Russian Oligarch Yachts; Ukrainian Solution

Slippery discussion slope, but think about what you're saying for a moment. It's not a good precedent to have the US Federal Gov decide unilaterally that it's ok to go seize and liquidate private property, be it cash, boats, or anything else. Furthermore, you're holding a private citizen of Russia accountable for the actions of Putin. It's one thing to seize a boat and create some stress as political leverage, but it's another to outright seize and liquidate, disperse.

If you think you can make the case for liquidation, go into a court and make that case. However today's Russian cash grab is your bank account tomorrow because the Administration doesn't like your politics. That might seem like a stretch, but it's a distance that gets closed pretty quickly.

...and having said that, I'm not a real big fan of the boat seizures, either. Yeah, lock them up in port, deny them of fuel, charge them plenty of dockage fees, and limit their power to 30 amps single phase. Offer to buy the boats for a penny on the dollar, and then freeze the cash transaction. But all of this is a bit ugly to watch play out.

I agree with the direction you guys are taking. The evolution of due process with its protections and procedures, beginning with the Common Law of England in about the 13th century and further evolved and refined there, in the United States as well as in Canada and Australia is one of the corner stones of our freedom and our primary protection from tyranny and arbitrary actions. We mess with it at our great peril.
I can understand the seizing of assets before the owners abscond with them while we determine what, if any, liability they should bear which requires investigation, determination and litigation. And time. I know that people of wealth can tie the system up in a frustrating way and perhaps that can be mitigated against or streamlined somehow.
But to abandon 700 years of legal evolution and say in effect 'we are grabbing your stuff and selling it and spending the proceeds' because we are morally outraged and therefore entitled and do not need to establish what, if anything, you are guilty of, is (as has already been said), a dangerous and slippery slope and creates a precedent we might all come to regret in the future. A symptom of the 'Cancel Culture' I fear where proof of anything is no longer required. A complaint or suspicion will do.
You are Russian, you are rich, therefore you are guilty doesn't quite cut it.

Outstanding. Solemn golf clap.

That statement is a gross mischaracterization of what is taking place as far a seizures of assets is concerned. You have to be much more than a rich Russian to have your boat seized! A very dramatic statement you made, but so wrong!

Certainly seems like this was all in the context of where this seems to want to be headed with the new discussions regarding liquidation. You might just try to slow down a bit and discuss rather than attempting to pin guilt here. Try to grasp what others are discussing and attempting to say in these posts.

But you still end up with the sticky wicket of one country (USA) deciding that how another country (Russia) runs their internal business isn't kosher, and therefore decides they get to seize and liquidate assets of private individuals (key fact, let's not forget) to right perceived wrongs.

If that's the case, where do you draw the line? Right now it's "easy" because Russia invaded Ukraine... so any and all Russians are "guilty by association".

But did the oligarchs invade Ukraine? Or did they just happen to know the right person at the right time and found themselves surreptitiously promoted to the board of some random company 20 or 30 years ago, and are now being prosecuted? If a person is guilty of some crime, then yes I see no issues with seizure and liquidation of assets, but just because you don't like the company someone keeps doesn't make them a criminal.

But what happens in Russia should not corrupt how we behave right here. Putin may be everything that your imagination sees and processes. But does that mean our President should behave in the same manner? That citizens here should be ok with that behavior being mirrored?

Due **** process. Laws. Follow them. Procedure. Follow it. Otherwise you have totalitarianism in a minute.

I have few illusions when it comes to many Russian oligarchs but I do not believe that all Russians obtained their wealth by illicit means even if many probably did. Nor do I object to the seizure of assets. Otherwise by the time we have the evidence the asset will surly be gone. But it is at that point we must stick to our own well established rules and procedures in spite of the temptations and pressures to speed things up. And another member makes an excellent point. The means by which these Russians made their money did not seem to be too concerning before the invasion of Ukraine, Nor how they spent it. Many countries. cities and the upper end of the yacht construction business positively thrived on it. This will complicate the investigations and the resulting judgements and makes some of the moral posturing somewhat questionable..
But so far I do not see where anything truly improper has happened - yet - but some concerning actions, albeit with the best of intentions, are being suggested. I hope we resist those temptations.

It's called "sarcasm"...

In other news, not exactly yacht related, Valery Gerasimov, Chief of Staff of the Russian Army who was sent to the front to 'secure victory' was injured today by shrapnel when his headquarters at Izyum was shelled. Serious upper leg injury. Not life threatening but he has returned to Moscow for repairs. Kind of embarrassing. Easily the the most senior Russian casualty so far.

Daily Mail in Britain reports that Putin's personal yacht, leaving drydock in Italy and presumed heading for safe haven in Turkey has been seized by the City of Pisa. No further details at this time.