day one hundred-three (13. 504)

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA, the government agency established by Tehran to oversee maritime traffic established at the beginning of May along with Oman) has announced that the Hormuz is closed until further notice over US attacks. The American navy disables the third tanker this week approaching Iranian or Omani ports in violation of its own blockade. Pakistani intermediaries insist that peace negotiations are ongoing, but Iran announces that US hostilities have rendered the ceasefire meaningless as Iran continues to lob missiles and drones at American allied gulf states. Never respecting the enemy’s veto and showing his cards, Trump is losing the control of the narrative, threatening more strikes (now to take Kharg Island and assume control of petroleum production “much like we have with Venezuela”) whilst saying a deal is imminent, that Israel does what he says, lurching towards mutual exclusively outcomes, in thinking Tehran can be pressured into acquiescing to Washington’s terms and retains significant leverage.

ajaccio nach toulon (13. 485)

 

Departing Corsica—this time on the MS Mega Regina, the cruiseferry sold after the Helsinki-Stockholm route was curtailed during the pandemic in 2021 and put to sea in the Mediterranean where demand was more sustainable—we had to pace ourselves with the drive, unsure about how easy it would be to park a caravan on the streets of Ajaccio before the pier was opened for boarding, and stationed ourselves at various points along the way. We shared the dock with the Royal Clipper, a five-masted tall-ship. The steel-hulled sailboat, the largest in the world, was originally built by Polish communist authorities at the shipyards of Gdańsk as a floating vacation home for miners and their families and regularly crosses the Atlantic with passengers. The return trip was a bit rougher with more waves and wind but we survived, arriving back at Toulon.

day eighty-nine (13. 469)

As peace talks continue to circle in a critical phase (both parties deny a draft framework for ending the blockades), the brittle ceasefire between Iran and the US seems ready to break at any moment with the second defensive strike launched against the Revolutionary Guards strategic installation in Bandar Abbas, capable of defending the Strait of Hormuz. In retaliation, Iran launched drones at American bases in Kuwait. Trump issues a volley of threats against Oman for its arrangement with Tehran to regulate and toll traffic through the Persian gulf. Furthermore, Trump is planning to impose sanctions on those shipping companies that do pay the transit fees and is targeting Iran air carriers to try to exert more economic pressure (in parallel, Trump is attempting to do the same for airports in Democratically leaning hubs domestically) on the country that has so far been resilient in the face of direct and indirect attacks. IDF bombing campaigns kill dozens in southern Beirut as evacuation orders expand.  Israel also asserts control over seventy percent of the Gaza Strip.

porto, orta, ponti (13. 461)

After a bit of chaos and stress disembarking the ferry—but all around a pleasant, well-executed experience and would highly recommend with the caveat that one needs time and space for discombobulating oneself. There’s the hurry-up-and-wait aspect we’ve experienced with other ferry lines in the past and being locked in queue after check-in, but it was especially difficult this time around to see either port city—and we would not get any better about planning on the return voyage. After a mad scramble to grab our go-bags and get ourselves and the dog back in the car and disembark, we navigated quickly through the capital of Ajaccio (Aiacciu in Corsican, a regional continuum of Tuscan dialects but with distinctive lingual features frozen from medieval times developed under Pisan and Genovese occupations but now almost wholly taken over by French) which according to some is the eponym of its founder, the semi-legendary hero Ajax of the Iliad—or more likely derived from a forgotten term meaning a sheep enclosure. The former lore is likely an invention by the city’s most famous son, Napoleon Bonaparte, as a legitimising myth for the child of a provincial lawyer and former independence advocate to become emperor of France. We traveled along a portion of the winding coastal route, the D81, proclaimed the most beautiful in France—with the UNESCO sites of the gulf of Porto and the cliffs of Piana, called les calanche (il calanques) as geologically unique fjord-like features caused by glacial erosion and resulting in bizarre and fantastic formations, inscribed in the registry as a group in 1983.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an exploration of Kowloon Walled City (with synchronopticæ), a treasury of obscure words plus US Food and Drug Administration restricts access to vaccines

fifteen years ago: promoting electro mobility 

sixteen years ago: unsolicited budgetary advice for the eurozone 

days eighty-four and five (13. 460)

Insisting that he does not make bad deals, Trump has issued a non-update on the progress of peace negotiations with Iran, again calling out disparaging and doubtful reports to the contrary as unpatriotic and subversive.  Premature news hailed the settlement as a settled matter with an attendant and designed market rally, yet little has emerged from Pakistan’s intermediary shuttle diplomacy other than Trump trying to distinguish his concept of a deal as superior to what Tehran and Obama achieved. With the US still intransigent about unfreezing Iranian assets, reparations in exchange for a supposed longer moratorium on nuclear research and development—only amounting to a further sixty day extension to the ceasefire, something which no one wants.

ms mega smeralda (13. 457)

Originally built in 1985 in the shipyards of Helsinki for Silja Line traffic between the Finnish capital and Stockholm— christened for service by the famous Swedish opera star Märta Birgit Nilsson, the cruise liner joined the fleet of Corsica Ferries in 2012. 

