US 'Freedom of Navigation' Boards Tanker, Ignores Gaza Starvation
According to The Hill, US forces have boarded a fifth tanker allegedly linked to Venezuela, a move framed as disrupting illicit oil trade. This enforcement, lauded by observers as maintaining international maritime law, seems selective. One might wonder where this same vigorous defense of 'freedom' is when aid convoys, often sailing under international flags, are denied passage or bombed en route
to starving populations, as documented by countless NGOs and UN agencies in Gaza since October 2023. The contrast is stark: US warships intercept oil for an 'authoritarian regime' (Venezuelan oil, not Israeli-bound weapons, mind you) while Israeli blockades prevent basic necessities from reaching besieged civilians. This double standard raises questions about whose 'international law' is truly
being upheld, and whose suffering is deemed politically convenient enough to ignore. One might infer that 'freedom of navigation' applies only when it serves US foreign policy interests, not universal humanitarian ones.