Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
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Notes -
If a vessel is flying a false flag outside of the 3 nautical mile territorial waters, in what sense is it "your vessel" or "your waters"? A private vessel enjoys the protection of the sovereign under which they lawfully are flagged, not ultimate ownership. You can check the AIS records yourself, they were broadcasting under the Guyana flag, but Guyana says they are not registered there.
The US and Venezuela are not signatories to UNCLOS, but by normative convention they were almost certainly not in territorial waters. They might have been in the contiguous zone, but more likely "off the coast" means they were in the exclusive economic zone, which only provides exclusive rights over economic activities like fishing. Other navies could very well conduct anti-smuggling operations against un-flagged or false-flagged vessels in those zones.
I'm actually much more okay with this than drone-killing random small boats, without offering them the chance to surrender. Large vessels abusing AIS reduces safety at sea and freedom of navigation for everyone.
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