Why on earth did Trump decide to blockade the blockade in the first place? It wasn’t going to do one bit of good and was going to hurt the world even further. But he wanted to stop any ships that got through the Strait of Hormuz. There is literally no point to it. We couldn’t *do* anything to them. Maybe a search and seizure? No idea how things work on the water, so only a guess. Appreciation to Raw Story:
A U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz went into effect Monday at 10 a.m. EST at the direction of President Donald Trump, but in a matter of hours, the blockade was breached without incident by at least four Iran-linked vessels, BBC reported Tuesday.
On Monday, Trump said that he had instructed the U.S. Navy to “seek and interdict every vessel in international waters that has paid a toll to Iran,” and the U.S. military later said that the “blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas.”
Impartially against all vessels. Wouldn’t that mean ours, too? And why is Trump crabby about ships coming and going? It seems he has no idea of how badly products are needed for *everyone*. He has no idea of how the world economy is collapsing, especially when he’s ignoring what’s happening here. He’s not all there in the head anymore. It’s disturbing how erratic he has become. He’s supposed to be the leader of the free world. Yea no.
However, ship tracking data analyzed by BBC Verify revealed that at least four Iran-linked vessels “crossed the Strait of Hormuz” without incident; two on Monday, and two overnight.“The Rich Starry, a tanker that is sanctioned by the United States under a different name, sailed through the Strait overnight Monday,” CBS News reported, with the outlet having also analyzed ship tracking data. “The Elpis, another sanctioned tanker, sailed through the strait after the blockade began, having apparently come from the Iranian port of Bushehr, according to tracking data.”
The Rich Starry is a U.S.-sanctioned Chinese oil tanker, and was the first vessel to breach the blockade since its implementation on Monday morning. The Chinese government called the United States’ blockade “dangerous and irresponsible,” with Chinese President Xi Jinping warning that the world must not be allowed to “revert to the law of the jungle,” NBC News reported.
Law of the jungle. Heh. That’s both apt and disturbing. It’s not a good idea to turn the world against you because you’re an idiot. We certainly don’t need that. On the other hand, they were sanctioned ships. It still doesn’t seem like our blockage was a good idea. We need to get those ships through the Strait, since they’ve literally been waiting for *weeks*.
Despite news organizations having analyzed tracking data, the outlets could not confirm whether or not the Iran-linked vessels had broadcast false location reports using a tactic called “spoofing,” which CBS News describes as a method to conceal a vessel’s true location.
Trump’s decision to respond to Iran’s partial blockade of the Strait of Hormuz with another blockade has baffled experts, including Karen Young, a senior scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, who told CNN on Sunday that Trump’s blockade would only exacerbate the increasing scarcity of oil.
If you have someone spoofing, they have to be pretty darn good at it, especially for something the size of a ship. And of course, it couldn’t be confirmed. That follows right along with “good at it”. Spoofing takes a *lot* of skill. And then we’re back to WHY is Trump doing this? There have been a few guesses, but no actual reasons. Well, okay, maybe regime change, but that part was a failure from the get-go. Yes, we got their leader. Now there’s a worse one. Well done.
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exactly, what the hell is the point? i thought the point to the us navy being there was to reopen the strait and get traffic moving. who cares if iran is charging a fee. does trump think they owe him personally, not the us, half of it.
“…what the hell is the point?” Cruelty is the point. Trump, loved by thousands, hated by millions, throws shit at the wall until something sticks, and nothing ever does. Congress, Repubs, hey, I ‘m talking to you, do something to get rid of this POS.
Trump is in deep shizzle. See the piece I wrote about our allies leaving. We are seriously not going to have any left.
Congressional Repubs aren’t going to do a damn thing. No one has the courage,
That is exactly what I was thinking all along. There’s *no* point except Trump is a dick. If the ship can pay the “toll”, hell yes let them through! Hence the ranting in this column.
I still do NOT understand why the Navy is obeying these blatantly wrong orders!
Good lord, maybe you should fact check the sources you steal your content from.