"Of course, you realise this means war!" or "Has Iran finally gone too far?"

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Victor Galis


Seeing as neither country can really project power that well...

Well as long as Romania doesnt have any failed states next door

[DanS]

It will probably be like what happened when the Iranians boarded and kidnapped the sailors on a small Brit boat a couple years ago. Probably, the situation could be escalated, but it's in nobody's interest to do so (we've got your back, but don't think of it as a blank check, especially since you were doing business with the enemy and should have known better ). The Iranian company probably won't like how this all turns out.

I think Patrokolos is under way in the area on a rather powerful rig of steal and electronics. Maybe he has something interesting to say.

[Japher]

Iran is going to become IraqII real soon. Especially with this Uranium enriching thingy...

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Well as long as Romania doesnt have any failed states next door

Well, it does have Hungary, you know...

[Blaupanzer]

The US can arm the Roumanians to the teeth and use them as a surrogate to get at the nuke plants we really care about.

OR

The UN can debate about this forever.

OR

Everyone can forget the whole thing.

Personally, I kind of like the first idea. Talk about a war coming out of left field!

[MMC]

Bomb, bomb, bomb,
Bomb, bomb Iran!

[Dr. A. Cula]

Originally posted by Sava


But with what?

The story doesn't specify what destroyed the crane. It's doubtful that naval gunfire was responsible for destroying anything on the rig because such weapons are clumsy and quite destructive. I suspect that crane was destroyed when Iranian forces were boarding.

But then again, this is all just speculation. It would be inappropriate to jump to any conclusions without confirmation.

My complaint about your thread/posts is that you seem to be painting an inaccurate picture of what may be actually occuring.

You need to keep in mind that you are reading a second-hand account of the situation. You haven't seen the actual event. You've not spoken to anyone who has witnessed the event(s), nor have you seen pictures of the rig so that you could at least give a decent "inspection" of the damage.

All I'm saying is that it is a bit premature to jump to conclusions until more information is released. There has to be a reason for Iran to take this kind of action. I certainly don't think we know the full story, as far as the deal between the Romanian company and the other companies involved.

You're right, I got carried away by the unusual turn of events. We only know one side of the story, and even they seemed reluctant to go into details. I was trying to poke fun at the people who made all those pompous war statements around here, and then fell for it myself. I should have known better.

One final bit of speculation before I go to bed: the Iranian intervention and the lack of details from the Romanian company makes me think there was some sort of foul play from them as well. I'm not going to try and figure out what it is, as I am very curious to hear what the Iranian government has to say about this.

@Japher: I'm not typing, I've got one of those MMI thingies from SMAC.

[MMC]

Originally posted by Sava
I suspect that crane was destroyed when Iranian forces were boarding.

Which would still mean the rig was damaged by the Iranians... and whether or not it was damaged, they still boarded it. This was done illegally (as far as we can tell).

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Very common with immigrants, and particulary ironic when done by eastern european Jews.

My amily on my mother side was Romanian Jewish (first ine the countryside, and then in Bucharest). I have never heard of it suffering from any harsh antisemitism before WW2.

My family left the country in 1960, not because of antisemitism, but because of the communist regime.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Spiffor

My amily on my mother side was Romanian Jewish (first ine the countryside, and then in Bucharest). I have never heard of it suffering from any harsh antisemitism before WW2.

My family left the country in 1960, not because of antisemitism, but because of the communist regime.

Ok, Ill PM you then on the topic, cause I dont want to threadjack this, or alienate our Romanian friend, who seems like quite a decent chap.

[lord of the mark]

Spiff - see your inbox

[GePap]

What a tempest in a Tea Pot this is.

[Dr Strangelove]

If they send Vlad Tepes in will the result be a coven of Shiite vampires? Gosh, I wonder what that would be like? Vampires who won't attack the police?


Was the rig fired upon moving, or were the crew brandishing arms? A ship under a nation's flag still must obey the law when in another's waters, it does not have diplomatic priviledges. If the crew was trying to resist or flee then Iranian forces may have been justified in their actions. OTOH if the Iranian navy commander was simply upset because the other rig escaped and decided to fire on the remaining rig just to vent his anger then Romania has cause to protest, but I don't think they have a cause to declare war.

[MMC]

Meh, they should declare war, or failing that, squatter's rights.

[Colon™]

The real issue is whether it's allowable that Romania has an international oil company.