Episode 116 – The Increasing US Vessel Interdiction in International Waters
/
RSS Feed
The ocean is 70% of the planet, and right now, it’s the Wild West.
In this Episode, Dr. Michael Nwankpa sits down with maritime law expert Dr. Ian Ralby to discuss the sudden rise in US vessel interdictions in international waters.
We break down the phenomenon of the “Shadow Fleet” – 1,500 aging, uninsured “rust buckets” carrying sanctioned oil around the world. Dr. Ralby explains the massive fraud in ship registration (why does landlocked Laos have a merchant fleet?), the difference between a blockade and a “quarantine,” and why the US is using a legal loophole to board ships hundreds of miles from its coast.
About the Guest
Dr. Ian Ralby is the President of Auxilium Worldwide and a globally recognized expert in maritime law and security. He has worked with the UN, NATO, and governments across Africa to combat maritime crime.
About the Podcast
The Conflict & Development in Africa podcast brings experts from Africa and the world as guests to discuss critical conflict and development issues that affect Africa. Our guests include practitioners, academics, journalists, researchers, policy makers and advocates that are renowned and are nationally and internationally recognized for their work, expertise and contribution to conflict and development issues in Africa. Our audience includes policy makers, governments, researchers, students, businesses and anyone that is interested in conflict and development issues in Africa.
About the Host
Dr Michael Nwankpa has an extensive experience spanning over a decade studying, researching, writing and consulting on conflict and development issues in Africa.
Michael Nwankpa has a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Roehampton, London, UK. He has held several research fellowships including as a Rice University Fellow and a terrorism research Fellow (past) at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism (START), University of Maryland. He is currently a fellow at the Royal United Service Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI) and a research fellow at the Geneva-based Centre on Armed Groups. Dr. Nwankpa has extensive experience studying counterterrorism and counterinsurgency strategies, advising relevant government development departments and security agencies, and consulting for multilateral organizations. Michael is the author of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, 1999-2021: A Militarized Democracy (Routledge 2022) and co-author of the seminal work on Boko Haram, The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State (Oxford University Press/Hurst 2018). He has written several articles and is currently working on three book projects.