The Cypriot-flagged “Monchegorsk,” formerly an Iranian flagged vessel when it sailed from that country, now has more “issues:”
Cyprus: Iran ship’s cargo breaches UN resolutions.

There you have it: A “second opinion” on the matter of what’s in the cargo holds, and behind welded bulkheads.

And the US Navy wasn’t allowed to stop it. Not allowed by the Commander-in-Chief, or otherwise, it would have been done already, and a “diplomatic” approach would have found a port to take the ship to, in order to offload the contraband. As that has not happened, then it has been specific direction, from the top, that has disallowed the seizure of the vessel that violates the UN Sanctions. So much for getting the World on our side to solve problems like this. Had this been an issue of the US alone declaring the ship held contraband, absent the UN sanctions, then we would have, once more, been in a position to “dictate” to the world, n this case, the Iranians, but, politically, I’m sure the thought process is to not upset the sensitivities of the Iranian leadership by taking one of their supply vessels out of the equation, much less confiscating the load of weaponry and explosives. It clears the path to hold out the “unclenched fist” to those who would develop nuclear weapons for one purpose: Genocide, all while smiling about how they are not developing nuclear weapons for one purpose: Genocide.

But the story gets better. The “Monchegorsk” isn’t merely a tramp steamer, laden with war material for Hamas, it turns out it is equipped to be a command and control vessel, too, in addition to bringing more communications gear to deliver to Hamas. Notice the tactics used, also: This vessel is masquerading as an “aid ship” with humanitarian supplies for the residents of Gaza. This is the same game of Hamas building rocket launching positions in houses, school yards, hospitals and TV stations, to attack Israel. The net result, the MSM will play the “oh, the west is denying aid to the poor Palestinians” line, when in fact, both situations are taking illegal advantage for protection of military operations/logistics, and you can bet there is al least one crate of bandages, openly positioned for the press to see on this ship, to support it’s claim of being for humanitarian purposes.

A pattern is emerging here in our foreign relations: We won’t stand in the path of those who will overtly work to ensure the destruction of Israel, which is a Nation, most assuredly, but a people, who will be killed in this conflict.

The extend that to other countries around the world. We aren’t going to be confrontational, EVEN WITH THE BACKING OF THE UN!

Irony? Oh, yes, and even more when you consider this is “empire building,” which used to get you the title of “IMPERIALIST!”, a very, very bad word in international politics. Yet, we see the Iranians, now extending their empire to the shores of the Mediterranean, to compliment their empire building in Iraq.

More view from watching leadership change, on a planned basis in a military structure: You can come in with a hard line, and back off, if it’s appropriate, once things are on track. You can come in easy, being everyone’s friend, but when you need to turn the screws to fix an obviously out of control situation, it’s a mess, because everyone thought you were really a nice guy. In this case, then you must apply more “leadership,” more harshly than you would have had to in the first case, just to get things back with the acceptable lines.

President Obama is choosing to be the “nice guy.” If he ever decides he actually needs to execute his Otah of Office and defend this Nation, he’ll have to be overly aggressive to let them no it’s really no more Mr. Nice Guy when that day comes. That will translate into more lives being impacted, ours and their, that could have been by being firm about what needs to be done from the beginning.

The “Monchegorsk” should have been escorted off to offload in a safe harbor many days ago.

And while we’re talking about “Empire Building,” and not going in hard in an out of control situation, here’s the continuing saga of how the take overs will occur.

Update 2/1/2009: This post at EagleSpeak provides lots of detail, and the actual UN Resolution number: 1747.