Seizing sanctioned ship, Trump shows how to break Russian brinkmanship |
Alerted in late December to U.S. plans to seize the sanctioned Marinera/Bella 1 cargo ship as it transited the Atlantic Ocean, Moscow allowed that vessel’s crew to reflag the Marinera as Russian. The Russians then let it be known that they had sent a submarine to escort the vessel. The implication: If U.S. forces moved to seize the Marinera, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel trailing, it might be torpedoed.
President Donald Trump rightly rejected these threats by ordering the Marinera to be seized, which it was by Navy SEALs without incident on Tuesday.
Forgetting its former submarine threats, the Kremlin responded to the seizure with qualified complaints.
“No state,” the Russian Transport Ministry said, “has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry was harsher, lamenting “a gross violation of fundamental principles and norms of international maritime law and the freedom of navigation. This constitutes a serious infringement upon the legitimate rights and interests of the shipowner … We consider the threats of legal action against them on absurd grounds by U.S. authorities to be utterly unacceptable.”
While other Russian nationalist commentators and politicians hyperventilated, the Kremlin clearly wants this controversy closed and out of the public eye.
Put simply, Trump won this standoff.
It’s clear Trump is emboldened by the stunning U.S. military operation to capture former Venezuelan dictator........