German battleship Hessen transiting the Kiel Canal
Kiel Bill
William Hartley, alone on a wide wide sea
The Kiel Canal isn’t popular with ship’s crews, even though it cuts out a long haul around the Jutland Peninsula when entering the Baltic. A German pilot and helmsman come on board to take charge of the ship and during transit no routine maintenance work such as painting or welding is allowed, due to the proximity of houses. This means the crew are on duty but largely idle during the twelve hour passage. Ships proceed at a stately pace, sometimes being overtaken by cyclists on the adjacent path and occasionally it becomes necessary to heave to and let a larger vessel pass. The MV Kristin Schepers is less than 10,000 tonnes which may seem substantial but she is a minnow compared to the huge bulk carriers which get right of way. Up on the bridge with the Germans doing the work, we use our elevated position to look in the windows of canal side towns.
The ship is German owned but Cyprus flagged and most of the officers are Russian. Down in the mess, mealtime entertainment is non stop Russian TV which seems to consist largely of Mr Putin’s activities and occasionally his hapless looking Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. It can be as many as five very steep flights of stairs to descend to the mess deck for meals. Function shapes form on the modern freighter and all non-cargo related space is squeezed into a tall narrow structure, where the crew eat and sleep. At the top, overlooking our load of containers, is the bridge. Continue reading
Walmart, with Missiles
Abandoned Packard automobile factory, Detroit
Walmart, with Missiles
Ilana Mercer, in hollowed out America
On March 31, the number of Americans dead from Coronavirus stood at 3,900! A mere month on, at the time of writing, 63,801 Americans have perished. American deaths by Covid account for a fourth of the world’s, including those in the undeveloped world. To ignore this Third-World-like specter is to dismiss the dead and the dying. It’s tantamount to Cancel Culture!
China sucks. But if the United States must rely on the Chinese government to keep its citizens safe, then what kind of a micky-mouse country is it? If the American people can be convinced by their government to saddle a foreign power with the responsibility for their existential welfare—what kind of people are we?
China didn’t force the traitors of the American economy to shift crucial production lines to its country and strand Americans without surgical and N-95 masks and medication; homegrown turncoats made that decision, all by their lonesome. Decades ago, the political, corporate and industrial leaders of the West chose to enmesh the fate of their pliable people with that of the vigorous, voracious Chinese. Continue reading →
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