Posted on 07/28/2023 1:55:09 PM PDT by Mariner
“The first ship to be contacted by the U.S. Navy was chosen specifically by the President. At 7 a.m. on Friday, October 26, the U.S. Navy boarded the Marucla, a Panamanian-owned, Lebanon registered ship chartered by the Soviet Union. It was intercepted by two destroyers USS John Pierce and USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. This ship was chosen because ”[President Kennedy] was demonstrating to Khrushchev that we were going to enforce the quarantine and yet, because it was not a Soviet-owned vessel, it did not represent a direct affront to the Soviets, requiring a response from them.” Marrucla was inspected and cleared.”
https://cimsec.org/defusing-the-cuban-missile-crisis-naval-quarantine-as-strategic-de-escalation/
“And now comically, everyone is filled with this righteous indignation when Russia stops Ukraine from accessing the sea. Lol”
Uh, no. We are pointing merely pointing out Russian hypocrisy. And it’s not so much as Russia stopping Ukraine from accessing the Black Sea, it’s Russia playing hall monitor to keep EVERYONE from accessing the Black Sea. Besides Russia and Ukraine, there are four independent and sovereign countries on the Black Sea: Turkey; Georgia; Bulgaria; and Romania. Three of those are NATO countries. And, of course, that doesn’t even include all the shipping from other countries that transit the Bosporus. It’s akin to China declaring complete hegemony over the South China Sea (which it is claiming), or the US doing the same with the Gulf of Mexico; or Greece, or Libya doing the same with the Mediterranean Sea.
Russia — as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982) — would be in violation of that very Convention. But, that’s typical of Russia: It is wholly untrustworthy, and any agreements it enters into it can and will ignore. Hence, Reagan’s admonition — when it came to any agreement with the Russians — to “trust, but verify;” and Bismark’s comment that he didn’t trust Russians because the Russian’s didn’t trust themselves.
They haven’t closed off the black sea. Shipping moves normally through the Bosphorous. They haven’t closed Romanian ports. It just can’t go to Ukrainian ports. Anyway, it’s a good thing to keep the Nazis from getting weapons, and when we reneged on the wheat deal, blew up Nordstream, tried to attack the Black Sea pipeline, and used wheat deal shipping lanes for Kerch Bridge and pipeline attacks, I don’t know what else we expected.
“They haven’t closed off the black sea.”
No; not yet.
But, perhaps you didn’t read the article. It specifically said, “...there are signs pointing to Russia’s preparations for establishing a full blockade of the Black Sea.”
THAT is what I was addressing. But, as I said above, perhaps you didn’t read the article before you commented.
Signs according to who? Ukrainian intelligence? Or do they call it the Abwehr?
A civilian ship carrying what? Cluster bombs??
I looked at the article. It was a spokesman for the southern command of the Reich.
“Signs according to who? Ukrainian intelligence?”
That’s why it’s an IF, and not — at least at this point — fact.
And your comparisons to the CMC in 1962 and Britain in WWI are wholly inappropriate, as they dealt ONLY with interdicting shipping into a specific port or ports of a specific country; and, moreover, both predated the Convention of the Law of the Sea, which went into effect in 1982.
The premise in the article was that Russia could be planning a COMPLETE blockade of the Black Sea. To make your comparisons comparable, the entire Atlantic Ocean would have had to have been blockaded in WWI and in 1962; and, of course, that never happened.
“I looked at the article. It was a spokesman for the southern command of the Reich.”
The Reich? Well, you have clearly shown your bias.
Then let the signatories to the Convention deal with it. It’s really not our problem.
The U.S. didn’t go to war against Great Britain over Britain’s seizure of Dutch ships transporting cargo between Africa and China.
“Then let the signatories to the Convention deal with it. It’s really not our problem.”
Well, as far as I am aware the US has yet to take a formal position on the issue. However, a country that has voluntarily accepted the Convention protocol and chosen to abide by it — though not legally bound by it — can certainly take a position one way or the other, in the UN or outside of it.
Could we still effectively mine their 3 harbors from the air
——-
Yes, possibly, but an act of war. That said, Russia has the ability to mine all of our ports, LA, Houston, S.C……Russia imports very little, mining US ports would shut the US down in days.
Vlad holds all the cards.
“Well, as far as I am aware the US has yet to take a formal position on the issue.”
The day after Russia announced the Ukrainian blockade, the US announced we would not provide security for any ships in the Black Sea.
“The day after Russia announced the Ukrainian blockade, the US announced we would not provide security for any ships in the Black Sea.”
Which was a prudent position to take. Which should be ironic to the pro-Russia FReepers here who routinely claim that the US is trying to provoke WWIII.
I suspect that it's really one of those scenarios where we have sufficient leeway to take either position as needed for whatever desires we have at any particular time.
This suits the military-industrial-congressional complex just fine.
My sympathy if you only have 3 fingers and no toes. Because Russia has more than 3 ports. Apparently more than you can count.
That's exactly what it's all about. It gives the U.S. the ability to sanctimoniously lecture other countries about the importance of a "rules-based international order" when it suits us, while at the same time allowing us to keep a straight face while we ignore those "rules" whenever we see fit.
“I suspect that it’s really one of those scenarios where we have sufficient leeway to take either position as needed for whatever desires we have at any particular time.”
Something like that.
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