Three activists 'prisoners' after slipping aboard Japanese ship

[onenote]

59. My wife and I have consistently provided Sea Shepherd with financial support but

this was a dumb move, probably oriented more towards making "good TV" for Whale Wars than for actually advancing the cause of stopping whaling.

First, there was no chance whatsoever that the Japanese would simply turn around and sail to Australia as the boarding party demanded. None.

Second, when the Japanese agree to release them into the hands of Australian authorities, the Japanese are the ones that end up looking reasonable.

Third, there is a significant expense for both the Australian government and for Sea Shepherd in terms of the "rescue" mission and that expenditure does little to advance the anti-whaling cause.

While I'm a firm believer in the value of civil disobedience as a means of drawing attention to and support for a cause, this is not a situation where any publicity is good publicity. This action, from what I understand, has cast Sea Shepherd in a bad light in Australia and that's not a good thing.

Harassing and disrupting the whalers? I'm all for it. But sticking three guys on a security ship (not a harpoon ship or the factory ship) which doesn't alter its course (and will probably insist that the transfer of the boarding party occur in such a manner that it doesn't lose touch with the Sea Shepherd vessel(s) is a poor decision.