Random News and Notes 7 January
This editor has been keeping you apprised of the situation involving the M/T Bella 1/Marinera. That ship is on a sanctions list and has been running from US forces for more than 2 weeks. This morning, Coast Guard personnel from USS Munro executed a VBSS.
. . . Taker Sophia—were either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it.
Under President Trump’s bold and visionary leadership, US Coast Guard tactical teams worked closely with its counterparts at the Departments of War, Department of Justice and State and used their specialized expertise to conduct these operations and conduct two safe, effective boardings within hours of each other. One of these tankers, Motor Tanker Bella I, has been trying to evade the Coast Guard for weeks, even changing its flag and painting a new name on the hull while being pursued, in a desperate and failed attempt to escape justice. The heroic crew of the USCGC Munro pursued this vessel across the high seas and through treacherous storms— keeping diligent watch, and protecting our country with the determination and patriotism that make Americans proud. These brave men and women deserve our nation’s thanks for their selfless devotion to duty.
The world’s criminals are on notice. You can run, but you can’t hide. We will never relent in our mission to protect the American people and disrupt the funding of narco terrorism wherever we find it, period.
This is our country’s greatest fighting force at their best. This is America first at sea.
You will note that Secretary Noem mentioned the fact that the Bella 1changed flags and names during the pursuit. What she failed to mention is that the Coast Guard and Navy had ample opportunity to seize the ship before reflagging. As mentioned in a previous RNN item, there was more than enough naval capability in the area to force a boarding at any time. Instead, we got a keystone kops low speed chase.
Look, we all know the reflag and renaming is a matter of the ships owners trying to circumvent sanctions. However, the fact that the vessel is now on the Russian registry as a Russian flagged ship could cause issues. I suppose we’ll see.
The other vessel mentioned in Noem’s post, the M/T Sophia, is another stateless, sanctioned dark fleet tanker. She was grabbed in international waters off the Venezuela coast.
The Coast Guard is escorting M/T Sophia – and the Venezuelan oil she’s carrying – to the US for final disposition.
If you’re on the Twitter, I have a suggested follow for you. SGM Mike Vining,- yes that Mike Vining – now has a Twitter account.
Give him a follow. I expect you won’t be disappointed.
How many of you know where the Chagos islands are? Do any of you know the name of the most important of these islands? You should. There is a US military installation there. A British one too, they own the archipelago. That island, the one with the bases, is named Diego Garcia.
Now, the Brits are attempting to give the Chagos islands to Mauritius. Why? Beats me. Mauritius, another archipelago in the Indian Ocean, has no real territorial claims to the Chagos. But two Tier Kier still wants to hand them over. Fortunately, the upper house in Parliament – the House of Lords – voted down his proposal. Four times.
Now, I don’t follow Brit politics all that closely, so I couldn’t begin to tell you the whats and whys about this. I can say that a four time rebuke is not common, and a pretty big statement about the deal. Apparently the Chagos stay a British Indian Ocean dependency for now.