Our ship’s maiden voyage the following year coincided with the Tour de France including legs in Corsica, the boat transporting sports journalists and others working on the race and docked at the port of Ajaccio, served as accommodations and a media centre. 

  Riders however stayed at local hotels along the route following the main coastal road.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the One Bill Beautiful Bill and birthright citizenship (with synchronopticæ), assorted links worth revisiting plus It magazine

fourteen years ago: Chinese treasury holdings 

fifteen years ago: not the end of the world 

sixteen years ago: German word-building 

day eighty-one (13. 448)

With the White House press secretary on maternity leave, the last couple of press conferences have been hosted by secretary of state Rubio and the latest by US vice president, both contenders as Trump’s successor—the president being coy about whom he’ll endorse or anoint—and Vance addressed journalists about the state of the war, reiterating that Tehran’s relinquishment of its atomic ambitions is the core condition of negotiations to achieve a lasting peace—with all other details up for debate. Certainly if Iran was not already seeking to establish a nuclear deterrent, the joint US-Israeli war of aggression persuaded them such counter-measures are worth pursuing, the vice president saying that any leniency would set off a regional arms race and that the US is ready to restart its military campaign should further talks fail with a weekend deadline to come to terms. Supposedly deferring to other gulf states in waivering the resumption of strikes increasing looks like an offramp as the conflict approaches its third month. NATO command says that a potential mission in the Strait of Hormuz would be a political decision on the part of alliance members follow a meeting of G7 finance ministers urging action.  Putin meets with Xi in a mirror image of Trump’s visit.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to enjoy (with synchronopticæ) 

twelve years ago: honey-traps plus quantitative easing

thirteen years ago: preparing for a return trip to Switzerland plus top toponymy 

fourteen years ago: castle ruins as a conference venue plus shadow social networks

fifteen years ago: German jobs report 

day seventy-two (13. 419)

After a week, Tehran issued a counteroffer to the US fourteen-point plan, more of a memorandum of understanding than an agreement or way forward that asked for Iranian surrender and a twenty-year moratorium on nuclear development, which calls for the recognition of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and reparations for the war. Trump rejects the proposal as “totally unacceptable,” accusing the country of playing games. The fragile ceasefire that has held for a month shows more signs of fraying as exchanges of fire increase. Highlighting tensions between America and Israel in the direction of the war, Netanyahu is urging his country to wean itself off of US military aid and reduce reliance on funding. The internet blackout in Iran, in place since protests erupted before the war, remains in place, confounding reporting and sentiment from the frontlines, the frozen conflict offering little hope of deliverance for the people of Iran with reform or regime change and for the broader world as economies continue to suffer from the disruptions to energy supplies.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a concert for peace in Central Park (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit, details in comics plus a banger from Roxette

thirteen years ago: flea market finds 

fifteen years ago: the wrong unit patch 

sixteen years ago: plugging an oil leak 

day seventy-one (13. 416)

Tehran has to yet office an official response to Washington’s peace deal and terms of the truce. Putin offers to take and store for safekeeping Iran’s stocks of enriched uranium if it would help reach a compromise. Iran blames the US for escalation of skirmishes and violating the ceasefire by attacking its commercial vessels and warns of retribution with assault militarily. Fighting between Hezbollah and IDF intensifies with the terror group attacking an army base in Israel as talks for settlement continues with Lebanon, southern neighbourhoods of Lebanon under fire for the first time in weeks. US secretary of state Rubio meets with intermediaries in Qatari, hoping to forward negotiations as a tanker carrying liquified natural gas approaches the Strait of Hormuz, first such delivery sourced from the American ally since the war began. FIFA chiefs maintain that the Iranian national team will participate in its friendly group stage matches to be hosted in Tucson, Arizona as scheduled.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: a failed Soviet mission to Venus (with sychronopticæ), China’s last telegraph stations plus a harrowing escape attempt from the eruption of Pompeii

fourteen years ago: a night in the Gasometer of Leipzig plus satanic panic

 

fifteen years ago: heat mitigating strategies plus mass alter systems

day sixty-nine (13. 410)

