The Threat of Russian Spy Ship Yantar in UK Waters

Posted on by November 21, 2025

The Russian ship Yantar has aimed lasers at the crews of UK Royal Air Force aircraft in waters off the north of Scotland. While the Yantar has been a worrying presence around critical undersea infrastructure for years now, this development represents a concerning escalation by the Russians.

The Yantar is officially an oceanographic research vessel. As it is bristling with surveillance equipment as well as serving as the mother ship for manned and unmanned deep-sea submersibles, it could more accurately be described as a spy ship. It is believed to be surveying the seabed and mapping vital undersea infrastructure.

The submersibles are believed to be able to sever communications cables and to damage pipelines miles beneath the ocean’s surface. The Yantar has been lingering in the waters around the UK and Ireland for the last year. 

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Loose Wire on Container Ship Dali Caused Blackouts, Resulting in Key Bridge Tragedy

Posted on by November 19, 2025

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that a single loose wire on the 984-foot-long container ship MV Dali caused an electrical blackout that led to the 10,000 TEU ship veering and contacting the nearby Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, which then collapsed, killing six highway workers. 

On March 26, 2024, at about 0129 local time, the 984-foot-long Singapore-flagged container ship MV Dali was transiting out of Baltimore Harbor when it experienced losses of electrical power, propulsion, and steering.. The ship struck Pier 17, the southern pier that supported the central span of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Investigators found that the pilots and the bridge team attempted to change the vessel’s trajectory, but the loss of propulsion so close to the bridge rendered their actions ineffective. A substantial portion of the bridge subsequently collapsed into the river, and portions of the pier, deck, and truss spans collapsed onto the vessel’s bow and forward-most container bays.

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Search Ends for Royal Fleet Auxiliary Sailor Missing Off Irish Coast

Posted on by November 16, 2025

The search for a crew member who was lost overboard from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) tanker Tidesurge, off the north-west coast of the Republic of Ireland, has ended without finding any sign of the missing sailor.

First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins said in a statement that “after an extensive search for a missing crew member of a Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship’s company, the individual has not been found and the search has been ended.”

He added that “my thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved in this tragedy and I would like to thank all those in the Royal Navy, the RNLI and Irish Coast Guard who took part in the search and rescue with such determined efforts.”

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Phoney Admiral, Festooned with Medals, Arrested at Remembrance Sunday Event in Wales

Posted on by November 15, 2025

While it is often said that the British Royal Navy has more admirals than warships, the claim is a misleading simplification. It all depends on how one defines “admirals” and “warships.”

In recent years, the Royal Navy has employed around 40 admirals serving in various capacities. Many of these officers, however, hold non-seagoing, administrative, or international diplomatic positions. Defining the rank of admiral more narrowly, there are roughly 14 officers of the rank of Rear Admiral and above serving in the Navy command.

The Royal Navy is currently operating a fleet of around 17-18 major surface combatants (destroyers and frigates). The number of ships rises to over 70 vessels when fleet submarines, mine countermeasures vessels, patrol ships, and various support vessels are included in the count. So the “more admirals than warships” claim is true only if one defines “admirals” broadly and “warships” rather narrowly.

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The Cost of Denial as Sea Levels Rising Faster Than at Any Time in the Last 4,000 Years

Posted on by November 15, 2025

In 2012, the North Carolina state legislature believed it had found the solution to the rising sea levels along its Atlantic coast. They would simply ignore it. They passed a law requiring government planning boards to use predictions of sea level rise based on linear projections from 1900. The increase in sea levels due to climate change would not only be ignored, but it would also be made illegal for land use planning purposes.

Guess what? It didn’t work. In the last five years, at least 27 houses in North Carolina’s Outer Banks have collapsed due to coastal erosion, strong storms, and rising sea levels. 18 of these collapses occurred during 2024 and 2025.

And it only gets worse. In 2024, a group of federal, state, and local officials released a report on managing threatened oceanfront structures, which found that 750 of nearly 8,800 oceanfront structures in North Carolina are at risk of oceanfront erosion. The report acknowledges that the issue “will inevitably worsen considering sea level rise forecasts.” Notably, the report does not mention climate change at all in its 20 pages.

