Whaling protestors - controversial thread!!!

[pfillery]

So who thinks that the idiotic australians who jumped aboard that Japanese security vessel (wasn't even a whaling boat) should have been thrown to the dogs and left to fend for themselves?

I think at least they should charge them with the cost of their pickup by the customs ship, said to be in the several hunderd thousand dollar range.

Sure I disagree with whaling, and if they want to play cat and mouse with the whaling ships, so be it. But to board a vessel in international waters is either an act of priacy or an act of war and should be treated as such. As a taxpayer I'd rather my share goes to more teachers, nurses or cops than the cost of collecting someone performing an acto of terrorism.

Thats just my thoughts, what does everyone else think?

[weeds]

Gotta agree....sure they are making the news for a good cause but I don't get how they can away with it esp the cost to us tax payers

[HBWC]

i've emailed them how to stop the whaling but they wont listen

its quite simple start hunting japs for scientific purposes and refuse to stop till they stop whaling


then the protesters might stop their stupidity how long till they start getting killed?

[digger]

It was an obviously pre planned move. Why is it the "Friends of the forest" group are involved here?... where is the forest?

Apparently one of the reasons that they needed to be returned was that allegedly one of them didnt take his ADHD medication with him when he boarded!!

I agree that it was an act of clear piracy and that in reality the Japanese could have used lethal force to repel these people from getting aboard!
I believe that the Sea Shephard and its associated ships are also breaching maritime safety laws by their aggressive tactics (like cutting in front of a larger vessel and expecting the vessel to stop or veer away violently thereby causing collisions)

If this is what it takes to stop these protesting fools, then serve me a whale steak!!

I don't agree with whaling, but we accuse them of being unlawful and barbaric and then these fools 'attack' the vessels with 'rotton food' bombs , ram their vessels creating safety hazards and board them.. whos acting like the barbarian now?

Its clear that they intend to act in this aggressive manner because they are displaying a pirate flag!! (so maybe giving the Japanese another reason to blow them out of the water?!)

and why is the media and politicians associating with them?

lets deal with the whalers LAWFULLY and do it right.. the australian way, not start attacking people we dont agree with.

Until then look at charging the organisation and the captain of the vessel for costs as they obviously created the scenario by their actions deliberately.

[damo_s]

I agree with their cause, but disagree with the way they went about it.

They broke the law and should have been dealt with appropriately.

[blitz]

if you are going to put a poll up then with all due respects I suggest you be less subjective and less argumentative. Any vote case will be swayed by your opening comment - Idiotic Australians.

Therefore this is not a real Poll rather a poll of does anyone agree with you and as such you should have worded it that way.

therefore I will disagree. the japanese ship was in Territorial Australian waters only 40 km off of main land Australia, where the bloody hell were the Australian authorities to take the boat into custody as it was illegal being there?

being that close to Australian main land the bloody navy should have used it for target practice and sunk the bloody thing. The Austrlian governments Labour and Liberal are panseys when it comes to Japan, makes you wonder who won the war?

What do you think would happen to an australian boat in Japanese waters illegally?

[ugu80]

None of the above.

Their cause was just but if they were prepared to board another vessel on the high seas then they should have been prepared for the consequences, i.e. being taken to Japan to face Japanese justice. The world spotlight would be on that and generate more publicity than the boarding. Japanese would probably have sent them home to avoid that spotlight.

Australian taxpayers should not have to pay for their actions.

[101RRS]

therefore I will disagree. the japanese ship was in Territorial Australian waters only 40 km off of main land Australia, where the bloody hell were the Australian authorities to take the boat into custody as it was illegal being there?

being that close to Australian main land the bloody navy should have used it for target practice and sunk the bloody thing. The Austrlian governments Labour and Liberal are panseys when it comes to Japan, makes you wonder who won the war?

What do you think would happen to an australian boat in Japanese waters illegally?

Sorry mate - Territorial waters only extend to 12NM so the vessel was not in Australian waters - even if it was there is a right to "innocent" passage so would have been legal.

Your other comments - well the mods will ban me for saying what I think - simply they do not warrant a response.

Lets stay with the facts.

Garry

[Homestar]

I think at least they should charge them with the cost of their pickup by the customs ship, said to be in the several hunderd thousand dollar range.

This is just bull**** media hype. The pickup didn't cost the taxpayer one single dollar. The customs ship was already in the water, buring diesel, paying the wages. This was more like an excersize for them. It's not like they put another ship specially in the water to go and do these sort of things - we are paying for these ships anyway, why not get them to go and do something useful.

I don't particullay agree with what those 3 did, but all the hype about how much it cost to get them back gives me the ****s.

P.s. - I can see this heading straight to the Soapbox...

[101RRS]

There is no simple solution to this scientific whaling problem. I believe that only Japan can stop it - following pressure and discussion from/with other countries like Australia.

Australian actions is what is need to be done. We have continually lobbied the Whaling Commission to have scientific whaling banned but we have not been able to get the required support. But then if lobbying was so heavy that Japan decided to leave the Commission then there would be little the Commission to do.

The waters that this whaling takes place is within the Antarctic Treaty zone so military forces are not permitted in the zone - forget Aust Military intervention down there - also forget Japanese Navy escort of the whaling fleet (to protect it from the environmental pirates).

The whaling is is partially in waters claimed by Aust and declared a Whaling Sanctuary - however our claims are not recognised by most countries (including Japan) and our claims are not agreed to by the body that manages the Antarctic Treaty. By taking the Japanese to the world court, this is a major risk strategy for Australia as World Court will need to consider whether Aust claims are valid - may find they are and may help our "territorial" claims and stop whaling but most likely find they are not valid (not ratified by the Antarctic Treaty) and we loose our territorial claims and the area is fully opened to whaling.

I think the operations of the "Sea Shepard" group will ultimately be unsuccessful and will back fire. If they monitored, filmed and shamed Japan in the news and via graphic documentaries rather than physical attack, combined with political pressure from countries like Aust and NZ then whaling will most likely stop and we would keep out territory because most claims are tolerated as long as there is no rocking of the boat - but we have raised the issue in the World Court.

An emotive issue, not helped by emotive, ill informed comment.

Garry