'/> Uncommon Hours: Wikileaks: Sea Shepherd up against more than Japanese whalers
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Monday, January 3, 2011

Wikileaks: Sea Shepherd up against more than Japanese whalers

If Sea Shepherd didn’t have enough to battle, with Japanese whalers turning water-cannon on their zodiacs in the Southern Ocean, a new cache of cables from Wikileaks reveals that U.S. and Japanese officials colluded to undermine the anti-whaling group by going after its tax-exempt status.

Japanese negotiators actually had the cajones to suggest that Sea Shepherd was impeding efforts to reduce whaling, which they would somehow achieve by slaughtering and eating whales.

In November 2009 (and notably, under the Obama administration), a U.S. representative discussed with officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan the prospect of having Sea Shepherd’s tax-exempt status revoked .

Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and U.S. representative to the International Whaling Commission Monica Medina suggested to Japanese negotiators her belief that “the USG [U.S. government] can demonstrate the group does not deserve tax exempt status based on their aggressive and harmful actions."

Read more excerpts from the cables here.

Sea Shepherd activists confront Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean (whenever the whalers are chasing Sea Shepherd, they're not killing whales--looks like a good day!):