Screw Russian thugs - I donated to GreenPeace

[upi402]

http://www.nationofchange.org/climate-change-protests-heat-1380289954

GreenPeace had no weapons and stole nothing. But the Russians acted like pirates and thugs and held GreenPeacers at gunpoint kneeling on the deck of the ship. And irony of ironies - they're charging the 30 GreenPeacers with PIRACY!

"The Russian government responded swiftly and with force, deploying special-forces soldiers, their faces masked by balaclavas, threatening the peaceful Greenpeace activists with automatic weapons, destroying their inflatable boats by slashing them, arresting 30 and towing the Greenpeace ship to the northern Russian port of Murmansk. At last report, the protesters faced a potential charge of piracy."

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Cowardice somtimes comes in Military uniforms .

[LuvNewcastle]

11. "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses."

[orpupilofnature57]

12. Dangerous but true .

[K.O. Stradivarius]

2. What did they expect to happen?

"with several protesters scaling the side of the platform".

However noble or well intended the protestors intentions were, I would expect most sovereign
nations would not take kindly to anyone scaling the side of the platform. Especially the Russians (whom have been the target of terrorist attacks in the past), as they do not play around or known for being subtle in their response.

[MattSh]

3. Yep...

Americans, and a even a whole lot of DUers, have been conditioned over the decades to get those knees-a-jerking any time Russia is mentioned. Doesn't matter what Russia does or doesn't do. Doesn't matter if Russia's responding the same way the USA has responded to similar circumstances.

[joshcryer]

7. Gazprom doesn't mess around, either.

They need to be really careful. The piracy charges will probably be dropped, but I suspect Gazprom had something to do with them to begin with.

[dipsydoodle]

4. "irony of ironies - they're charging the 30 GreenPeacers with PIRACY"

Do you have a link confirming that to be the case - that they have actually been charged with piracy ?

[joshcryer]

8. They were initially detained on suspicion of piracy.

Then it seems their detention has been changed to suspicion of criminal activity.

Here: http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/16782641/putin-otmenil-piratstvo

No charges have been filed yet, they're just being "detained."

[dipsydoodle]

9. I was simply drawing attention to a fabricated truth.

Be interesting to see what happens.

[joshcryer]

10. Putin acknowledged it wasn't "piracy."

So there was probably some truth to the original "piracy" accusations. I figure that the police / guards involved just thought up the best thing they could at their whim and that's what was announced. It was definitely broken down to a lesser charge when they looked over what was being done. In some respects piracy might make sense because they were definitely trying to commender the rig (had they been successful we'd maybe be looking at a standoff situation here as opposed to activists sitting in jail; it was 30 of them after all, they were trying to send a message).

It will be interesting to see if Gazprom pushes the piracy thing. They're in a sticky situation, let the activists off lightly, they'll try some stunt like that again, be too tough, then they look bad. They'll probably hit them with a suspended sentence and deportation / ban from Russia. Cover it under unlawful trespassing or something.

I think Gazprom has it within their power to push a full piracy charge but they won't do that unless the activism is more pronounced. Though granted this was a pretty brazen attempt.

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. I believe Putin had the 'piracy' moniker dismissed

They should still be facing trespassing issues, possibly vandalism or industrial sabotage as well. Leaving aside the loaded issue of whether their message is correct or not, what do they/you expect to happen with these methods?

[joshcryer]

6. He said it was obvious they weren't pirates.

I don't think he has intervened directly on the issue, just made it clear that they weren't pirates, obviously, but that the police had to treat them as such because it was unknown who was attacking the platform.

Use Google translate: http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/16782641/putin-otmenil-piratstvo

Greenpeace is very brave for this sort of civil disobedience, if slightly stupid going after a Russian body... Gazprom doesn't fuck around.

[upi402]

13. they HAVE been charged with PIRACY

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/03/greenpeace-activists-charged-piracy-russia

When did this party go on bended knee to authoritarianism and corporatism?
I donated again.
Fight back.