Allegedly, on February 15, 2009, the Russian Coast Guard fired upon a Chinese merchant ship, the New Star, trying to leave a Russian port where a business dispute had been left unresolved. The merchant ship started to sink and eight crew were killed in rough waters abandoning ship, while the eight remaining crew were picked up by the Russian Coast Guard. Video available here.
Somehow, this incident escaped notice in the media accounts I've read and heard since then, despite its seeming significance. Warships don't fire on merchant ships in anger every day.
The whole deal has a Hans Solo fleeing authorities with the Millenium Falcon feel to it, complete with allegations of smuggling on the side. Legally, these kinds of issues are squarely within the world of admiralty, a legal specialty that I've dealt with only once or twice in my career (because the Colorado River is arguably one of the "navigable waters" of the United States and hence subject to admiralty law jurisdiction in connection with business taking place upon it), and then only in tort contexts.
So the MSM is keeping us in the dark, just as they did on Jeremiah Wright, Obama's birthin Kenya, etc.
ReplyDeleteOh well, they wonder why folks are abandoning the MSM for Internet News.
My question is: Why didn't Matt Drudge and Rush pick up the story?
There is no MSM media conspiracy to keep us in the dark and rule the world.
ReplyDeleteAmerican media editors simply tend to assume we don't care about foreign news that doesn't involve the U.S. or U.S. interests directly. Some Americans aren't interested, but they've overcompensated.