Governments themselves use these services of course.

I wonder how much of government would simply stop if access to these services was prevented.

Would pensions, salaries, g2b, c2b & b2b payments be made?

What happens where you work if you lose access to e.g. OneDrive and Outlook?

Most European governments and businesses (and therefore economies) are extremely reliant on US technology.

The risks are potentially huge.

bsky.app/profile/andy...

We have a big problem at home too. Most businesses (and therefore economies) are hugely exposed by reliance on US technology.

bsky.app/profile/andy...

I'm not the only one asking these questions interestingly. Even if it turns out this was an accident, we do need to reman alert to the risk that such incidents are designed to test us, or send a message of some kind.

Also, 25% tariffs are a fairly significant counter to trade gravity.

Merchandise trade (doesn't include services) with EU countries is c. 4.8% for exports. 11% for imports (2021), so not insignificant.

Both figures, as well as services trade, have been rising, and could now accelerate.

Also worth noting the EU already extends as far as South America, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean (territories of EU member states), and Greenland is one of many "Overseas Countries and Territories" associated with the EU.

Cyprus is arguably not in Europe geographically.

It provides deeper access to the Single Market than CETA provides (goods & svcs), as well as political and security integration.

This would help deter US tariffs and anexation, as well as help EU trade replace that lost from US.

Same reasons Ukraine wants in really.

It has already been written about, sadly every so often it is forgotten by enough people that it resurfaces:

bsky.app/profile/jens...

Sure it's unlikely. But not ruled out (yet, it may be), and there's obviously some coincidences here.

If they can persuade someone to cut cables, is ramming a stretch?

If I was claiming it was deliberate I'd understand your tone, but I'm genuinely curious. It seems to remain possible, that's all.

Oh I completely agree.

Just think it remains worthy of investigation. It doesn't have to be the captain, or even a Russian member of crew. Maybe there was coercion, money, maybe he lost a son in Ukraine.

Similar rationale applies to captains arrested for cutting cables, they face punishment too.

Not saying it is deliberate either of course, but there's obviously a lot of coincidences, so I'm very curious, as it doesn't seem possible to rule it out yet.

Thanks. Re my questions, from the vid it seems:

1. The tanker was already anchored when the autopilot was set. Wouldn't you check AIS when setting autopilot?

2. Not uncommon to be there. Equally not the main anchorage.

3. Not covered.

Could well be accident but doesn't rule deliberate out? 🤷‍♂️

A further question to add to my earlier three:

4. When autopilot is set on such a ship, is it set indefinitely, or is it auto-disabled after a specific time or distance, or when reaching a location?

That isn't really a comparable situation.

I agree that it seems weird to set autopilot in a straight line and not disable it (manually or automatically) before reaching the area where numerous ships are regularly anchored.

This is presumably why gross negligence is the baseline charge.

This is surely.correct unfortunately, as while Cyprus was ambiguous geographically, and the definition of European is essentially a political one, Morocco was rejected on this basis.

Time to look at amending Article 49 perhaps?

As a layman though my next questions are:

1. Was the tanker already at anchor in that location at the time the autopilot was set?

2. How long do ships typically remain at anchor in that location?

3. Would there be definitely be a record of any adjustments to course made while autopilot was set?

So the autopilot was set 200 miles away and course was not adjusted after that?

I've not seen that mentioned anywhere, but yes that does sound unlikely to be deliberate if so.

On Donald's work in progress list.