Posted on 01/01/2006 5:41:10 PM PST by Dundee
Japanese warship 'to guard whalers'
A STANDOFF between Japanese whalers and environmentalists has escalated, with a conservation group claiming the Japanese Government has sent a warship to Antarctic waters to protect its fleet.
The Washington-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said it had received a tip-off that a Japanese naval ship had been sent to the region to defend its whalers from protesters.
The group said it was concerned the warship would try to seize its vessel and those of the two Greenpeace crews shadowing the whaling fleet through the Southern Ocean.
"The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research has made an open accusation of piracy and eco-terrorism against the Greenpeace Foundation and Sea Shepherd," it said.
"If Japan adopts the false accusations that acts of piracy have been committed against their ships, they can use the accusations as an excuse under international law to attack and seize the ships they accuse."
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's vessel joined two Greenpeace boats in the Antarctic waters last week to try to stop the whale hunt.
Both organisations have been accused of deliberately ramming the whaling boats -- an accusation they strongly deny.
Greenpeace spokesman aboard the Arctic Sunrise Shane Rattenbury said he had been unable to confirm rumours over the weekend, which is a Japanese national holiday, that the warship was on its way.
But he said the Japanese whaling fleet was under huge pressure due to the presence of the three protest boats, which were beaming rare images of a whale hunt to the world.
"I think it would certainly raise the stakes, because not only would it be a very expensive exercise but sending a military vessel into Antarctic treaty waters would make a very serious diplomatic incident," Mr Rattenbury said.
Environment Minister Ian Campbell would not comment on the rumour or what action the Australian Government might take if it proved true.
But on Friday he accused the Sea Shepherd crew of acting in a "warlike manner" by allegedly trying to damage one of the Japanese whaling vessels.
Senator Campbell referred an email from the captain of one protesting ship to the Minister for Justice and Customs. The federal Government has refused requests to send its own naval vessel to the Southern Ocean to oversee the whaling fleet, which is hunting in what Australia declares to be its Antarctic territory and a whale sanctuary.
Japan does not recognise Australia's claim to the waters.
Japan's constitution prevents it from sending an offensive force overseas. But in 1992, the Tokyo government passed a special law to allow a Japanese naval vessel to accompany the first shipment of plutonium oxide from France to Japan.
Greenpeace opposed the shipment of plutonium and sent one of its own vessels, the Solo, to shadow the load.
During the first leg of the voyage, the Japanese naval vessel Shikishima was accused of ramming the Greenpeace boat.
The Japanese Fisheries Agency maintains its whaling program is legal research.
Well said.....see ya on the morrow. Or something like that since you Kiwi's are an impatient lot living across the dateline.
> So you think you own the South Pacific, I hope they sink the watermelon greenie ship!
In NZ we will look after the South Pacific, to the extent of our international territorial lines.
Dunno why you seem fascinated about Japanese and other foreign thieving plundering pirate nations loading up on South Pacific fish, and taking their plunder away elsewhere.
What's your interest in this game?
They eat them. There are some good whale restaurants in Shibuya...
There are hidden contradictions in the minds of people who "love Nature" while deploring the "artificialities" with which "Man has spoiled 'Nature.'
" The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artifacts are not part of "Nature", but beavers and their dams are.
But the contradictions go deeper than this prima-facie absurdity. In declaring his love for a beaver dam (erected by beavers for beavers' purposes) and his hatred for dams erected by men (for the purposes of men) the "Naturist" reveals his hatred for his own race, i.e. his own self-hatred.
In the case,of "Naturists" such self-hatred is understandable; they are such a sorry lot.
But hatred is too strong an emotion to feel toward them; pity and contempt are the most they rate.
As for me, willy-nilly I am a man, not a beaver, and H. sapiens is the only race I have or can have.
Fortunately for me, I like being part of a race made up of men and women, it strikes me as a fine arrangement and perfectly "natural."
ROBERT HEINLEIN
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1550474/posts
Just saw this 41 whales shot by New Zealand.
ROFLMAO
> Just saw this 41 whales shot by New Zealand.
> ROFLMAO
Mate, if New Zealand shot 41 beached whales, I can personally assure you that none of the officers involved were ROFLMAO.
I know this because I know them. They are decent blokes.
They would have been crying their eyes out, after having spent many fruitless hours trying to re-float and recover the animals. They would only take the decision to shoot as a very last resort. Shooting would have been the best alternative to what would otherwise have been a painful death.
Nobody on the shooting team would have been happy or proud of that duty. Guaranteed.
> I just dislike anti animal hunting whiners.
I hunt and I enjoy it. I'm a damn' good shot and I enjoy stalking prey. I hope that this means we can be FRiends?
A sinking would be awesome!
> A sinking would be awesome!
You are either naive or a fool. Or perhaps both.
Not so. Its urban academic Greens are a lot like our own urban academic Greens, and hew to the same psychotic anti-human religion. But out in the countryside, NZ has the world's only completely deregulated, unsubsidized farm sector. It not only operates without government subsidies and tariffs, but operates its own private research facilities. The farmers are doing such things as genetic engineering, which the Greens despise but can't stop because it's in private hands.
> Nonsense. Japan hunts mostly Minck whales which multiply like cockroaches and ruin fisheries all over the world. There are hundreds of thousands of them and they are in no way endangered. Indeed just the opposite is true.
That's "Mincke" whales. And no, Japan is not just "researching" this breed. They are quite happy to eat other types of whales, in the name of research.
Anyrate, they have no business hunting in a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific. Full stop.
> PS. brush up on your reading comprehension. I never claimed Japan was ONLY hunting Mincke's.
Maybe you brush up on your spelling and I'll brush up on my reading comprehension. Deal?
Good point...they need to import more US beef.
The Kiwis got rid of all of their fighter jets, and have ZIP for air defense. They truly are pacifist yoyos who must believe in good karma and the love of their fellow man for protection. They even have to beg rides to get their few peacekeeping troops anywhere.
NZ getting angry with Japan reminds me of The Mouse That Roared. What are they going to do about it? Throw a hissy fit at the UN?
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