Despite and exchange of fire between Iranian assets and US warship—and more attacks on Emirati territory—rattling world markets as hope evaporates for a quick resolution and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Trump insists that the ceasefire is holding, “Yeah, it is. They trifled with us today. We blew them away. They trifled. I call that a trifle.” The Revolutionary Guard set up a new government agency with the charter to administer toll and vet vessels transiting through the vital waterway, fifteen hundred ships remain stranded in the gulf. Iran further reports of drone interception near the city of Bandar Abbas and the strait island of Qeshm. Lebanon and Israel have scheduled a new round of peace negotiations, whilst Tehran has yet to commit to or comment on further talks. US secretary of state Marco Rubio meets with the Pope at the Vatican to discuss a “durable” deal to iron out differences between the American president and pontiff.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Germany observes the eightieth anniversary of Victory in Europe day (with synchronopticæ), habemus papam plus assorted links worth the revisit 

thirteen years ago: the AKK Conflict between Hessen and Rheinland-Pfalz plus the Schlachthof of Wiesbaden

fourteen years ago: austerity imposed in Greece plus colony collapse

fifteen years ago: wagging the dog plus houseplants in bloom

day sixty-eight (13. 407)

As the assault continues in Lebanon—with a small moment of unexpected joy for local priests when the Pope jumped in on their Zoom call to lift their spirits with tidings of peace coming soon for the border region—Israel claimed no foreknowledge of the Trump administration’s predictions of imminent settlement and were poised to resume air raids in the Iranian theatre. Apparently Trump reversed action on Project Freedom over objections from Riyadh and denying US forces use of Saudi bases and airspace to carry out escort operations. Still blocking Iranian ports, Trump claims Tehran is desperate to make a peace deal, threatening another ultimatum to agree to his terms within forty-eight hours or strikes will resume. Global demand for oil is falling at the fastest rate outside of the COVID pandemic when the price briefly turned negative, through derivatives products like gasoline and fertiliser continue to climb. Damage sustained by US assets and infrastructure in the gulf region has been underreported, with major repairs needed at American military installations.

synchronoptica

one year ago: anticipatory austerity (with synchronopticæ), the giallo genre plus assorted links to revisit

fourteen years ago: diplomatic dysfunction plus France’s new president

day sixty-seven (13. 405)

After announcing a pause on US plans to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the Revolutionary Guard announces that it could reopen the vital waterway to tanker traffic if the US were to end its blockade. Although sticking points won’t be resolved in a single round of talks, Pakistani go-betweens suggest that indirect negotiations have continued and that a peace deal may be close. In response to US sanctions on members of the International Criminal Court, Spanish prime minister Sánchez has requested the European Commission to impose its blocking statue (trade bazooka) to pressure America to stop intimidating the justices by enabling Europe to ignore the US embargo. The penalty was imposed on the court in response to its 2024 issuing of warrants for the Israeli prime minister and former defence minister for actions in Palestine. The UN is demanding the release of activists detained after their aid flotilla was intercepted off the coast of Gaza. The destruction of Hezbollah infrastructure continues in southern Lebanon.

synchronoptica

one year ago: planned tariffs for foreign cinema (with synchronopticæ) plus The Little Screw

thirteen years ago: a Bulli AT-AT plus feline toxoplasm

sixteen years ago: sovereign default plus in pursuit of a mad bomber

seventeen years ago: pollen in the air 

day sixty-six (13. 403)

Despite the apparent desire for a show of force and to embarrass Tehran by demonstrating that they do not have a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz (the blockade of the blockade continuing nonetheless as the naval siege remains in place on Iranian ports), Trump has announced a pause of “Project Freedom,”
the US plan (only begun on Monday as a favour to the world) to escort stranded commercial ships out of the waterway and into the Persian gulf—pausing the sealift for a short time to allow negotiations and finalise a settlement to end the frozen conflict. For the second day in a row, petroleum assets in the United Arab Emirates came under drone and missile fire, though Iran denies responsibility for the attacks.

synchronoptica

one year ago:  a controversial visit to a war memorial in Bitburg (with synchronopticæ) plus a music appreciation society

day sixty-five (13. 401)

Whilst Trump is characterising nascent talks as positive and a sign of resolution to the conflict, Tehran is continuing calls that Americans plans to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz a violation of the ceasefire terms and fighting seemed to almost reignite when two US-flagged vessels passed through,

Iran lobbing drones at the warship escorts, the projectiles intercepted and the navy destroying half a dozen Iranian motor boats patrolling the waters. The skirmish did not escalate but further negotiations are contingent upon Iran reopening the waterway—which America claims is not under Iranian control—and agreeing to abandon its nuclear ambitions under Trump’s terms. Operation Epic Fury is declared over as US senate Democrats attempt to relegislate the war powers resolution.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ) 

fifteen years ago: catastrophism and the the economy 

day sixty-four (13. 399)

