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Soon US allies will be detaining ships from the Bolivian Navy just to check if Snowden is aboard.

• rdl 13y ago
  (Aside from the issues of Bolivia being landlocked since the War of the Pacific in 1879...) Per the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Article 95 of UNCLOS: Warships on the high seas have complete immunity from the jurisdiction of any State other than the flag State. Article 96 of UNCLOS: Ships owned or operated by a State and used only on government non-commercial service shall, on the high seas, have complete immunity from the jurisdiction of any State other than the flag State. 1) An interesting case came up: Argentina's frigate (well, a historical tall ship, but it was technically the flagship, like the USS Constitution) the ARA Libertad was seized in Ghana related to the $100b sovereign debt default of 2001, and a NY federal district court judgment for one of the bondholders against Argentina. 2) The whole point of a warship is that you can't detain it; if it fails to be able to prevent detention, it's not really very good as a warship, is it? 3) Ragnar Danneskjøld
  • mcovey 13y ago
    Do you think America cares what some little treaty says? We effectively own the UN and can freely flout any agreements we've made through it. I doubt anyone would be even slightly surprised if America - either is military, a government agency, or by some other means - decided to raid foreign vessels looking for a suspect. All in a day's work when you're the world's self appointed arbiter of justice.
    • rdl 13y ago
      The US generally hasn't violated the physical sovereignty of embassies or of warships on the high seas. Those are from the Congress of Vienna or even before, not de novo from the UN.