Category Archives: High Seas

China appears to be accelerating its campaign to control the South China Sea and the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Beijing does itself no favours with the highly ambiguous nature of its claims in the region. Its internationally condemned nine-dash line sometimes appears to be delineating its claims to the island features within it. More ominously, Beijing sometimes insinuates the line as a maritime delineation, carving out sovereign control of the sea itself as well as the airspace above it.

Chinas ongoing militarisation of many artificial features in disputed waters is well known. A less well known, but highly consequential implication of this militarisation is the vastly increased capacity it gives China to project power not only to control the reefs and rocks of the South China Sea, but, in the future, to assert control over the high seas and airspace above it. Beijing is vocal about its opposition to innocent passage and other military activities within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zones.

Beijing has tried hard to keep its dispute resolution efforts focused on bilateral negotiations between itself and the various claimants, effectively fracturing a united response by ASEAN. Pushback in the region is only now beginning. Chinas sweeping claims also impact many countries that lie far beyond the shores of the South China Sea. The US, Japan, Australia, India and many others around the world have critical interests in using the sea directly for economic, scientific and military purposes. More urgently, maintaining an open and free system of movement through the high seasand in the future, in outer spaceis of critical importance.

The decisive rejection of Chinas claims in the South China Sea by an arbitral tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2016 only accelerated Beijings continued bad-faith efforts to construct features, militarise them, and extend administrative control over others presence and activities to the furthest reaches of the nine-dash line. In fact, the ruling decisively rejects both Chinas claims to many rocks and maritime features and the idea that these islands can generate territorial seas and exclusive economic zones.

This studied strategic ambiguity by China (on display on other fronts as well) should encourage the international community to confront an alternative and altogether darker explanation for Beijings behaviourthat it is building forces and positions in the region so that over the long term it can assert sovereign authority over the South China Sea.

This interpretation of Chinas actions, though difficult to accept, should be considered as a possibility in military and strategic planning efforts around the world with an eye towards avoiding this worst-case outcome. It is important to remember that the scope and scale of Chinas claims are unprecedented in international law and have no real analogue anywhere else on earth. An unwillingness to confront this scenario risks ceding Beijing permanent control over economic and military activities over a large and critical section of the worlds oceansand beyond.

The South China Sea is a third larger than the Mediterranean Sea and more than twice as large as the Gulf of Mexico. Acknowledging Chinas sweeping claims to sovereignty over this massive space would increase the possibility of a future international environment in which ever larger portions of the global commons are cut off and controlled by individual nations.

Either the international community believes in maintaining a free and open global commons and protects international law or it doesnt. If it doesnt, then Chinas potential annexation of this vast space will guarantee similar claims over the worlds oceans. To foreclose on this future will require an active and aggressive response by the widest grouping of states possible. Regardless of how individual claims over the various land features in the South China Sea are resolved, the entire globe has a stake in free and open access to the region.

For this reason, the US, along with all major allies and partners, should explicitly link Chinas own access to the global commons with its behaviour in the South China Sea. Washingtons announcement of its rejection of Beijings maritime claims, underscored by the US Navy dual aircraft carrier strike group exercises in the region, is a good beginning. However, operations in the South China Sea play to Chinas strengths. The US and the widest range of allies and partners in the international community should begin to articulate and apply escalating administrative and technical restrictions globally on Chinese shipping, air travel and transport in and through exclusive economic zones around the world by participating countries.

Restrictions on economic and military transit and scientific exploration should be pre-planned and scalable so that they are similar to Chinese moves in the South China Sea. These allied grey zone competitive activities could be problematic for Beijing; they would drastically increase the cost and complication of accessing the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. For example, contiguous US, Japanese and Philippine zones restrict direct Chinese access to the Western Pacific. This possibility should be communicated to Beijing should it attempt to assert sovereign control in the South China Sea through force.

Securing the highest degree of freedom and access throughout the global commons should be the ultimate goal of this international effort. Focused and reciprocal restrictions on China throughout the exclusive economic zones of the world should be coupled with strong assurances that they remain open for participating nations. Moreover, these restrictions on China should be easily and quickly reversible. When Beijing comes to its senses on the use of the South China Sea, its access to the global maritime commons should be both restored and encouraged.

Although this strategic approach to countering Beijings most aggressive designs in the South China Sea appears to be rather drastic, like-minded nations around the world should be prepared to deliver a decisive shock to Beijings calculations about any gains it may achieve by limiting access to the South China Sea and rejecting the free use of the global commons more generally. Even hinting that a global response on this scale is possible should concentrate minds in Beijing on their strong and growing dependence on the global commons to reach their much vaunted centenary goals. Together, allied nations should encourage China to support an open and free global commons today in the South China Sea.

