EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). Helleniscope has explained that Greek shipowners have traditionally expressed the interests of their homeland much better than any of the sellouts that governed Greece in the last two centuries. The West calls them “pirates,” and all kinds of names, but the reality is that the true pirates are the “crusaders,” the Western colonialists and the imperialists who have roamed the planet for the last ten centuries and wreaking havoc globally, exploiting most of the planet and destroying indigenous people. Should I remind you how many tens of millions (YES, TENS OF MILLIONS) of indigenous “Indians” were murdered in the process of expanding America? Should I go around the Globe doing the same? Please spare me the effort…
Greek shipowners follow the market’s needs to make a decent profit. “We are the taxi and truck drivers of the oceans,” they answer. “Nobody can tell us what load to take or not to take!”
The West tried to impede their oil transfers from Russia by placing all kinds of prohibitions in their “meeting points” in the South of Greece (Laconic Gulf) or South of Italy. So they recently moved to the Eastern Aegean. They have established a flourishing business there as they are transferring “incognito” (by turning off all electronic transponders.”) The place they picked is west of Lesvos, near or in an “anchorage area” for the Russian Navy. We have reported before that Greece has allowed three such “anchorage areas” in the Eastern Aegean to Russia, to facilitate the supply of the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean.
Please do not argue that they are doing something wrong. First, much of the oil they transfer to the West is bought by Europeans and Americans. How? Through India and other ways (an example here). Second and most important, Greek shipowners know history. They know that Catherine the Great in the 1780s allowed them to fly the Russian flag all over the Mediterranean and made them wealthy. They broke the embargo of France by the British (1807-1814) in a series of daring expeditions, and they made untold wealth in gold. Then, they funded and fought with their ships in the Greek Revolution of 1821!! This is how modern Greece was established!! If you learn or read something else, you read the wrong history!…
Conclusion: Let the shipowners pursue their market interests! They are essentially pursuing the interests of Greece.
BELOW IS THE NEWS FROM BLOOMBERG
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Secret Russian Oil Switching Gets New Greek Hotspot After Drills
(Bloomberg) — The secret switching of Russian fuel cargoes between tankers at sea has migrated to new hotspots off the coast of Greece after the European country used naval drills to try and block the activity in one location.
About 1 million barrels a month of diesel, fuel oil and other petroleum products has been getting flipped near the islands of Lesbos and Chios in the Aegean Sea, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa. The area only became popular after Greece’s navy carried out drills around the Laconian Gulf, previously the No. 1 site for the practice in Europe.
A surge in ship-to-ship transfers involving Russian oil and fuel in and around Europe has raised environmental concerns because of question marks over the safety and insurance of the vessels involved.
The practice, sometimes carried out in secret with digital tracking beacons switched off or falsified, can help to obscure the origins of the oil, helping to beat sanctions. It also creates another layer of separation between the buyers and sellers of cargoes.
The transfers have also become regular off the Italian port of Augusta since May, when the Greek navy began its exercises. On November 14, the drills were extended until mid-March.
