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Oil Tanker

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Comments

  • Off_it
    Off_it Posts: 28,853
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    The Gov of Iran gave The Gib PM a written assurance on headed paper that the cargo was not for Syria. 
    That’s about as high a profile assurance you can get from a National Gov, so not much they could do about holding the ship. 
    The lads had been aboard and hidden all sorts of tracking and listening stuff, so if Iran breaks its promise - they will look worse on the world stage than Gib/UK. 
    Well if it was on headed paper...
    That is the precise point made by the Chief Minister - it's an official Gov to Gov promise, so nothing Gib can do about it.

    Added to Gib not wanting to make enemies - they already have one on the doorstep.
    At least 7 nationalities and 5 religions live there in peace, side by side.
    Well you can now see that a promise from Iran isn’t worth the paper it’s written on - literally. Unbelievable that the Gib (and, by extension, the U.K.) government got played like this. 
    Maybe we put a pound of sugar in the tank?

  • Stu_of_Kunming
    Stu_of_Kunming Posts: 17,118
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    The Gov of Iran gave The Gib PM a written assurance on headed paper that the cargo was not for Syria. 
    That’s about as high a profile assurance you can get from a National Gov, so not much they could do about holding the ship. 
    The lads had been aboard and hidden all sorts of tracking and listening stuff, so if Iran breaks its promise - they will look worse on the world stage than Gib/UK. 
    Well if it was on headed paper...
    That is the precise point made by the Chief Minister - it's an official Gov to Gov promise, so nothing Gib can do about it.

    Added to Gib not wanting to make enemies - they already have one on the doorstep.
    At least 7 nationalities and 5 religions live there in peace, side by side.
    Well you can now see that a promise from Iran isn’t worth the paper it’s written on - literally. Unbelievable that the Gib (and, by extension, the U.K.) government got played like this. 
    Hardly played, what choice did the UK really have? Tell Iran, sorry, we don't trust you so we're ignoring your letter? That's not really how global politics works.
  • se9addick
    se9addick Posts: 32,038
    edited September 2019
    Stu_of_Kunming said:
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    The Gov of Iran gave The Gib PM a written assurance on headed paper that the cargo was not for Syria. 
    That’s about as high a profile assurance you can get from a National Gov, so not much they could do about holding the ship. 
    The lads had been aboard and hidden all sorts of tracking and listening stuff, so if Iran breaks its promise - they will look worse on the world stage than Gib/UK. 
    Well if it was on headed paper...
    That is the precise point made by the Chief Minister - it's an official Gov to Gov promise, so nothing Gib can do about it.

    Added to Gib not wanting to make enemies - they already have one on the doorstep.
    At least 7 nationalities and 5 religions live there in peace, side by side.
    Well you can now see that a promise from Iran isn’t worth the paper it’s written on - literally. Unbelievable that the Gib (and, by extension, the U.K.) government got played like this. 
    Hardly played, what choice did the UK really have? Tell Iran, sorry, we don't trust you so we're ignoring your letter? That's not really how global politics works.
    Tell them that the assurances provided are inadequate and we think there is a good chance that the oil will be delivered to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. Which is exactly what looks like is happening. 
  • Stu_of_Kunming
    Stu_of_Kunming Posts: 17,118
    se9addick said:
    Stu_of_Kunming said:
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    The Gov of Iran gave The Gib PM a written assurance on headed paper that the cargo was not for Syria. 
    That’s about as high a profile assurance you can get from a National Gov, so not much they could do about holding the ship. 
    The lads had been aboard and hidden all sorts of tracking and listening stuff, so if Iran breaks its promise - they will look worse on the world stage than Gib/UK. 
    Well if it was on headed paper...
    That is the precise point made by the Chief Minister - it's an official Gov to Gov promise, so nothing Gib can do about it.

    Added to Gib not wanting to make enemies - they already have one on the doorstep.
    At least 7 nationalities and 5 religions live there in peace, side by side.
    Well you can now see that a promise from Iran isn’t worth the paper it’s written on - literally. Unbelievable that the Gib (and, by extension, the U.K.) government got played like this. 
    Hardly played, what choice did the UK really have? Tell Iran, sorry, we don't trust you so we're ignoring your letter? That's not really how global politics works.
    Tell them that the assurances provided are inadequate and we think there is a good chance that the oil will be delivered to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. Which is exactly what looks like is happening. 
    Which is what we did, if a sovereign nation then makes an official promise not to, we couldn't really say no, especially as we didn't have full support of our EU 'partners'
  • se9addick
    se9addick Posts: 32,038
    Stu_of_Kunming said:
    se9addick said:
    Stu_of_Kunming said:
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    se9addick said:
    Valiantphil said:
    The Gov of Iran gave The Gib PM a written assurance on headed paper that the cargo was not for Syria. 
    That’s about as high a profile assurance you can get from a National Gov, so not much they could do about holding the ship. 
    The lads had been aboard and hidden all sorts of tracking and listening stuff, so if Iran breaks its promise - they will look worse on the world stage than Gib/UK. 
    Well if it was on headed paper...
    That is the precise point made by the Chief Minister - it's an official Gov to Gov promise, so nothing Gib can do about it.

    Added to Gib not wanting to make enemies - they already have one on the doorstep.
    At least 7 nationalities and 5 religions live there in peace, side by side.
    Well you can now see that a promise from Iran isn’t worth the paper it’s written on - literally. Unbelievable that the Gib (and, by extension, the U.K.) government got played like this. 
    Hardly played, what choice did the UK really have? Tell Iran, sorry, we don't trust you so we're ignoring your letter? That's not really how global politics works.
    Tell them that the assurances provided are inadequate and we think there is a good chance that the oil will be delivered to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. Which is exactly what looks like is happening. 
    Which is what we did, if a sovereign nation then makes an official promise not to, we couldn't really say no, especially as we didn't have full support of our EU 'partners'
    Cool
  • Stu_of_Kunming
    Stu_of_Kunming Posts: 17,118
    Would it have been worth starting a conflict over?
  • se9addick
    se9addick Posts: 32,038
    Releasing re the tanker to be sailed into Syria provides material and financial support for two ongoing conflicts. 

    So yes, I would have hoped we could have had some courage and conviction and stopped this from happening in blatant contravention of an embargo we are supposed to be upholding.
  • Stu_of_Kunming
    Stu_of_Kunming Posts: 17,118
    I would have liked us to have done the same thing, I'm just not sure it was possible.
  • Valiantphil
    Valiantphil Posts: 6,410
    Stu_of_Kunming said:
    Would it have been worth starting a conflict over?
    Exactly. 

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