Suez Canal

[JohnDB]

For those who don't understand why or how getting this ship unstuck is so difficult.

Now... one other thing to notice is the red paint. Ships use this to keep the barnacles off the hull. And it's usually several feet above the water line when fully loaded.

Notice the picture where the bow is well above the water line and the stern is so deep in the water that the red paint is submerged and several feet below the surface?

That is a hard stuck ship...and I'm not sure exactly what can be done to pull it out. We are talking about a bunch of anchor chains and a lot of power to pull. This might not be over by Wednesday.

 

[April_Rose]

As they say, trade wars always turn into shooting wars. The writing is on the wall.

Uh oh enemy of the heir beware. I sure hope there isn't any muggleborns around here. Sorry, not sure if you'll get that joke or not and I know it's not funny but I couldn't resist to put a bit of humor into this thread.

Looks like it might be free by Wednesday.

Cargo ship still stuck across Suez Canal, but Egyptian official says it will be freed over weekend.

But the jokes continue on over the ordeal. My favorite is the excavator next to the ship saying the excavator vs the ship is therapist vs troubles.

It's free now. I just saw this today. :)





Officials say cargo ship on the move again after almost a week stuck in Suez Canal

 

[Ferris Bueller]

Uh oh enemy of the heir beware. I sure hope there isn't any muggleborns around here. Sorry, not sure if you'll get that joke or not and I know it's not funny but I couldn't resist to put a bit of humor into this thread.

Sorry, but that went right over my head. _O I guess you'll have to explain it to me. Talk slowly, lol.

 

[JohnDB]

I know that they got the boat floating and out of the canal and out to sea...might be in Denmark by this point (probably is pulling into port there now)

The problem is the backlog of ships...it's going to take a couple of weeks to get that back to normal.

But soon...it's going to be alright.

 

[jaybird]

I wouldn't put it past the Chi-coms. The exterminate their own people and forced child labor is the norm. They have concentration camps for muslims. As one of the worlds largest polluters they could care less about the Earth. They're shady.

Don't they have more people incarcerated than any other country? Wait! My mistake, that's the USA.
I still don't understand how China is called communist when the majority of their industry is privately owned, isn't that capitalism?

 

[Pearl]

Now that would be a tragedy, @JohnDB

;)

We'd have to back to hanging squares of newspaper in the loo.

 

[Mantis]

Don't they have more people incarcerated than any other country? Wait! My mistake, that's the USA.
I still don't understand how China is called communist when the majority of their industry is privately owned, isn't that capitalism?

Are they? I didn't know that. From what I understand is when you are young the government (Chinese Communist Party) chooses your job for your adult life, be it a sweatshop or a surgeon. How do you know that we have the most people incarcerated? China is not exactly truthful lol. And they would probably just shoot you in the head vs incarcerating you.

They are crooks too. We make a plastic, chrome plated emblem for sale in the states that is very expensive to make. I would love to have china make this emblem for cheap but I guarantee that in a few months I would see a Chinese counterfeit version for sale on amazon. They would steal the design, make it with children in a sweat shop and sell it cheaper than I ever could.

 

[jaybird]

Are they? I didn't know that. From what I understand is when you are young the government (Chinese Communist Party) chooses your job for your adult life, be it a sweatshop or a surgeon. How do you know that we have the most people incarcerated? China is not exactly truthful lol. And they would probably just shoot you in the head vs incarcerating you.

They are crooks too. We make a plastic, chrome plated emblem for sale in the states that is very expensive to make. I would love to have china make this emblem for cheap but I guarantee that in a few months I would see a Chinese counterfeit version for sale on amazon. They would steal the design, make it with children in a sweat shop and sell it cheaper than I ever could.

I buy items from china all the time, I have visited with hundreds of reps on video chats, they work in better conditions than I do and live just the same as me with exception to the small apartments in massively big cities.
Child labor is mostly outside of china in places like cambodia, but places like cambodia are not an economic threat so all that suffering is ignored.
Look up US mass incarceration and you can read about it. The US rate is higher than anywhere. Our rate is just a little below stalinist russia and that's pretty bad. That's what happens when you privatize prisons and jails that's regulated by a government that sells out to the highest bidder.

 

[April_Rose]

Sorry, but that went right over my head. _O I guess you'll have to explain it to me. Talk slowly, lol.

Lol it's alright, it's a Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets reference.

 

[Mantis]

I buy items from china all the time, I have visited with hundreds of reps on video chats, they work in better conditions than I do and live just the same as me with exception to the small apartments in massively big cities.
Child labor is mostly outside of china in places like cambodia, but places like cambodia are not an economic threat so all that suffering is ignored.
Look up US mass incarceration and you can read about it. The US rate is higher than anywhere. Our rate is just a little below stalinist russia and that's pretty bad. That's what happens when you privatize prisons and jails that's regulated by a government that sells out to the highest bidder.

Well I know we have lots of people locked up but that’s what happens when you break laws. I don’t have sympathy for criminals. I’m not sure there is a better option. Bigger government is not the option.

I buy things from China as well, mostly because we don’t really have a choice. They produce things incredibly cheap. We cannot do that here. I always thought it was due to sweatshop type situations. China steals, counterfeits all sorts of things. They have no respect for our intellectual property rights. The few times we have worked with the Chinese they have tried to rip us off. One guy owed us thousands and we didn’t have enough money to fight him on court. I think they have some ethical issues as a country.

 

[JohnDB]

There's a huge difference between various provinces inside of China.

Taiwan is an island off the coast of China made up of capitalists and Christians that were sent there in exile when China went communist Decades ago. They have had sustained trade with the rest of the world for decades...they are also Christian. They make most of the MPC that are in such short supply.

Hong Kong province is moderately Christian but was once a province of the UK. They are more capitalistic than most of the rest of China...they have taken on an air about themselves and are currently whining about Beijing exerting control over them. They don't like it and just want to be left alone.

Shanghai province is more PRC and has the shipping but also the country's best schools.
Which leads to problems when you have an educated population and a communist regime...they begin to understand global politics and economics. They know that their own Government is stupid...and have facts and reason to back it up.

Beijing is where all the leadership of the communist government sits in power. But various military divisions also have their leaders as well (like a general in our military does) PRC has the largest standing military in the world. Most of issues we have with Chinese behaviors is rooted usually with the behavior of one of these military generals.

In a communist government the military isn't exactly what we ordinarily think. These guys do everything... only a portion does guns and munitions even though most are trained in them. A mess hall factory may make a Chinese MRE...but also baby formula. Yes, you can be a sargent in the military overseeing your platoon making baby formula.

They started a nationalism campaign about 20-30 years ago. Just like the Republicans did in the 80's and the Democrats hated.

So there is a strong sense of pride in the average person's opinion of their province. (There are many others that I haven't listed here) The problems come from the Governors and the military Generals. These are each equivalent in political power to Speaker of the House or Parliament.
Nothing happens without their approval. And excesses among these people are common.

The current internet attacks, spying on research, stolen intellectual property and etc are all from various generals and governors trying to make budget for their areas of governance and not necessarily from Beijing itself. Beijing might be asleep at the wheel or simply ignorant or politically unable to do anything about the problem.

Currently Hong Kong and Taiwan together are rich enough to buy the rest of China. They also lean the most democratic.

The place is a mess politically. They are trying to get away from communism and embrace capitalism...but just like Russia discovered...petty tyrants refusing to give up power unless heavily bribed makes it very very difficult.