As Iranian maritime authorities announce a list of enemy flagged ships, including Israel, that will never be allowed to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the US navy extends the offer again to escort tankers, presumably whilst conducting mine-sweeping operations to open up an in-going and an out-going sealane. Though not preferable to diplomacy, Tehran is expressing receptiveness to reengaging in renewed conflict rather suffering a protracted ceasefire, recognised as a stalling tactic on the part of the US and siege warfare meant to grind down the country economically with worldwide consequences. Fuel prices continue to climb with airlines curtailing flight schedules and in one case for a budget-carrier, declaring bankruptcy. Despite the truce, Israel and Hezbollah trade blows in Lebanon as America fast-tracks more arms sales to Middle Eastern allies.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more adventures in the Tauber valley (with sychronopticæ), Radio Free Europe plus a bad-faith broker

fifteen years ago: antiquarian corner 

day fifty-nine (13. 389)

The US unwilling to continue direct talks, Iranian foreign minister Araghchi met with Putin and his counterpart Lavrov in St Petersburg to pursue a separate peace for the region and reached a preliminary settlement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for maritime traffic, leaving the nuclear question tabled until a later time. Tehran for its part is criticising Washington for its reluctance to engage in dialogue and calls out seizure of Iranian flagged ships and the continued naval blockade as piracy. The UN, whilst welcoming the Russian-Iranian detente, said there was no legal basis for imposing tolls on vessels transiting through the international waterway. As the state visit of Charles and Camilla begins to heal the rift in UK-US relations, allies are still critical of America’s lack of strategic direction and that stalled negotiations benefit no one, America forgetting that about the enemy’s vote and veto. Clashes between Hezbollah and Israel continue in Lebanon.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ) 

twelve years ago: Worker’ Memorial Day 

thirteen years ago: advances in fusion technology, a trending hairstyle, the Frankonian athem plus a visit to Steinheim by Hanau

fifteen years ago: tornados in Germany 

sixteen years ago: vacationing in Istanbul 

ss ideal x (13. 386)

The refurbished WWII T2 class “navy oiler” manufactured originally by the Marinship Corporation at the shipyard in Sausaltio California as the Potrero Hills and purchased by Malcolm McLean, who used this demonstration project to refine the concept of the intermodal shipping container that he had invented—revolutionising freight transport, undertook her first voyage with the new configuration on this day in 1956, carrying a cargo fifty-eight standardised boxes from the Port of Newark in New Jersey to the Port of Houston in Texas, where the boxes were offloaded to awaiting trailer trucks. The first commercially successful container ship, by organising and grouping what’s call bulk break goods—that is manufactured items for distribution, warehousing and retail sale, as opposed to dry bulk like grain, containerisation made the stevedoring process far more efficient, the concept copied and expanded to a fleet of fifty thousand ships today operating worldwide, adopting industry uniforms in part a wartime legacy from the US (see previously) and transporting some ninety percent of exports.

day fifty-six (13. 380)

For some time we’ve been dealing with Schrödinger’s Strait, is it open or is it closed, and the on-again, off-again peace talks—which Tehran denies requesting and remains insistent that there will be no direct negotiations under duress, the blockade of the blockade. The Trump administration is sending Kushner and Witkoff without Vance to Pakistan, whilst the latest situation report from the US secretary of war says that limited transit is occurring through the Strait of Hormuz but at risk due to Iran’s threatening of vessels and the uncertainty of the sea mines, reiterating that American force are poised to resume their air campaign at a moment’s notice.  US secretary of state is drafting more sanctions against Iranian economic interest, and meanwhile, though other European leaders are not bought in and call the proposal premature, Chancellor Merz has suggested the easing of the overall embargo as a peace offering (see previous post). 

Switzerland reopens its embassy—which has served to represent American interests since 1979 when relations were broken off—in Tehran in anticipation of supporting renewed diplomatic initiatives. Despite there being no mechanism for giving demerits to members of the transatlantic defensive alliance, a leaked memorandum is exploring ways to kick Spain out of NATO for refusing to allow the US to use its bases to prosecute its war of choice and disparages other members generally. The memo also attacks the UK for its lack of enthusiasm and again brings up its decision on Diego Garcia. Claiming to have killed six terrorist fighters in southern Lebanon, Israel is accusing Hezbollah of sabotaging the fragile truce.

synchronoptica

one year ago: US products get a tariff label in Canadian markets (with synchronopticæ), celebrities in cars plus artificial intelligence literacy

fifteen years ago: post-war Trümmelbergen plus foot mittens