At Reuters it is being reported that the oil tanker boarded and seized by U. S. forces was operating under a false flag:
GEORGETOWN, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Guyana’s maritime authority said on Wednesday that supertanker Skipper carrying Venezuelan oil, which was seized by the United States, was falsely flying Guyana’s flag.
“The Maritime Administration Department has observed the proliferation and unacceptable trend of the unauthorised use of the Guyana flag by vessels that are not registered in Guyana,” it said in a statement.
The authority, which was informed by the U.S. government of the tanker’s seizure, plans to take action against the unauthorized use of the country’s flag, it added.
Under UNCLOS Article 92, ships on the high seas are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of their flag state. That protection applies only if the vessel is validly registered and genuinely entitled to fly that flag. UNCLOS Article 110(1)(d) explicitly allows warships (and government vessels clearly marked and authorized) to board a vessel on the high seas when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the ship is without nationality.
That changes my opinion somewhat. The Trump Administration was acting legally in boarding and seizing the oil tanker. Either the U.S. had prior intelligence indicating the vessel’s lack of nationality, or it established that fact during the boarding itself—both of which satisfy the UNCLOS standard.
That suggests that the coverage of this story has been a predictable deficiency of event-driven reporting. The information above should have been front page news. At least it should have received the same level of coverage that the boarding and seizure itself did. AFAICT that has not been the case. While Reuters reported the false flag detail, its legal significance—namely that the vessel was stateless and therefore subject to boarding by any state—was largely unexplored. That omission materially affected how the event was understood.
Remember Jonathan Swift’s witticism: “Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect.”
Updata
Maybe I wasn’t hearing right but the “talking heads” news programs this morning didn’t mention the “false flag” or legality issues in any discussions of the oil tanker. IMO that was a serious omission.
Plus it was reported that it was on its way to Iran in violation of sanctions.
I’m not a lawyer so I don’t know the implications. What is clear is that Venezuela is a partner with Russia, China and Iran in the drug trade and oil. When does that change the environment from a crime to terrorism and acts of war. Again, I’m not a lawyer, but I think that gets to the root of disputes over US actions.