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Wednesday 29 February 2012

Who is the real owner of the ENRICA LEXIE??


One of the more interesting aspects of the ENRICA LEXIE episode has to do with trying to figure out WHY the complete Italian Government machinery, along with really heavy duty support services like religion, PR, diplomats, and back-channel, are so interested in releasing this ship and the two armed mercenaries onboard.

And in the bargain, the REAL ownership of the vessel is not truly revealed, as well as the real purpose of the ship and what it was doing so close to Indian waters. After all, with armed guards onboard, she could have easily plotted a direct course to the Red Sea, instead of hugging the Indian coast, right?

Here's an interesting excerpt from a page on Italian law on the subject.


read item 19 . . .

So, what about it, why is the ENRICA LEXIE so important to them??

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Italian ships, Indian Navy, and the Arabian Sea


On one side, in the ENRICA LEXIE case, the Italians are going ballistic about the capabilities, fairness, investigative skills and even judicial integrity of India. They also question the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard's right to take action a few miles off the Indian coast.

On the other side, for the Italian passenger ship COSTA ALLEGRA, the Indian Navy provides air support, air back-up, food drop and more - and this one, the ship is near Seychelles, almost along the coast of Tanzania.


and:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17186829

Here, the Italians say:- ""The ship is at the southern end of the seas that are vulnerable to attacks by Somali pirates. But a government spokesman told the BBC that attacks in the area had decreased in the past year as security improved.""

Make your own judgement. If you ask me, all these Italian ships need to now have a tug in front and one behind, for safety reasons.

Safety of other users of the oceans and seas.

(The COSTA ALLEGRA lost all power after a fire onboard and is adrift right now. The Indians provide the SAR support in this part of the world. That includes SAR for fishing boats attacked by merchant ships, by the way.)

Enrica Lexie - smoking gun?


My article on the Enrica Lexie case for Current . . dubious, smelly . . . oh well.


"It is difficult to understand why the complete diplomatic, military, religious and PR machinery of Italy would come into play for an incident involving something as commonplace as the arrest of a ship – scores, if not hundreds, of ships lie under arrest globally at any given time."


Saturday 25 February 2012

Is the Enrica Lexia a 2nd Purulia armsdrop case?



Here's my article on the Enrica Lexie / St. Antony case in context with the murder of two Indian seafarers - and as the shipping brass descends into Cochin, in full form to celebrate the inauguration of the Cochin MMD office, the question needing an answer is this - is this a Purulia Armsdrop kind of case?


And here's a copy of my recent letter to the office of the DGS . . .:-

+++

Do let me know what you think, and can anybody understand the position of the poor souls on board, the Indians - what happens to them when they finally disembark and all this nonsense of "diplomatic immunity" for the ship when the Port State Control has full authority, gets over?

I mean, our PSC struts around like monkeys otherwise, where are they now in this case, can't even go on board for an inspection, stop the ship on any of a few dozen deficiencies, as usual, and make their little petty haftaas?

++

Letter to DGS:-


Good morning and hope you and your colleagues have a pleasant visit to Cochin.

Here is the latest article by me on what is now increasingly being referred to as "Purulia 2".


I think DG Shipping should have played a far more pro-active role in this episode, especially when the initiative was with them. Now the whole mess of the DGS is being opened like a can of worms and I feel sorry, though vindicated.

Good luck, and I hope you preside over a major clean-up and shake-up at DGS.

Veeresh Malik
New Delhi

Thursday 23 February 2012

Enrica Lexie - what lessons should we learn?

This is the 4th article by me on the subject of the Enrica Lexie/St Antony episode.

http://moneylife.in/article/killing-of-indian-seafarers-off-keralamdashwhat-lessons-need-to-be-learnt/23839.html

The first three are also on this blog as well as linked through the main pages at http;//www.moneylife.in

Incidentally, the pressure on me to stop writing or change my stance is extremely high, including veiled threats. Such is life. Such us shipping, too.

Please do read the articles as well as many of the interacts and responses, they are truly informative.

Your views and comments, publicly here or privately to me, will be appreciated and identites protected as always.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

3rd part of my article on the St. Antony / Enrica Lexie incident




"“Thanks to the government’s attitude towards the whole episode, there appears to be a huge cover-up underway when by right the two captains of Enrica Lexie along with the six armed mercenaries and the watch-keeping officer, who happened to be an Indian national chief officer, should have been hauled away for obstructing justice and attempting to flee the scene of a crime as well as destroying evidence. Shame on us as a country for watching on while the colonials strike again”"

(read on . . .)


Friday 17 February 2012

2nd part of my report on the enrica lexie/St Antony case off Kerla


Murder most foul. And worse, the authorities are trying to wiggle out of things, too. First they let the ship escape. When that was foiled, they changed tactics to compensation.

Does nobody think of national security, national interest, and country's pride and honour??


Thursday 16 February 2012

fv St. ANTONY/mt ENRICA LEXIE, murder of Indian fishermen


What's with the Italians on the high seas lately, anyways? A spate of MSC disasters, the RENA in NZ, the COSTA CONCORDIA in Italy and now this, the ENRICA LEXIE starts taking potshots at Indian seafarers (fishermen) off the Indian coast, and then not just murders them, but leaves them to die on the high seas?

Are we THAT gone as a country? Can anybody even imagine what the fate of Indian seafarers would have been if something even a fraction of this had happened on the Italian coast?

Let the Italian seafarers meet the media, to start with, don't let them hide behind the protection of the local State Government - which in any case is acting like an apologist.