Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, January 8th, 2010 - 131 comments
Categories: activism, crime, International -
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On Wednesday, Japanese whalers tried to murder five New Zealanders. There is no other way to put it. They ran down a ship many times smaller than theirs in the high seas. It is only luck that the ramming did not sink the Ady Gil. The lives of the crew of the Ady Gil were in great danger*.
The idea that the crew of the Ady Gil purposely got themselves hit by a ship so much bigger than their own in the frigid ships of the Southern Ocean is just ridiculous. That would have been tantamount to attempted suicide and is not backed by the evidence. It is a claim only being put up by people who disagree with the protesters and, for that reason, seem to think that the protesters’ lives are forfeit.
It’s quite clear that National simply doesn’t give a damn about protesters whose causes it doesn’t support. Their attitude is that the protesters should get what is coming to them. Incredibly, Murray McCully just said on the radio that if people try to kill New Zealanders on the high seas, the Government has no duty to try to prevent that. In essence, he said it’s the protesters fault for hassling the whalers.
What a pathetic, pathetic response. Taking the side of the big business whalers rather than the Kiwis they attacked. Worried more about trade relations than Kiwis’ lives. But, that’s this government for you. If you’re not a proponent of business interests, they don’t want to know you. They govern in the interests of the business elite and everyone else can get stuffed.
*Farrar’s comment that there was no danger because the protest vessel Shonan Maru was close by and able to rescue the Ady Gil’s crew if the boat sank would be laughable if it weren’t so stupid. I’d like to see that guy floating in the Southern Ocean waiting to be rescued and then say its no big deal to be overboard in the world’s most hostile ocean.
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Scoopit!
So Burt did the AG accelerate in front of the bow of the massive ship or did it slow down in front of the massive ship. The apologists for the Japanese Government have suggested both possibilities.
And what about its right of way?
You seem to be confusing right with might.
Mickysavage
This will be settled in an inquiry, not this blog here and now. You are convinced by one parties story and have no concept of any possibility that the AG simply got too close. You simply can’t claim that an agile maneuverable vessel like the AG was acting responsibly from such limited evidence. All vessels have an obligation to respect other vessels micky, this is not possibly the fault of only one party.
Well fudged, burt
I see the AG accelerate it’s engines just before impact, I think it stuffed up and got to close. But I’m not trying to convince you of that Jenny. Micky has made conclusion, he knows. 16 seconds of video isn’t enough info for me to “know” what went on.
Burt Quote 1
This has become a joke, if the GPS wasn’t removed from the vessel then there should be an automatic assumption of guilt on the part of the Ady Gil. They had a chance to retain evidence that would have convicted or vindicated them did they take it?
Burt Quote 2
This will be settled in an inquiry, not this blog here and now. You are convinced by one parties story and have no concept of any possibility that the AG simply got too close. You simply can’t claim that an agile maneuverable vessel like the AG was acting responsibly from such limited evidence. All vessels have an obligation to respect other vessels micky, this is not possibly the fault of only one party.
Are these quotes reconcilable?
The AG has remarkable tracking equipment, live GPS feeds to the world remember. If there is a void of tracking data in the information supplied by the AG team at an inquiry then yes – they are hiding something.
That would explain the Japanese ship changing it’s tactic from trying to steer behind the AG to trying to steer ahead of it. The tracking and radar logging data will settle this.
The Ady Gil tried to get up speed so they could make a sharp turn away but in order to get up speed they have to go straight ahead which has pushed them into the path of the Japanese ship. They should have reversed.
Bullshit Burt. The Standard is the arbiter of right and wrong. Red Alert said so:
http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2010/01/08/pete-bethune-and-the-whale-killers/comment-page-1/#comment-25418
OMFG – 16 seconds of video tracking a ship turning this way and that toward a boat this is either dead in the water, accelerating or decelerating gives the experts at Red Alert enough evidence to judge all that. Man no wonder Trever did such a great job at closing schools, he’s a natural born hack.
That boat did not accelerate toward the whaler – this has been comprehensively explained earlier in this thread. All boats leave a wake relative to the direction of the surface water movement – look at the bow wave generated by the whaler – more importantly look at the water cannon directed on the cab and explain how this may not have clouded the skippers view.
Grow up and stick up for this part of the globe
Swampy… physics does not allow boat propellers to work efficiently in reverse – it would be like doing a wheelspin in reverse up a mud bank in a car.
Again look at the maritime laws for the powered vessel positions and rules (regardless of what may have happened previously).
Guys…
Please don’t have the retarded belief that GPS positioning will prove all – you need to read up on its capabilities.
…”On January 1st, 2010 two men, Glen Inwood and Chris Johnston from Omeka Communications located in Wellington, New Zealand chartered a Chieftain aircraft out of Melbourne. They identified themselves as acting on behalf of the government of New Zealand to track down and locate a New Zealand catamaran and the Steve Irwin on the pretext that if they (the Sea Shepherd ships) were to get in trouble it would cost the New Zealand government a great deal of money to rescue. They wanted the ships located and an estimate given of their track and speed”…
OK not unbiased but this prick pisses me off…
We need to grow some balls… we are being made to look like dicks.
Did Inwood and Johnston have NZ government agreement or request when they stated their reasons for hiring plane I wonder? Since when have we employed this Glen Inwood who is a lobbyist for the Japanese? And if they lied they should be arrested as frauds and probably terrorists.