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Ro-Ro Finnwave Catches Fire in English Channel

Posted on by November 13, 2025

A fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday, November 12, in the engine room of the Finnwave (IMO: 9468932) in the English Channel, approximately 11 nautical miles southeast of Eastbourne, England. The 217.5-meter-long, 14509-dwt Finnish-flag Ro-Ro cargo vessel was bound to Zeebrugge from Rosslare when the fire broke out. The crew sent out a distress call with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) responding.

The crew was able to extinguish the fire without reported injuries, but was unable to restart the engine following the fire.  The ship’s crew was aided by a rescue boat from the RNLI Eastbourne station. The lifeboat arrived on scene and stood by while the Finnwave dropped anchor. 

Once Finnwave‘s anchor was secured, the Solent Coastguard cleared the RNLI rescue boat to return to base. No pollution or further damage has been reported, but an investigation into the cause of the engine fire is underway.

Murder on the High Seas — Trump Continues Illegal Attacks on Alleged Drug Smugglers

Posted on by November 7, 2025

The Trump regime continues its bloody attacks on alleged drug smuggling boats off the coast of South America.  Since the attacks began on September 1, the US Navy has killed at least 69 people on 18 vessels—10 in the Caribbean and 8 in the Pacific.

President Trump justifies the attacks by saying the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and vowing to “destroy Venezuelan terrorists and trafficking networks.” Nevertheless the Trump regime has not provided any positive identification of those killed, nor evidence that the boats were carrying drugs. Neither have they sought congressional approval as constitutionally required.

This body count off South America compares to the killing of 18 merchant mariners by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since 2023. The Trump regime has killed almost four times as many civilians in two months as the Houthi terrorists killed in over two years.

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Passenger on Expedition Cruise Ship Dies After Being Left Behind on Remote Island

Posted on by November 2, 2025

On October 24, the expedition cruise ship Coral Adventurer set sail from Cairns on a 60-day luxury voyage around Australia. One day later, at the ship’s first stop, at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, things went tragically wrong. Suzanne Rees, an 80-year-old passenger, died after the ship sailed, leaving her alone on the remote island.

Passengers on the ship were offered snorkeling and island hiking excursions. Rees joined a hike to Cook’s Look, a lookout on top of a hill named after Captain James Cook, who passed by the island in 1770. 

The hike is described in a cruise brochure as  “a very difficult hike requiring a high level of fitness and good balance“. It was a hot and humid day — about 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). While on the climb, Suzanne Rees felt ill and was asked to head back down to the ship, unescorted.

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Neoliner Origin, World’s First Commercial Sailing Ro/Ro, Completes Challenging Trans-Atlantic Voyage

Posted on by October 31, 2025

The world’s first commercial sailing ro/ro, the 136-meter Neoliner Origin, arrived in the Port of Baltimore on October 30, 2025, completing a challenging trans-Atlantic maiden voyage from Saint-Nazaire, France.  

According to Neoline, two days into the voyage, the top panel on the aft main sail, one of the ship’s four sails, was damaged during a severe Atlantic storm. The Neoliner Origin continued its journey in hybrid mode, sailing on the undamaged forward mast sails along with its diesel-electric engine power. 

Technicians were flown to Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French archipelago south of the Canadian island of Newfoundland, to assist with the sail repairs before it proceeded to Baltimore.

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Putin Claims Russia Successfully Tests a Drone Submarine Tsunami Superweapon

Posted on by October 29, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin  announced that Russia had successfully tested a nuclear-powered drone submarine, claimed to be a “superweapon.” The drone, known as Poseidon, is capable of delivering a thermonuclear cobalt bomb to create a 500-meter tsunami that could contaminate a large section of coastline, making the area unlivable for up to a century. 

In 2018, we posted about a speech given by Putin, which threatened the United States with a new generation of “invincible” nuclear weapons.  One of these weapons was described as an autonomous “doomsday” drone torpedo. The unmanned underwater drone submarine, now known as Poseidon is designed to have a top speed of 100 km/h (54 kn) and a range of 10,000 km (5,400 nmi).  Russian Oscar-class submarines are said to be capable of carrying up to four of the drones secured externally.

