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

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ecthy
Since Romanian territory isn't threatened,

The NATO treaty consideres any attack upon one of its members to be an attack on all. This clearly qualifies.

1st, I wanna know who let Romania into the alliance? What the hell benefit do we get from them?

2nd, no, we aren't going to war because we can't afford to go to war. Oil prices are already too high and the U.S. would get hammered in Iraq by the Shi'ite revolt.

[chequita guevara]

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

Oh they must be proud of you.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

1st, I wanna know who let Romania into the alliance? What the hell benefit do we get from them?

It was sort of like running a scam where you distract the shop keeper and then swipe all you can carry while he's not looking.

In this case, NATO sucker punched the shop keeper then went on from the candy counter and swiped half of the USSR before Boris woke up.

[Jon Miller]

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.

What do they think of you being a communist?

JM

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


The NATO treaty consideres any attack upon one of its members to be an attack on all. This clearly qualifies.

1st, I wanna know who let Romania into the alliance? What the hell benefit do we get from them?

2nd, no, we aren't going to war because we can't afford to go to war. Oil prices are already too high and the U.S. would get hammered in Iraq by the Shi'ite revolt.

They are down like 40 cents from earlier this year.

JM

[techumseh]

THAT is not an act of war against Rumania. THIS is an act of war against Rumania:

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Japher
Iran is going to become IraqII real soon. Especially with this Uranium enriching thingy...

w00t ... everyone knows sequels are WAY better than the first one. And way bloodier. Look at Empire Strikes Back

Iraq II: Dubya Strikes Back!



Someone HAS to make a faux poster for that ...

[Pekka]

Well, even if it was no mans land, and it was clearly filled with Romanians, it's an attack against Romanians, thus it is an attack against Romania, thus it is an attact against all military allies of Romania. THat's how I see it.

But then again, if there weren't scores of people killed, I think we should forget about it, no reason to escalate it further. I mean.. there might have been snakes on the rig.. what are you going to do? YOu are going to send warships and fire at those snakes on the rig.

[Patroklos]

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).

I can't get the source open at the moment due to my location, but then again my location and profession might give me some insight into the matter

If the rig is in Iranian territorial waters, which I suspect is the case, then they can board it at will in the interests of their national laws.

[Edan]

Originally posted by Pekka
I mean.. there might have been snakes on the rig.. what are you going to do?

Get those mother****ing snakes off the mother****ing rig.

[Dr. A. Cula]

Good morning everyone. Well, at least it is here. If it's not where you are, insert appropriate greeting in first sentence.

First, some further developments.

Iran responds: It didn't happen.

Meanwhile, the romanian government is trying for a diplomatic solution. In my opinion, their only real concern here is the safe return of the workers.

Also, 2 more links in romanian:

http://www.hotnews.ro/articol_54678-Versiuni-diferite-legate-de-incidentul-din-Golf.htm

http://www.hotnews.ro/articol_54694-Dan-Constantin-Firma-GSP-este-in-stransa-legatura-cu-Liviu-Luca.htm

The first one has Iran's ambassador in Romania state that the romanian company was trying to renegociate the contract, trying to get more money and when that failed it started packingit's toys. In the same story, there is a line relaying a story "told by iranian press" (note the quotes): they claim workers from the rig kidnapped and beat representatives of the iranian company. I can't decide which sounds more ridiculous: the claim that iranian pres is saying that or the kidnapping one.

The second one accuses the romanian company of intentionally muddying the waters by revealing the friendship between it's owner and the owner of a local media trust. But this comes in the form of an interview with someone from a competing media trust, so I have my doubts.

Also in the first link there is a statement by the romanian company: they say the whole story started when the iranian company refused to provide a bank document (some sort of warranty, if I translate correctly). In my opinion, they wanted to swindle more money out of the deal, then took the opportunity presented by a minor hickup to cancel the whole thing.

@Dr Strangelove: I understand the rig was not moving. The owners said they had stopped production, waiting for a solution to this problem. Also, romanian workers working in another country under a legal contract don't normally carry weapons (nor kidnap people, for that matter). As far as far Vlad is concerned, if we somehow manage to get him back, I don't think we'd deploy him in the Middle East. He would be much more efficient at home. Besides, his only foreign policy was to beat the crap out of turks, I don't know how it would work against persians .

@Colon™: Well, we have at least 2: the state owned one and this private one, so there.

@chegitz guevara: It was the US who rushed Romania in, when both uncle Boris and Western Europe weren't looking, although I suspect some european hands were twisted the wrong way in the process. The benefit I think was in the shape of a couple of airbases placed in locations that somenone at the Pentagon found interesting.

@Sava: You said you doubted that crane was hit by fire from the boat. I think you're on to something here: since it's romanian technology, most likely one of the soldiers leaned against it a bit too hard.

[Colon™]

Originally posted by Dr. A. Cula
@Colon™: Well, we have at least 2: the state owned one and this private one, so there.

My goodness, I can understand the Iranians want to take out at least one of them.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


The NATO treaty consideres any attack upon one of its members to be an attack on all. This clearly qualifies.
.

er, no. Only an attack on a member nations territory in Europe or North America.

Thats why UK couldnt invoke NATO wrt Falklands, or Portugal wrt Goa, or any other colonial situations (well, excluding the West Indies, where it presumably WOULD apply)

[Saras]

--"Only an attack on a member nations territory in Europe or North America."

north of the tropic of cancer was the rule i think.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
What do they think of you being a communist?

My grandfather would've had hated it, but I was still not a commie when he died (I was 7).

My grandmother eventually accepted that I'm nothing like the murderers they fled from, and my mother shares the sentiment (I even got mom to vote commie and to buy tickets for the big French Commie party ).

My family's origins have a strong influence on my political ideas. They explain why I'm absolutely inflexible when it comes to democratic transition to socialism, and why I consider a free political system* more important than an emancipative economic system. This is also why I adamantly oppose violent revolution.


*Note to fellow socialists/commies: I find the current democracy very far from perfection, and there are plenty of possible changes to make it finally possible that people really grasp the political aspect of their fate in their own hands. However, even that unsatisfying form of democracy is far better than any political arrangement that happened in any longlasting "communist" country.