Category: War
Namibia I
Preparing to travel to Luderitz next week to visit the newly opened (Sept. 2024) Namibian Maritime Museum, with an invitation from director Dr. Angel Tordesillas for a tour (and now, as it turns out we’re traveling on the same flight from Windhoek to Luderitz, an offer of transport from the airport and around town). Learning…
Landlocked ports: eSwatini
I learned in 2024 that SD (Swaziland then) was registered as a port during Apartheid to avoid the sanctions against RSA at the time. Still the case, apparently:
Missing Persons (I)
From the BBC: And from another piece on how many people cross the channel in small boats, confirming that so far 2023 is the only year to have seen a decrease:* *Surely not thanks to fishy Rishi and his floating hostels and other silly ideas? And finally: Looking at you, Fishy.
Red Sea vs. Cape of Good Hope
From gCaptain: Meanwhile, from Splash: This is worth quoting in full: Ships taking the alternative, non-Houthi route between Asia and Europe face another perilous situation, namely the rough seas around South Africa. The 6,966 teu MSC Antonia lost 46 boxes overboard last week during severe weather conditions with another 305 containers damaged, according the increasingly…
Outside the Frame: Ramallah
Less than a month ago I messaged my sister to ask if she was OK after learning that she was in Ramallah for work. Today, in that terrifying party or the world (thanks, WhatsApp), this: And these images of Palestinians going about prayers during Ramadan next to the rubble of a destroyed mosque: (There’s a…
Self-Determination (I)
Monday (19 Feb) was Day 1 of the ICJ’s hearings on “Israel’s illegal occupation of Gaza”, as Al Jazeera describes it. 6 (or so) lawyers representing Palestine, each with 30 mins to do persuasion about one facet of what they painted a pretty convincing picture of as Israel’s* systematic and orchestrated – and quite successful!…
Outside the Frame: Sudan
DR.dk yesterday published a story about “The World’s Forgotten Conflict”, which has now displaced up to 8m of Sudan’s 49 million inhabitants (after decades of conflict already, did they ever call it home?). They rightly call attention to an attention issue: The article quotes Jan Egelund, the GS of Norwegian Refugee Council, as being horrified…
Queen Mary 2, the cost of VOR, and stuff
No visits to Maker’s this week, as the cruise ships kept coming. On Wednesday (31 Jan), Queen Mary 2 (QM2). Slightly less boring, as she’s apparently the “only ocean liner in service in the world”. (Unlike “normal” cruise ships, ocean liners carry people, things, and mail. JR and family arrived in SA on one such…
Iver Huitfeldt
A belligerent vessel en route from Denmark to the Red Sea, on an expedition the Danish Navy call their “sharpest mission since 1864” (something to do with Prussia and Austria). For now, the big clean boat carries big-ass missiles that will cost 10 million DKR a pop. They’ve got five shots. This is where it…