China almost got away with it. (Iraq, military, claim, nationality)

[plwhit]

Does anyone need any more proof that the Chinese can't invent anything other then gunpowder?

The Finnish authorities have impounded an Isle of Man-flagged ship bound for China with undeclared missiles and explosives, officials say.

Police are questioning the crew of the MS Thor Liberty after what were described as 69 Patriot anti-missile missiles were found aboard.

BBC News - Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship

Who else feels China should be known as Land of the Cheap Knockoffs?

[burdell]

Screw the knockoffs, I'd be more interested in knowing where those missiles came from and who sold us out.

[cisco kid]

Just want to point out:

The ship is owned by a Dutch shipping company.

The 32 member crew are Dutch also? It doesn't say the nationality of the crew, but I will assume they are Dutch given the Dutch ownership because if they were Chinese the article would have mentioned it. That is a significant detail I don't think they would overlook.

The article doesn't seem to indicate if the missiles are real or fake. Probably still under investigation.

Question is, what is a Dutch owned ship with Dutch crew doing bound to China with a load of missiles disguised as fireworks?

[burdell]

Originally Posted by cisco kid

Question is, what is a Dutch owned ship with Dutch crew doing bound to China with a load of missiles disguised as fireworks?

I'd imagine you could ship (at least attempt to) anything just about anywhere if your pockets are deep enough.

[tablemtn]

The crew is probably Filipino, Ukrainian, Bangladeshi, or some combination. Not many westerners work as cargo ship crewmen anymore.

[cisco kid]

Originally Posted by tablemtn

The crew is probably Filipino, Ukrainian, Bangladeshi, or some combination. Not many westerners work as cargo ship crewmen anymore.

Gotcha.

[cisco kid]

Originally Posted by burdell

I'd imagine you could ship (at least attempt to) anything just about anywhere if your pockets are deep enough.

Yep. International arms smuggling is big business.

[Mircea]

Police are questioning the crew of the MS Thor Liberty after what were described as 69 Patriot anti-missile missiles were found aboard.

It's amazing how long it can take a lie to die. It's been what, 20 years now?

The Patriot is an air defense system, designed to replace the Nike-Hercules. The primary differences are that the Patriot is mobile (Nike was static) and the Patriot radar system (phased array) can track more targets (a software, hardware and radar issue for the Nike).

It was never designed as an anti-missile system to shoot down missiles, but idiots still make that claim.

During the Gulf War, Patriots were fired at incoming Iraqi SCUD missiles, but with no success.

In theory, the Patriot should be able to shoot down certain types of theater-based surface-to-surface missiles, but that would depend entirely on the speed of the missile and its operational characteristics (true surface-to-surface or surface-to-release-point).

It was bound for the Chinese port of Shanghai but there was no indication for whom the military cargo was destined.

I like how people ignore that part.

I don't suppose it ever occurred to you all that your CIA, who does stuff like that, might be behind this.