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How to stop China completing its takeover of the South China Sea - The Strategist

Overfishing is one of the greatest threatsto ocean health, yet for decades many governments have paid subsidies to their fishing fleets, helping them fish beyond levels that are biologically sustainable. Its time to end these harmful subsidies, some of which even support illegal fishing activities. Now, new case studies show that World Trade Organization (WTO) measures to end those harmful payments could help local fishers while increasing global catch.

Not all fisheries subsidies are harmful. Some, for example, might help artisanal fishers survive a lean season, and those payments should be maintained. But studies show that governments are spending $22.2 billion per year on payments that encourage overfishing. These subsidies, paid to help offset the costs of vessel fuel, upgrades, port renovations, and other expenses, enable primarily industrial fleets to fish farther from shore and longer than they otherwise would. A June 2018 study found that without government subsidies, as much as 54% of the present high-seas fishing grounds would be unprofitable.

Fortunately, the global community has recognized this problem and the need to address it: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 Target 6, which U.N. member governments agreed to in 2015, tasks the WTO with crafting an agreement to end harmful fisheries subsidies. WTO members were on track to finalize this deal at a June meeting but have postponed that conference due to COVID-19.

The new case studies provide the first practical evidence of how curbing subsidy-driven overfishing would improve fishery sustainability and benefit local fishers, their families, and their communities.

To produce the studies, the International Institute for Sustainable Development commissioned researchers to examine fish stock exploitation levels, governance regimes, revenue from landings, income from subsidies, and operating costs in three fisheries: shrimp in Latin America, sardinella in West Africa, and southern longline tuna in the Pacific. The researchers were then asked to examine the economic impacts of possible WTO disciplines, and options for managing these impacts.

Broadly, the studies found that reforming harmful fisheries subsidies could lead to higher yields for local fishers, which in turn could help provide more stable jobs, raise fishers incomes, reduce poverty, and improve food security in local communities.

Incomplete or inadequate reporting often allows governments to obscure the nature of their subsidy programs, creating challenges in evaluating their true impacts. But if governments commit to increased transparency and more complete notifications to the WTO of their subsidy programs, analysts and observers will gain a far better understanding of the potential effects of any new policy.

Here are some of the specific findings from the case studies.

In the Latin American shrimp fisheries:

Key takeaway: WTO disciplines could help artisanal fisheries compete with industrial vessels that may not be profitable without subsidies. Fuel and vessel maintenance subsidies represented 20% to 50% of income for industrial vessels in Mexico and Nicaragua, for example.

In the West African sardinella fishery:

Key takeaway: WTO disciplines could limit the harmful subsidies contributing to the overcapacity and overfishing of sardinella for both sectors. These subsidies cover the costs of fuel, certain capital costs, and access to other countries waters, as well as contribute to allowing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, mostly by foreign vessels. Previous studies have estimated that West African fishers are losing up to $2.3 billion in revenue each year due to IUU fishing in the region.

In the western and central Pacific longline tuna fishery:

Key takeaway: Though the impact of WTO disciplines would likely vary in different parts of the fishery, ending subsidies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity could reduce the overall fishing effort and allow for Pacific island countries to better develop their domestic fishing industries.

WTO members still have a chance to reach a trade deal that could realize unprecedented benefits for the ocean. While new WTO measures might require transition periods to help vulnerable fishers mitigate potential short-term impacts of subsidy removal, meaningful subsidy prohibitions, coupled with improved fisheries management at the national level, could improve economic and environmental conditions in fisheries around the world.

The new case studies show that subsidy reform would improve ocean health and help fishing fleets operate sustainably far into the future.

Isabel Jarrettis a manager and Reyna Gilbert is a senior associate with The Pew Charitable Trusts project to reduce harmful fisheries subsidies.

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Fisheries Subsidies Reform Could Reduce Overfishing and Illegal Fishing, Case Studies Find - The Pew Charitable Trusts

Last months clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh was the most significant conflict between the two countries since 1967. Despite signs of a partial tactical pullback in some places, there is considerable risk of further confrontations and even escalation along the disputed border. Some have been urging the Indian government to respond to Chinas moves in the Himalayas by placing pressure on Beijing in the Indian Ocean. What are Indias options and how likely is it to take such actions?

The Indian Ocean holds a particular place in the India-China strategic relationship. In almost every dimension, whether it be economic, nuclear or the conventional strategic balance along the Line of Actual Control in the Himalayas, India is probably at a considerable strategic disadvantage to China. Only in the Indian Ocean, which includes Chinas vital energy routes from the Persian Gulf and Africa, does India have the upper hand.

This has important implications for the strategy dynamic. Decades ago, prominent US Sinologist John Garver argued that in the event of a conflict between the two countries, India might be tempted to escalate from the land dimension, where it may suffer reverses, to the maritime dimension, where it enjoys substantial advantages, and employ those advantages to restrict Chinas vital Indian Ocean trade.

