Think of it as "we want to set our own immigration policy."
Nah. Going from there to here.
- We're not leaving them out there to rot. We're giving them food, water and medical aid.
That's.. leaving them out there to rot. The medical care is arguable, but I don't know that its lacking.
If we told Willenius Wilhemson that they were their responsibility, that would be "leaving them there to rot".
- If the owner of the ship wants to complain about us turning their cargo ship into a passenger ship, I'm sure we will have great delight in pointing this out.
So in other words, after being (directed to be) a Good Samaritan, its not Your Problem. Well, sometimes things *become* a problem.
And this is how we're handling this one.
I still don't see where that has anything to do with Norway, proper, unless you're saying they should sail 1/2 way around the world with people lashed to the deck and deliver them to Norway. Norway's not involved in this.
I think Norway is only really involved because it's being treated as an issue of soveriegnty and the ship is registered as a Norwegian vessel.
- The captain was told not to enter Australian waters. He had no reason to enter Australian waters - he claimed the refugees threatened to jump overboard again if he did not.
You're skipping, slightly. AU directed him to a sinking ship, with far more people than he can expect to deal with. Now that he's in that situation, nobody will assist *him*.
I shall have to find out about whether we really directed him to pick them up. In all likelihood, we probably expected him to take them to Indonesia, where he was going anyway.
I'll have to see what I can find out about the location of the sinking. So it was closer to Indonesia than Australia?
I don't know. Possibly. It was definitely in International waters.
- Yet Indonesia refuses to discuss the matter with Australia, and has put warships out to prevent the Tampa from docking. Why are we the big ogre? Indonesia must have some responsibility here and they are refusing all of it.
I can agree with that they should also be willing to take some - but right *now* the boat is off the AU shore.
... after we told the captain not to come! :-) What should we do now? Arrest him for disobeying? Could be interesting...
I'd also comment on how the captain probably expected to get a more civilized, humanitarian response from Australia, rather than Indonesia, for the problem that HE now has.
That's why I don't understand why we aren't involving the country these people are coming from.
So the next time a boat is sinking off the AU coast, and all the passing ships are having radio problems... what do you say to them, that they are monsters?
I can't answer that. Certainly it creates a "cry wolf" situation.
Wade.