Tag Archives: china

#HeadlineTherapy Shipping giant Maersk to take over Panama Canal ports after court ruling

Thank you to Lyndal Rowlands and News Agencies Aljazeera for the Headline

Panama’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Hong Kong based shipping Company C K Hutchinson (such a British Name) will no longer have the right to control the entry and exit to the Panama Canal and as an interim measure the running of the ports will be taken over by Maersk the Danish Shipping Giant.

In terms of the employment of local Panamanians working in the ports this will mean significant insecurity. Who will be responsible for paying them and will their conditions of work change significantly. Will more automation be introduced? Who cares, at least it’s not in Chinese hands anymore?

“Shadow tankers” supplying oil to Countries that have had worldwide sanctions applied to them have been the bugbear of the United States and puts into perspective the actions of the United States recently with the kidnapping of the President of Venezuela and the agreements now in place to allow Venezuela to produce and ship oil in partnership with the United States. The control of the Panama Canal is now in Danish hands, not sure if this has anything to do with Greenland, maybe it’s some kind of concession. Here you have the Panama Canal and we can have Greenland. Watch this space.

Either way the Chinese aren’t very happy about it but Victor Li the President of CK Hutchinson has experience of being kidnapped himself while a young man in Hong Kong, his father paid a ransom 1 billion HK$1 to get him free , he was held for one night. The Hong Kong gangster responsible for the kidnapping was later executed by Mainland China , which would not have been possible under the then Hong Kong jurisdiction, so it is probable that there is a close relationship between the Hong Kong Company and the Chinese Authorities.

Panama itself was caught between a rock and a hard place, but perhaps it was a bit strange not to review the contracts and the working of the canal with more care and they shouldn’t have just been automatically renewed for long periods without any bidding process.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading. 🙏

AI generated image of a Container

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#US forces stormed cargo ship travelling from China to Iran: Report

Thanks to Aljazeera news online and Al Jazeera Staff for the headline

#Being homeless eats away at your self-worth says care leaver.

Thanks to BBC News Online and Annika Grosser at the BBC England Data Unit for this headline

I decided to do two headlines today as much as the fact that the American’s are playing at Pirates amuses me, on the other hand the debacle that is the Social Service System in the UK is accurately described and the vast amounts of money that are wasted on it while not achieving results or support needs to be highlighted too.

You might not see the connection , but I do. Yes , we can worry about the Americans who according to the Chinese in Bejing ” opposes unilateral illicit sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in International Law or authorization of the UN Security Council, and the abuse of sanctions” Guo Jiakun , the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

In truth, I think the Americans are on a sticky wicket with their interceptions of tankers and container ships in order to impose their will on Countries who the American Government feel are not playing ball.

However, the rest of the World is left with the prospect that safe maritime traffic is being put under threat and goods that quite reasonably should be reaching a destination are not and in the case of the Chinese vessel going to Iran , this could mean that they Iranian Public are subjected to further shortages.

At the time of the seizure of the Chinese Tanker, Bejing chose to keep quiet, perhaps to allow the investigation of what the ship contained to be completed. The cargo was released as there was no evidence that goods which were part of the Worldwide Sanctions on Iran were on board. End of story, until the Americans seized a Venezuelan Oil Tanker the following month and this very much upset the Chinese.

You might ask why I see the sad situation of a young lady who was as a 16 year old in the care system in the UK, reduced to seeing her Social Worker every now and then and only when she was to be given £50 in cash from her Universal Credit allowance. Most of the time the Social Worker was on “leave” as connected to the above story. The young lady was inspired to become a Social Worker herself , and got the necessary qualifications in order to “improve” the system”, which I’m sure with her actions she already has and in whatever role she has in the future will continue to do so.

I was surprised how defensive the Council that looked after her were, saying that “they had made improvements and that “cover arrangements ” were always in place. This struck me as denying what was really going on.

Also another quote is from the Charity Become is

” Part of the problem is that young people aren’t reaching out for support.”

Their concern being that some children are overlooked and are not in the statistical data analysis. My concern is how do you expect a young person , who already feels neglected and whose belonging are handed to them in a black plastic bag(like a prisoner leaving prison) to feel like reaching out to anyone.

The common factor between these two stories, is the conviction that everything is being done right by the Powers that Be ,whether it being the American Government or a Local British Council. The self righteousness and arrogance is obvious and the talk or money and big budgets being used for the good of all is bandied about. Meanwhile on the ground there is a lack of achievement or any ability to do what’s right because those right at the top have decided what they want to do and the money is being spent the way they want it to be spent. Whether it’s sending soldiers on to ships or not helping vulnerable young people who are looking to leave care and build a life for themselves.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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