Venezuela navy vessel sinks after 'ramming cruise ship' - The Resolute Incident - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15081587
BBC wrote:Venezuela navy vessel sinks after 'ramming cruise ship'

3 April 2020

ImageThe RCGS Resolute, currently in Curaçao, sustained minor damage to its bow

A Venezuelan navy coastal patrol boat sank in the Caribbean after allegedly ramming a cruise ship that it had ordered to change direction.

The owners of the Portuguese-flagged RCGS Resolute said the naval vessel Naiguata also fired shots in an "act of aggression in international waters”.

The collision left the cruise ship, which has a reinforced hull for sailing in icy waters, with only minor damage.

Venezuela accused the Resolute of an act of "aggression and piracy".

It also said it "did not rule out" that the cruise ship "was transporting mercenaries to attack military bases in Venezuela".

President Nicolás Maduro has previously accused the United States and other countries of plotting to overthrow him.

Image
The incident took place near La Tortuga Island, a Venezuelan federal dependency, on 30 March.

Columbia Cruise Services, which operates the Resolute, said the cruise ship had been carrying out routine engine maintenance in international waters more than 13 nautical miles (24km) from La Tortuga.

A statement from the Hamburg-based company said that shortly after midnight, the Naiguata radioed the Resolute, questioning its intentions, and ordered the captain to follow it to a port on Isla Margarita, to the east.

"While the master was in contact with the head office, gunshots were fired and, shortly thereafter, the navy vessel approached the starboard side at speed... and purposely collided with the RCGS Resolute," it added.

"The navy vessel continued to ram the starboard bow in an apparent attempt to turn the ship’s head towards Venezuelan territorial waters."

Columbia Cruise Services said the Resolute remained in the area for more than an hour and contacted rescue co-ordinators on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao. All attempts to contact the Naiguata went unanswered and the Resolute eventually sailed to Willemstad on Curaçao, it added.

A statement by the Venezuelan military (in Spanish) accused the Resolute of "cowardly and criminal" behaviour, "since it did not attend to the rescue of the crew".

It said all the crew of the Naiguata had been rescued, but did not give details.

Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López accused the Resolute of ramming the vessel, "which caused its sinking".

President Maduro said an investigation had been launched and he expected "maximum collaboration" from authorities in Curaçao.

The regime turns into its own parody. :lol:
#15081769
Rugoz wrote:Venezuela wanted to assert its dominance over the mighty imperialistic cruise ship.

So you mean they meant to utilise their primordial instincts that way? Maybe you should rewatch the movie then, or Colonel Kurtz's monologue at least, to get a grasp. I'd recommend director's cut. It may be longer, but it's worth it and you're in home office anyway, aren't you? ;)
#15081829
AFAIK wrote:The US has put a $15 million bounty on Maduro. They allege that he is the head of a drug smuggling operation working with FARC in Colombia.

I love that America can't chill and lay off the antagonism during the Corona crisis. Venezuela should be a refreshing diversion.


Seriously if they can drone Soleimani why not do the same on Maduro?
#15081835
AFAIK wrote:Can we drone him?

-Hillary Clinton


If any two individuals commit the same amount of atrocities (I know Assange commits even less if at all), I always believe the necessity and degree of violence usage is directly proportional (or even exponentially proportional) to the power the said individual(s) hold, as well as their willingness to give up power.
#15081840
Patrickov wrote:Seriously if they can drone Soleimani why not do the same on Maduro?


Anybody can be whacked. This is true. The guys that have the military capability for whacking are mostly fascist tending, although Obama was rather fond of whacking as well. The "why not" is a question you have to answer for yourself - suffice it to say there's always a price you will be required to pay.
#15081882
Patrickov wrote:Seriously if they can drone Soleimani why not do the same on Maduro?

They probably could but is he worth the cost? There are always economic considerations to everything. If they set a $15 million bounty on him then you could take that as measure of their relative disinterest actually. $15 million is not that much really, certainly a lot less than the cost of taking him out with cruise missiles or whatever.
#15081899
Beren wrote:I wonder if Maduro is only a figurehead and taking him out would change anything. He's not Chavez and the regime survived Chavez's death too.


Even if he is more than a figurehead, no man rules alone and lieutenants will have ambitions too. Pinochet was one of Allende's lieutenants after all, Allende promoted him up to serve him anyway, look how that turned out. So yeah someone will fill the gap he leaves.

A droning would put the willies into his successor though and might make him much more likely to offer rapprochement to the US even if it meant making the country more open in the Popper sense of it. It would also embolden the opposition.. see Libya.
#15083184
AFAIK wrote:The US has put a $15 million bounty on Maduro. They allege that he is the head of a drug smuggling operation working with FARC in Colombia.

I love that America can't chill and lay off the antagonism during the Corona crisis. Venezuela should be a refreshing diversion.

Also, the USA has bankrupted itself on foreign wars of aggression to steal oil (mainly), and now doesn't have any money for health care, or for the millions of unemployed. So what does the government do? Deepens sanctions, smears a leader with a drug-dealer accusation (while getting all its cocaine from ally Colombia), and threatens "regime change" on former bus-driver Nicolas Maduro.

BUS DRIVERS vs CASINO_GOLF COURSE OWNERS: Covid-19 edition

Nicolas Maduro: former bus driver
Here in Montreal, like in many other cities with mass transit, we are celebrating the "guardian angels" who are our bus drivers, who have been risking their own health to get the hundreds of thousands of people to work and to essential services who need them every day.

https://www.lecourrierdusud.ca/video-ho ... longueuil/

Donald Trump: former and current owner of casinos and golf courses
These entertainment venues are all closed because of possible contagion. And if you want to get some fresh air and exercise, they are fairly useless anyways. Golf courses are like massive, lifeless lawns, where virtually no earthly creature can feed itself from the sparse trees and lifeless grass.

https://www.ibj.com/articles/gambling-r ... nos-closed
#15083650
Image
What a beautiful "cruise ship."

It's got an ice-breaker hull, and is named after an island in the Arctic.

I'm surprised it isn't called the "USS Maine," or the "911." Or simply "The USS False Flag."

And RCGS is "The Royal Canadian Geographic Society." I guess the CIA bought it at a garage sale.

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