Now we're getting somewhere. The Los Angeles Times reports that international fingerprints are all over the BP crude disaster, and a polluted nexus of maritime law, world finance and corporate shenanigans had the Marshall Islands largely responsible for oversight of the Deepwater Horizon's operations. Now we're getting somewhere. The Los Angeles Times reports that international fingerprints are all over the BP crude disaster, as most of us already knew, and that a polluted nexus of maritime law, world finance and corporate shenanigans had the Marshall Islands - the Marshall Islands damn it! - largely responsible for oversight of the Deepwater Horizon's operations.
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico was built in South Korea. It was operated by a Swiss company under contract to a British oil firm. Primary responsibility for safety and other inspections rested not with the U.S. government but with the Republic of the Marshall Islands - a tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean.
And the Marshall Islands, a maze of tiny atolls, many smaller than the ill-fated oil rig, outsourced many of its responsibilities to private companies.
Read the full story here.