The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: SSG Snuggle Bunny on December 16, 2025, 03:51:15 PM
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Why is boarding a shadow-fleet tanker legal?
First: the USCG was involved. Coast Guard officers are federal law enforcement, and their authority travels with them wherever they’re embarked.
Second: under the “law of the sea” — UNCLOS — any stateless vessel can be stopped and boarded by any nation. No permission required.
Now look at the ship’s identity. Marine Traffic showed it flying a Guyana flag, but that’s just self-reported AIS data. Go to the actual government registry database, http://Equasis.org, and you’ll see Guyana officially denies registering this ship.
No real flag = stateless vessel.
And stateless vessels have zero legal protections.
Naval War College lays out the full framework here:
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3102&context=ils
What’s the difference between a stateless tanker and a pirate ship?
A pirate attacks a crew and takes the ship.
A stateless shadow-fleet tanker is a ship that’s been sold into the dark economy, where operators hide ownership behind shell companies, scrub papers, forge flags, and erase accountability.
It’s the maritime equivalent of grinding off the VIN number and selling your car to a criminal network.
Pirate ships are also more dangerous because they often have weapons on board and are used as a base for other criminal activities.
Most stateless shadow tankers are crewed by regular seafarers who either really need work or are paid extra to not worry about the legalities.
It’s the difference between a bodyshop in the hood that’s owned by the cartel and is a front for drug and gun storage and a body shop that’s mostly legit but will do to the occasional no questions asked cash jobs to repaint a car that’s got blood stains.
Why don’t more nations do this?
Because Biden’s National Security Council told allies to avoid boarding shadow-fleet tankers out of fear it might escalate tensions with Iran or Russia.
But since Biden left office, some have acted anyway:
•Estonia boarded and detained the Kiwala in April, and tried to seize the Jaguar in May before Russia scrambled fighters and forced them to abort.
•Finland seized the Eagle S after suspecting it of cutting subsea cables.
Bottom line:
Stateless tankers are outside maritime law, and boarding them isn’t escalation.
It’s law enforcement but most nations don’t want to deal with the diplomatic and legal fallout.
Plus there is always a chance the operation will go wrong, boarding teams will take causalities and the tanker could run aground and cause an oil spill.
Most militaries today are very risk adverse.
One more thing: this specific tanker previously transported Iranian oil to China… and nobody has much appetite to stand up to China today.
https://x.com/johnkonrad/status/1999121027675099213