Mr. Putin said the Poseidon test took place on Tuesday. 

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Threatening Tariffs and Sanctions, Trump Administration Scuttles IMO Clean Emissions Agreement

Posted on by October 17, 2025

During a meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London, the Trump administration issued a torrent of threats of tariffs and other sanctions to block a landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions. The IMO plan was intended to achieve net-zero shipping emissions by 2050.

The IMO Net-zero Framework, first agreed in April after ten years of negotiations, would have been the first in the world to combine mandatory emissions limits and GHG pricing across an entire industry sector.  The agreement had meant that from 2028, ship owners would have to use increasingly cleaner fuels or face fines.

The Trump administration, backed by Russia and Saudi Arabia, pushed to delay the adoption by a year. The motion to delay was narrowly passed in a vote of 57 to 49, with other nations absent or abstaining. 

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Trump Regime Targets Filipino Cruise Ship Crews in Mass Deportations Without Due Process

Posted on by September 20, 2025

More than 100 Filipino crew members have been forcibly detained and deported by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The crew members held valid visas, which were revoked by the CBP without due process.

Foreign crew members hold visas that the Department of Homeland Security or the State Department can revoke for alleged criminal activity without pending charges or investigations, said Georgetown Law faculty member Sophia Genovese. When revocations occur, they are not subject to review in federal courts, she said.

The Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) reported that CBP officers once again met the Carnival Cruise Line ship Carnival Sunshine last Sunday, August 17, when the ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia, from its weekly cruise. Four Filipino crewmembers out of a crew of over 1,000 people were reportedly taken into custody, removed from the ship, placed in a hotel under guard overnight, and flown out of the United States the following day.

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Draft Bill Would Give Trump License to Kill Anyone He Claims is a Narco-Terrorist

Posted on by September 19, 2025

We recently posted about the attack and sinking of a Venezuelan vessel in international waters by the US military. Eleven people aboard were reported to have been killed. The Trump regime claimed, without providing any evidence, that the boat was smuggling drugs to the United States. 

Since then, the US has attacked and sunk two more boats and killed at least 3 more people. Again, the regime has provided no evidence of its claims that the boats were smuggling drugs.  Based on images provided by the Trump regime, the boats appeared too small and to lack the necessary range to realistically smuggle drugs into the United States. 

Military lawyers within the Pentagon and lawmakers, including former Navy combat pilot Senator Mark Kelly, have questioned the legality of the recent strikes. Legal specialists have criticized the attacks as amounting to nothing less than extrajudicial, arbitrary killing.

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Passenger Jumps Overboard from Rhapsody of the Seas to Avoid $16,000 Gambling Debt

Posted on by September 14, 2025

After accumulating more than $16,000 in gambling debt, Jey Gonzalez-Diaz, a passenger on the Rhapsody of the Seas, jumped overboard after the ship docked in Puerto Rico last weekend, authorities said.

The passenger leaped from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship at around 9:15 a.m. on Sept. 7 as guests were disembarking, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico. He was rescued by two people, one of whom pulled him onto his jet ski. He was brought to shore before Customs and Border Protection officers detained him at 9:45 a.m.

The Rhapsody of the Seas has 12 decks, but it was unclear which deck Gonzalez-Diaz jumped from. He has been charged with attempting to avoid monetary reporting requirements.

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On the 24th Anniversary of 9/11, Remembering the Great New York Boatlift

Posted on by September 11, 2025

An updated repost. There is a line from a Paul Simon song, “These are the days of miracle and wonder.” One might not think to apply that lyric to the events of 9/11, 24 years ago today. Yet for at least part of that strange and horrible day, the lyrics fit.

The Great New York Boatlift was part of the “miracle and wonder.” The wholly unplanned boatlift was a spontaneous maritime evacuation of an estimated 500,000 people trapped in Lower Manhattan in under 10 hours. The boatlift has been under-reported by the media, which is all the more reason to remember the mariners of New York who stepped up to perform what has been called the largest sea rescue in history.

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