Reposted by @geraldroman.bsky.social
This week, we’ll have to keep focus on multiple important issues at the same time. We can’t let Trump get a pass on any of them. Here’s some information and analysis designed to help. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
open.substack.com
The Week Ahead
January 11, 2026
![The ship, which was known as the Bella 1, subsequently turned around and sailed into the Atlantic, with US military vessels in pursuit.
In recent days it has changed its name to Marinera and its crew has painted a Russian flag on its side in an apparent effort to deter boarding by US forces.
The vessel has also been added to Russia’s official shipping registry, having previously flown the flag of Guyana.
Ships are entitled to the protection of the country they are registered in. The acceptance of the ship on to the Russian registry indicates Moscow has accepted this position.
Oil tanker headed towards Irish-controlled waters on Friday January 2nd, 2026
Oil tanker headed towards Irish-controlled waters on Friday January 2nd, 2026
[A map showing the path of the ship headed northeast]
According to the New York Times, Russia has formally requested the US to stop pursuing the vessel.
However, US authorities claim the tanker is falsely registered and is a “shadow vessel”, one of hundreds of ships that use fake or misleading registrations to avoid sanctions. A US court has issued a seizure order for the ship.
Under the laws of the sea, it is open to countries to seize a vessel flying a false flag.
The ship’s automatic identification system had been switched off, rendering it invisible on open-source platforms. However, it was turned back on on Friday and was transmitting its location in the Atlantic.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreic6cpgb74tkh3sggcfe4w4uo3zqo6udma5ftlsv5c2h33fvmv5uzy)
