[Marxism] Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel

[Haines Brown]

> In fact, I kept listening for one report or another even to identify
> exactly where they were in terms of "international waters."  Other
> than one statement by a U.S. naval officer, there was no independent
> confirmation of it.

You bring up a good point. International waters refers to what lies
outside the political boundaries of a state. Although just what that
distance is, is disputed, in the case of the Hormuz Strait incident, I
gather it took place within the minimal distance of 2 miles. The
waters in this case seem to be both national and international.

Iran has a policy of allowing "innocent" traffic to pass through her
maritime territory. She also has a policy affecting bordering states
that is of no relevance here. Of course, the word innocent is subject
to interpretation, but it does imply that Iran has the right or duty
to ensure the traffic is in fact innocent.

It seems that "buzzing" US warships to ascertain their hull number
falls within Iran's prerogative.

As an ex-submariner, I can tell you that close calls between
potentially hostile ships is quite common, partly as a result of
behavior by the US Navy. While any close encounter of potentially
hostile ships is taken very seriously by the Navy, because it happens
so frequently and is usually in part the result of one's own behavior,
the policy is always to keep mum about it. So, to noise such an event
in the world at large is clearly a political decision that has little
to do with the facts on the ground.

What I'm suggesting is that who did exactly what may not be the most
important question, but rather the US decision to publish the event.

-- 
 
       Haines Brown, KB1GRM