First person ever to break Tetris. 13 year old.
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Maersk has now suspended all cargo traffic through the Red Sea and has rerouted ships already in the Canal to return to the Med and go the long way round.
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They need to start convoying with warship escort, similar to WWI/WWII.
According to the marine traffic map, there is only one warship , on the Saudi coast. There is quite a lot of traffic, some ships with armed guards, steering clear of the Yemen coast
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Just when shipping costs were back to pre covid levels, this will have a big effect on China for exports to Europe
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As I understand it , the Houthis are targeting any liner with Israel affiliations, going beyond ships servicing Israeli ports through the Red Sea.
Would there be any liners not having any flag or cargo connections with Israel which might escape the affiliation?
They say they are targeting ships linked to Israel, but they’ve been extremely random in target selection. Basically the only ships explicitly not being targeted are those linked to Russia, Iran and other similar countries. That’s why the western shipping has abandoned the area, they don’t trust what the Houthis say.
The likely reason we haven’t seen any air strikes is the Saudis have been trying to secure a peace agreement with the Houthis. The Saudis have been fighting a war against the Houthis for many years and an end might be in sight. If the US throws a token gesture of explosives around, the conflict likely reignites with a vengeance. What’s likely being attempted is a permanent diplomatic solution, which is less sexy that a guided bomb but better for all involved.
This is another proxy conflict with Iran exerting regional power by funding and supplying militia groups. So keeping Iran front of mind is important to understand almost everything in this area. Iran and the Saudis are repairing diplomatic relations, which might be influencing what’s playing out in the Red Sea. Might.
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Sounds like that’s the reason they sent home a carrier strike group that was chilling just offshore Israel
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There were US helicopter strikes.
The affiliation with Israel extends to the likes of Maersk arranging cargoes for Israel through the Med.
Looking at the map, they may not be limited to cargoes linked to Russia Iran or similar going through the Red Sea. There are a number of oil tankers, other ships ( some with armed guards) , two way traffic ( although at present nothing going through the Suez and none close to the entrance to the Red Sea controlled by the Houthis).
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The helicopter strike was a response to the Houthi boats shooting at the US helicopters. Opening fire with an AK-47 on an American military helicopter is bad for your long term health.
As for the shipping, the recent Perun video on the subject was great. Basically the Houthi messaging and targeting have been massively inconsistent, so most western aligned companies have just bailed on the Red Sea completely. The cost of insurance is the main issue, with $1M extra coverage costs vs $600k for the detour.
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a typical large container ship can hold around 8,000 to 12,000 20ft containers or around 6,000 to 9,000 40ft containers. However, some of the largest container ships in the world can hold more than 20,000 containers.
Taking Worst case scenario of 6000 40’ GP continers so US$ 1,000 per container extra so why the ■■■■ has the cost of shipping a 40’ GP contaiiner to Constanta Port, Europe gone from US$ 2,800 to $US 8,200 for the sea freight alone.
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The UK Defence Secretary has announced that the UK will be sending HMS Richmond to the Red Sea to protect its interests.
The latest map shows a number of ships passing through the Suez, oil and gas carriers, some bulk cargo. Still a fair amount of two way traffic in the Red Sea, with reports of unmanned aircraft and suspicious small boats around the Yemen coast.
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Its Crazy time in PNG, the government short paid every civil servant about half their wage, start out as a small protest and now its Chaos.
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Nice Chinese destabilization in PNG. Meanwhile Australia is asleep at the wheel.
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US and UK have strongly telegraphed air strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen over the past 12 hours. Houthi facilities have been evacuating in preparation for very obvious bombings.
Currently there are fighter jets overhead and bombs being dropped. More than a dozen sites being hit with aircraft and tomahawk missiles. Targeting radar, air defense sites, weapon storages and launch sites.
Houthis have fired ballistic missiles back into the Red Sea. No clear indication of what these achieved.
UNSC has condemned the Houthi attacks and has called for the release of the captured ship and crew ( from memory, mostly Greek and Phillipines nationals).
Houthi is a designated terrorist organisation In most countries. At this stage the public knowledge of military and other support appears to be limited to Iran.
Given the current Yemen ceasefire, the Houthis could have more military equipment at their disposal to target marine traffic.
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Gilding the lily on the number of countries actively taking action against the Houthis.
From memory, the UK and the US are only nations engaged in direct military counter attacks.
Australia’s contribution has been limited to around 6 additional troops , based in Bahrain.
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About time, hopefully they are wiped out
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There’s a wider issue, given that the Houthis control the southern part of Yemen, including the capital and access to the Red Sea.
The aim is a brokered compromise to end the Civil War, where the loss of lives has been horrendous. It’s what the Saudis want to extricate themselves.
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