the Reuters Deputy Editor of climate scepticism and Le Monde's environment journalist also resigned recently.

quentingargan · 24-09-2013 9:20am

Yes - Paul Cunningham's role in RTE was switched from Environment to European Affairs. He doesn't seem to have been replaced. I hadn't realised that the same sort of issues prevailed at a major news feed organisation like Reuters...

theLegion · 24-09-2013 9:32pm

Macha wrote: »

It is quite extraordinary: a clear violation of international law, the illegal arrest and detention of activists at gunpoint with no information on what they're accused of.

Ya wha!! It's quite clear what they did and why they were arrested. I hope they get sent down for this.

Macha · 25-09-2013 9:40am

theLegion wrote: »

Ya wha!! It's quite clear what they did and why they were arrested. I hope they get sent down for this.

If it's clear, I hope you can explain it to us?

Independent legal analysis is indicating the boarding of the Greenpeace ship was illegal, as well as a number of other actions by the Russian authorities: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2329446

theLegion · 25-09-2013 11:19am

Macha wrote: »

If it's clear, I hope you can explain it to us?

Independent legal analysis is indicating the boarding of the Greenpeace ship was illegal, as well as a number of other actions by the Russian authorities: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2329446

Did you read his full pdf text. It's just him rambling on about turning off transmitters and other non-relevant items.

Anyways Putin has let the pirates off:

Putin clears Greenpeace of piracy

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/putin-clears-greenpeace-of-piracy-608058.html

quentingargan · 25-09-2013 11:44am

theLegion wrote: »

Did you read his full pdf text. It's just him rambling on about turning off transmitters and other non-relevant items.

Anyways Putin has let the pirates off:

Actually, he didn't let any pirates off. He seeemed pretty clearly to agree that they weren't pirates.

Mr Putin said: : “I don’t know the details of what went on, but it’s completely obvious they aren’t pirates.”
He added, however, that the officers “didn’t know who was trying to seize the platform.”

From the footage on BBC and elsewhere, its pretty obvious that the arrest was done knowing exactly who was trying to get aboard the platform.

Did you read the same paper? I read it end to end and it was a pretty good breakdown of a number of aspects of international law that were breached in arresting the ship. It all seemed pretty relevant to me.

It goes to show that when people with different viewpoints read the same document, they come away with a totally different interpretation.

Macha · 25-09-2013 1:50pm

theLegion wrote: »

Did you read his full pdf text. It's just him rambling on about turning off transmitters and other non-relevant items.

Wow. I'll summarise to clarify your misrepresentation of its contents:

- the Russian 3 mile exclusion zone around the oil rig is incompatible with international law
- many of the actions of the Russian coast guard are in violation of international law, including the boarding of the Greenpeac boat, the detention of those on board, and taking control of the boat.
- the disabling of the Automatic Identification System is only allowed in very few circumstances and can create serious danger for marine traffic safety, especially when travelling at night
-piracy is a serious accusation and misuse of it is detrimental to efforts to tackle genuine cases of piracy.
-as party to the ECHR, Russia must afford certain rights to arrested individuals
-slashing inflatable boats with occupants is incompatible with the law of the sea but also a violation of intl human rights
-Russia is obliged to immediately notify the home state of any individual it arrests

theLegion wrote: »

Anyways Putin has let the pirates off:

Putin as acknowledged what is blindingly obvious: they are not pirates.

Edit: It's hard to believe the Russian authorities didn't know who they were - the ship has a huge Greenpeace logo on both sides - hard to miss:

Macha · 26-09-2013 10:55am

The sentencing is happening right now. The ex-Reuters freelance photographer, Denis Sinyakov, has been sentenced to two months 'preventative detention'.

Updates from this Twitter account: https://twitter.com/YuliaSkyNews

Eoghan Barra · 27-09-2013 8:02pm

Macha wrote: »

Sadly, I think the only reason this isn't getting much coverage is that it's about environmental issues which are at the bottom of the news media pile. We've seen some very high-profile resignations of environmental journalists in recent months in protest over what they see as editorial censorship of environmental stories. David Fogarty resigned from Reuters over the summer, accusing the Reuters Deputy Editor of climate scepticism and Le Monde's environment journalist also resigned recently.

I wonder if this is just a case of some senior media people being flat-earthers, or if there is more of an organised agenda behind this? I suppose it's more likely the former (outside of the Murdoch-controlled media outlets at least), but it is very noticeable how little cover is given to such critical environmental issues as biodiversity loss or climate change - despite the huge implications for all of us.

