Imagine the Empire State Building. Now imagine tipping it on its side, nudging it into the Hudson, and putting out to sea. That was the scale of thing I contemplated one day in late November, as I gaped at the immense navy hull of CMA CGM Christophe Colomb, one of the world’s largest container ships, which stretched above and out of sight on either side of me, on a quayside in Hong Kong.
A surprisingly fascinating article on shipping.
Also interesting in that NYRB issue are articles on internal battles in Turkey (good for the ignorant, like me) and a rather frightening article on assassination of opposition figures in Uganda. The latter is more insinuation than evidence, though. Hard to believe the NYRB would have published something without much depth or evidence if it were about an American or European politician,
6 Responses
its seems good
Hey I like it
@cblatts Looking at political econ. of trsprt in W Africa Shipping seems more a hurdle than opp. – all about scale, imbalances & negting pwr
“Surprisingly”? No doubt Uganda goes down better as Manhattan cocktail party chatter than ocean shipping, at least since the docks in lower Manhattan closed up. Economists have learned quite a lot from studying ocean shipping, ranging from price formation in spot markets to contracting costs in long term contracts to the stability of competitive markets to the functioning of labor markets. And yes, the New York Review of Bores publishes many an article on politicians that are devoid of depth or evidence. You are confusing depth and evidence with the NYRB’s habit of writing fawning pieces about politicians who are popular with the Upper West Side crowd, while trashing everyone who does not toe the party line. Not your finest post.
It’s great to be reminded that countries aren’t monolithic and that internal schisms are constant. It is too easy to complacently think that a single opinion unifies an entire movement.
Shipping marvels, Turkish infighting, and Ugandan skullduggery: Imagine the Empire State Building. Now imagine… http://t.co/hRQAXnLO5I