Paul Watson detained in Germany and faces extradition to Costa Rica

[telemann]

Comments

[airiefairie]

I think I should accelerate writing that planned story of mine about eco-terrorism. =)

[telemann]

That sounds totally awesome ;)

[telemann]

Just like whatever that cute radio news caster was saying in the video clip (Icelandic or Danish or ..... ;)

[airiefairie]

...Føroyskt.

[danalwyn]

I'm not surprised that this happened eventually. The Sea Shepherds have a strategy that focuses on combating what they see as illegal use of the oceans with tactics that are illegal in the hopes of either providing a drag on them or forcing a court showdown. It looks like someone has finally given them the legal opportunity they were looking for. Now the question is whether Costa Rica, of all countries, is going to provide the necessary grandstand to match their ambitions. I'm not terribly supportive of their actions for a number of reasons, but this is more or less what they've been hoping for, so we'll see if they can do something with their thirty minutes of fame

[danalwyn]

Whether or not an illegal action is justified is usually left to the legal system to decide. In the case of something pertaining to and dealing primarily with a country X, the matter is usually left to the legal system in X to decide, in this case Costa Rica. All sorts of people do things believing that they're helping the world, or humanity, or any other cause you would care to name, but determining the consequences of those actions is usually for another observer. There are too many people with more passion than sense, or humanity.

Personally I believe that people should stand up and do what they can, but they should be prepared to face the consequences afterwards. If you're going to go down that road, don't complain about where it leads to.

What Germany is really deciding is whether Costa Rica is competent to judge people. That's a much trickier question, and putting an entire country on trial is a difficult prospect - at least diplomatically speaking.

[sealwhiskers]

My opinion is that the charges from Costa Rica really are corrupt, and I hope that Germany doesn't extradite Watson.

[nyquilsteve317]

go captain watson go!

[sophia_sadek]

That Faroe Island mission looks pretty futile. It seems more like grandstanding than an effective operation. There are way too many whaling beaches than there are Sea Shepherds to patrol them.

I wonder where the whale food is picking up all of those toxins.

[abomvubuso]

You don't need to patrol all the shores. The local people know pretty much where the next hunting event is going to take place, and when. Just ask them the right way and you'll be there too.

[sophia_sadek]

The Animal Planet show on the Sea Shepherd portrays the difficulties that the activists faced in obtaining intelligence on the next hunt.

[telemann]

It wasn't futile. The Sea Shepherd had audio beacons that would prevent the whales from entering local waters, the locals also did NOT want the grind to be filmed, because of the controversy.