Posted on 06/17/2019 6:52:06 AM PDT by Pollard
How is the Strait of Hormuz considered “international waters” under any definition if it is only 21 miles wide?
“Protecting freedom of navigation for American vessels is certainly a U.S. interest.”
Incorrect. We do not do freedom of navigation missions on a ship by shop basis. We simply run the missions, whether they be in the S. China Sea, the Gulf or any other place.
This recognizes that freedom of navigation is an American interest. Allowing a nation to shut down sea lanes hurts American interests directly.
I have never advocated for anything remotely resembling "disarmament" for the U.S.
... you better trust them to use judgment and make good decisions based on our national interests, or you better call them all home.
I trust the U.S. military leadership in the field far more than I trust the U.S. political leadership here at home. And "political leadership" includes a lot of senior military leaders as well.
NB: The UK agrees with our assessment that the Iranians are behind these attacks.
If you read up on international law of the seas, a narrow passage like that between two bodies that are international waters can not be restricted to prevent passage. If a nation could do that then there would be a lot of waters in Asia impassible due to all the islands and 12 mile limits.
But that’s a good question that many here do not understand.
Iran would like very much to lay claim to the strait, but too bad. Libya wanted to claim its boundaries went out 200 miles into the med back in the 80’s. They lost a few fighter jets to us over that. Too bad. I still have to t-shirt for that encounter.
We do know that the Iranians were involved in the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia against our military. We know that Iranian advisors and munitions were used in attacks against us in Iraq.
Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Obama gave them $150 billion to fund these attacks and relaxed sanctions against them for a flawed deal. Never forget that the Russians and Chinese were signatories to the JCPOA. Now the Iranians are threatening to increase their production of nuclear material beyond the agreed upon limits. Another ploy to put pressure on the Europeans to ignore US sanctions. We need hold steady and not lose our nerve. This remains true whether it is Iran, NK, or China.
Legitimate concerns. I share those. But don't forget that below the elected/appointed political level, they are really the same folks, as they are rotating between state side and overseas assignments every 2 or 3 years.
Donald Trump is our President. He will do both regardless.
Correct.
Also, Oman controls a portion of the Strait as well. The majority of navigable sea lanes happen to be on the Oman side of the Strait.
I’m tired of US taxpayers providing free benefits to global freeloaders. They can either start paying us for service, or go to hell.
No, we cannot let countries arbitrarily ignore international law and impose illegal restrictions on international waters and straits. You can't be a little bit pregnant. It is in our national interest that no restrictions be placed on the movement of international shipping regardless of who owns the ships.
That is the Liberal-tarian dream...
Allowing the Commie Left to completely takeover all 3 branches, along with the propaganda American Pravda media.
You are dreaming. Progressives and their corportist allies already firmly control “both” parties. Never Trumpist “Republicans” happily cohabiting with America hating progressive Democrats like Hillary has proven the GOP is unreformable. Sorry.
My reference was to action necessary with resources now available.
The wall is being built, Mexico is in action and the Navy is there.
LOL. Sunshine pumper to the end. Should I still trust Sessions, too?
You are reprehensible
Oh, and BTW. You don’t count
It is in the national interests of other countries too. Let them either pony up their own navies, or pay us for the use of ours.
Until then, if US flagged vessels are not harmed, then it should not be our problem.
The vast majority of commercial shipping carrying goods and supplies to and from the US are not US flagged or owned. It is in our strategic national interests to keep the sea lanes open for all. Other maritime nations will join us. It is in their interests as well.
I don’t want to step into an argument with you, and this is off topic with this thread, but you should rethink your third party strategy. Its a failed strategy. Why?
The two parties in power have power, and any third party, no matter how legitimate will be marginalized. Has any third party in recent US history been more than a blip?
Secondly, even if you succeeded in a third party rivaling the two major parties, now you have situations where a plurality, not a majority, wins elections and you never have a party with the majority of the people behind it. Italy was the example when I was growing up. A government that was, and probably still is, constantly bickering fractions.
Our government was envisioned to be a two party system to avoid this.
Now, what happens when the parties are no longer representing the interests of the voters? You have to clean house, but you do that by taking back the party. Republicans started doing this in earnest following Trump getting elected. The repub party still has a lot of holdovers that need cleaning out, but that’s the way you do it.
What will be interesting, I’ve said this for years, is that as unhealthy as the GOP has been, the Dem party is in worse straits. It will be interesting to see how they handle the defeat coming, when a radical left (or ignorant following) 30% of the electorate realize that the rest of the country, is not going to follow them over the cliff. I had thought they would see this sooner, but I guess I am not much of a fortune teller. These 20+ clowns on the Dem ticket are an example. They will tear themselves apart, because the dem party no longer has ‘Americans’ in the vain of conservative southern blue dogs like in years past. Todays dem party has little to offer the traditional blue collar worker they (supposedly) advocated for in the past. Its all about handouts and freebies now.
It is in our strategic national interest to have US-flagged vessels, crewed by Americans. To accomplish this, there needs to be some advantage to shipping on US flagged and crewed vessels.
We win wars in the field, and lose them in Washington.
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