By any measure, this was one sweet victory. And a fine example of how activism can work when you've got all the ducks lined up right: A Greenpeace action which throws the glare of publicity on a single showcase example of an enviornmental wrong. A slow boil of public opinion in France and India. Research in which the government numbers are shown to be laughably contradictory, and the assurances of careful inventory and "responsible substance auditing" to be just so much doohickey. (A French government insider at one point claimed that a missing 30 tons of asbestos might have been (I kid you not) "stolen." Online activism and social networking which keeps the heat on. An alliance of environmental, human rights, and worker rights advocates that just couldn't be beat. Avoir, Clemenceau.

And the best postcript of all, the domino effect. Bangladeshi authorities are now flexing their muscles and warning that the SS Norway, yet another asbestos-laden vessel, will not be welcome in their waters.

I've posted a longer rant about this over at the Daily Kos.