Perhaps the media would counter that most of the public simply isn't interested in these issues, and therefore the coverage can't be justified. But something that has the potential to make the planet uninhabitable (climate change) is surely relevant to all, whether they want to know or not?

Eoghan Barra · 28-09-2013 8:04pm

Had a look at the front pages of the main Irish papers on the news stand today, and only one (the Irish Times) out of about ten gave front page coverage to the new report by the IPCC, despite the very grave messages that report contains.

I presume the others carried the story inside, but when you see the variety of less important, trivial even, issues that were given precedence on the front pages, it's easy to feel you're living in one big mental asylum.

Grudaire · 03-10-2013 5:00pm

I thought that Putin had 'let them off'?!

Either the Irish Times is a bit slow reporting the news, or they've charged the so-called Pirates!:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/russia-charges-30-with-piracy-over-greenpeace-arctic-protest-1.1549076

quentingargan · 03-10-2013 5:09pm

Cliste wrote: »

I thought that Putin had 'let them off'?!

Either the Irish Times is a bit slow reporting the news, or they've charged the so-called Pirates!:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/russia-charges-30-with-piracy-over-greenpeace-arctic-protest-1.1549076

Looks like they have been charged with piracy, despite what was said last week. So do they call Putin as a witness to say that "Its completely obvious they weren't pirates" ?

Grudaire · 03-10-2013 5:18pm

quentingargan wrote: »

Looks like they have been charged with piracy, despite what was said last week. So do they call Putin as a witness to say that "Its completely obvious they weren't pirates" ?

Russian judiciary have a deep problem now, they have to decide between two conflicting aims:

Always obey Mr Putin
Subdue the population with overly harsh punishments

Wonder which they'll choose!

Eoghan Barra · 04-10-2013 8:46am

I see 4,000,000 people have signed the Greenpeace petition calling for their release.

Great!

Macha · 04-10-2013 10:05pm

And the Dutch government has launched legal action against Russia over the arrests:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24395769

Filibuster · 05-10-2013 2:57pm

Macha wrote: »

And the Dutch government has launched legal action against Russia over the arrests:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24395769

Russia shrugged off Dutch legal action over its detention and prosecution of Greenpeace activists for piracy, saying on Saturday the group's protest at an Arctic oil platform had been "pure provocation".

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/05/us-russia-netherlands-greenpeace-idUSBRE99404P20131005

Macha · 06-10-2013 2:22pm

Filibuster wrote: »

Why are you using a smiley face? Taking joy from the suffering of others is distasteful.

The response has been incredible with over 130 protests taking place around the world yesterday. A lot of other NGOs are supporting Greenpeace, including Amnesty International, because they understand this is an attack on the right to peaceful protest.

Grudaire · 22-11-2013 2:17pm

Good news for the activists:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/russia-frees-greenpeace-activists-1.1604086

quentingargan · 22-11-2013 2:24pm

Cliste wrote: »

Good news for the activists:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/russia-frees-greenpeace-activists-1.1604086

Good news, but still bizarre. One refused bail and still pretty much in solitary and the others on bail but still facing charges. This would be considered a wrongful arrest and it is the state that would be facing charges in most other jurisdictions..

Grudaire · 22-11-2013 2:31pm

Yeah, it's a step in the right direction, but not the happy ending we're waiting for. As for the state facing charges, Russia have their own way of doing things

They're released on bail, so presumably they all still have to stand trial?

Is there any reason that Colin Russell was not permitted bail?

quentingargan · 22-11-2013 4:16pm

Cliste wrote: »

Is there any reason that Colin Russell was not permitted bail?

According to a source I don't usually rely on (The Telegraph) "A change in official strategy appears to be the reason behind the decisions following his bail hearing which was first, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Greenpeace lawyers have said they will appeal his continued detention and seek his release."

Macha · 22-11-2013 4:38pm

More good news as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has just ruled that the Arctic Sunrise ship and all detained in relation to it should be freed and allowed to leave Russia on presentation of a bond offered by the Dutch government:

http://www.itlos.org/fileadmin/itlos/documents/press_releases_english/PR_205_E.pdf

quentingargan · 22-11-2013 4:43pm

That's good news. Aren't they lucky they aren't using an Irish flag.. €3.6m bond just as we exit the bailout....

Greeenpeace Ship Arrested by Russia

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