Manuel_D

16 ms·

271.
by Manuel_D 5mo ago
The Ocean Mariner departed Columbia with the stated destination of the Dominican Republic. But it started sailing towards Cuba. When it realized that it was being tracked by the USCG, it changed course towards the Dominican Republic. We don
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
What stops it from being a blockade is the fact that ships that are legally registered continue to dock in Cuba.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
No, it hasn't. The ships that were seized were flying false flags. They're subject to seizure regardless of the embargo.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
No doubt that America's embargo is more powerful because it's one of the largest import markets in the world. I'm not pretending that an American embargo is no more impactful than a smaller country carrying out an embargo. Bu
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
The severe contortions are on the end of people trying to call this a blockade. These terms have long established definitions. A blockade is a unilateral action where a country seizes vessels that try to dock at the blockaded country. It&#x
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
Right, but the point is, it's not a blockade. Loads of people are calling it a blockade, and correcting that piece of misinformation is the root of this whole thread. If people want to say that the embargo is coercive and bad, that&#x2
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
No, they are not blocking legally registered tankers from other countries. The handful of boarded ships were boarded because they were flying false flags, which is illegal and opens them up to being seized regardless of the embargo.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
But they're not blocking oil tankers from other countries, at least not ones that are operating legally. The only tankers that have been seized were flying false flags, which makes them legal to seize irrespective of the embargo.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
Threatening to tax people who enter your house is still vastly different from physically apprehending anyone who tries to enter your house even if they're willing to pay the tax. The difference between a blockade and an embargo is not
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
Your own link highlights the fact that this is not a blockade. The US threatened Mexico with tariffs if they didn't participate in the embargo against Cuba. Mexico decided that trade with Cuba isn't worth tariffs on Mexican export
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
I should have been more explicit that I was using boycott as an analogy to an embargo, in contrast to a blockade which unilaterally prevents countries from trading through military force. An embargo is analogous to a boycott: you and your f
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
Cuba can meet the US's demands that they stop being a single party communist state and liberalize their economy.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
No, it's not effectively an oil blockade. Countries have the option to trade with Cuba and risk whatever retaliatory tariffs the US promises to put on countries that ship oil to Cuba. These counties choose to refrain from trade with Cu
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
Because the US wants to economically isolate Cuba to prod the single party authoritarian regime into liberalizing. It's fine if you think that's a bad thing. My only point is that it's not a blockade, it's an embargo.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
Yes, they fly false flags to avoid triggering retaliatory tariffs. If country X sells oil to Cuba than country X's goods being imported to the the US will be subject to additional tariffs. I can see how this wording makes it sound like
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
But it's cut off from oil because other countries refuse to trade with Cuba. Not because the US Navy is blocking vessels (besides those flying false flags) from docking with Cuba. If you really believe there's no distinction betwe
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
No, a tariff is indeed a tax a country imposes on goods entering its borders. I'm not sure what in my comment you think contradicts this.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
The US has seized Russian shadow fleet vessels: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-seizing-venezuela...
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
But it doesn't look like a duck? There are ships docking and departing Cuba all the time. Your speaking as though Cuba is cut off from all maritime trade, which is not the case. Contrast that with actual blockades: like the UK blockadi
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
The two are not mutually exclusive: The US embargo is done with the goal of economically hampering Cuba. The ships that try to skirt their home countries' participation in the embargo by flying false flags are being subject to police a
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
The US has in fact seized Russian shadow fleet vessels: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-seizing-venezuela...
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
It's not a blockade. Any country around the world is free to sail their cargo ships to Cuba and trade with Cubans. This will in turn, trigger tariffs against them in the US, but if countries really want to trade with Cuba they can. A b
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
It's legal because the ships were flying false flags. They claim that they're registered in country X, but when the US calls up country X they are told that the ship is not, in fact, registered there. Maritime law exists, and enfo
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
If you read the link closely, nowhere does it actually say the US is employing military force to stop ships from docking in Cuba - that's what a blockade is. The author of the piece is essentially trying to redefine "blockade&quot
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
Correct. But the point remains, the US is free to impose a tariff on countries that sell oil to Cuba.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
The above commenter quite explicitly said that countries are being forced to buy resources from the US which is the exact opposite of an embargo.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
These ships were flying false flags, which is a violation of maritime law. It's legal to board and size ships doing this, regardless of embargos.
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
No really, it's an embargo and a promise to tariff other countries that don't also embargo Cuba. An embargo is like boycotting a store. A blockade is like standing around the store with a bunch of batons promising to apprehend any
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
Do you not realize that flying a false flag is illegal? It's the maritime equivalent of putting a fake license plate on your car. I'm seriously baffled at your attempt to equate boarding ships that are breaking maritime law with s
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by Manuel_D 5mo ago
A tariff is a tax that a country imposes on goods entering its borders. A country can impose a tariff on any country, at any time, for whatever reason (unless they've signed free trade agreements obligating them to refrain from imposin

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