In strategic jargon, the Indian Ocean represents interior lines for India where the Indian Navy is close to its own bases and logistics and exterior lines for China, where its navy is operating with limited logistical support, away from home. Strategists tell us that you should meet your adversary in your own interior lines and their exterior lines. (That is the reason the Indian Navy is far from keen to get into any confrontation with China in the South China Sea.)

Short of all-out war, or perhaps an Indian Ocean equivalent of the Cuban Missile crisis, any attempt to interfere with trade would be subject to massive pushback from countries around the world.

This vulnerability gives the maritime dimension of the relationship a special significance. For example, the 2012 Non-Alignment 2.0 report by leading Indian strategic thinkers advocates that India should leverage potential opportunities that flow from peninsular Indias location in the Indian Ocean as part of an asymmetric strategy towards China.

These considerations have driven the Indian Navy to adopt a strategy of building its naval capabilities near the Indian Ocean chokepoints, particularly around the Malacca Strait, to create an implicit threat of interdiction of Chinas sea lines of communication. The navy considers that its previous threats of blockade made against Pakistan in several previous conflicts had a significant impact.

Indeed, in the aftermath of the Ladakh clashes in June, the Indian Navy was placed in a heightened state of alert and reportedly deployed additional ships to sea, although it is not clear precisely where. In recent weeks, Indian naval commentators have suggested that while India would have a difficult time imposing a blockade on Chinese shipping, it should nevertheless consider interdicting Chinese tankers as they pass near Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands, or otherwise deter, delay or divert shipping traffic to and from China.

Others have also noted the potential for Washington to move its carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt into the Malacca Straits/Bay of Bengal area to deter any serious escalation of conflict in the Himalayas. (Which, incidentally, would be an interesting replay of President John F. Kennedys decision to send the carrier USS Kitty Hawk to support India during the 1962 Sino-Indian war.)

This has not gone unnoticed in Beijing. According to Chinas Global Times, the PLA Navys Southern Theatre Command (which has responsibility for Chinas operations in the Indian Ocean) responded with naval drills in the South China Sea on 18 June.

Putting aside all this sabre-rattling, what are the realistic options for India (or others) to pressure Chinas trading routes in the Indian Ocean?

In fact, some naval analysts are deeply sceptical of the ability of any navy to impose a distant blockade of China in the Indian Ocean. Short of inspecting every ship which would be a huge task how could a blockade identify those that are actually headed to Chinese ports? What is to stop ships being rerouted in transit, a common event even in normal times? Even if a blockade could be successfully imposed, could China obtain sufficient energy supplies from other sources (which currently includes an epic 73 million barrels of oil reserves floating off the coast of China)? Just as importantly, what is to stop China retaliating with its own blockade or interdictions?

Even more important than these practical considerations, the political and diplomatic costs to India would be enormous. Short of all-out war, or perhaps an Indian Ocean equivalent of the Cuban Missile crisis, any attempt to interfere with trade would be subject to massive pushback from countries around the world including from Indias most important strategic partners.

In short, the Indian Navy might (or might not) have the capability to block Chinese trade through the Indian Ocean, but would Beijing take the threat seriously?

This article is part of a two-year project being undertaken by the National Security College on the Indian Ocean, with the support of the Department of Defence.

Excerpt from:

India-China conflict: A move from the Himalayas to the high seas? - The Interpreter

The worlds only biker rally cruise, High Seas Rally, will now take place on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship October 22-29, 2021.

Riding with all the excitement and camaraderie of motorcycle rallies, the High Seas Rally will sail on Royal Caribbeans Mariner of the Seas from Port Canaveral to Nassau, Bahamas; Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Bahamas; Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and Labadee, Haiti.

2021 will mark the 21st High Seas Rally sailing, each powered by legions of bike enthusiasts who come together for a first-class vacation that celebrates love of motorcycles and the freedom of the high seas. Rally cruisers also share a passion for helping others, which is the engine behind the High Seas Rally Dialysis Program and its rich history of giving back to the community.

Sponsored Links

Plans for the 2021 High Seas Rally include:

Entertainment: The Slow Ride at sea will be headlined by Foghat, plus Molly Hatchet and more bands to be announced in the coming months. On the High Seas Rally, the musicians dont just perform, they sail and party with guests all week.

Cruising for a Cause: The High Seas Rally sails with the proud legacy of supporting dialysis patients by providing them with an incredible all-expenses paid vacation on the high seas. In 21, the cruise will expand the cause to honor and support Military Veterans and First Responders.

Host Xavier Muriel: Their first-time host is Cycle Source Magazines 2019 Readers Poll Builder of the Year and builder of Easyriders Magazines 2019 Bike of the Year. Xavier, former drummer for the rock band Buckcherry, is currently building a custom HSR motorcycle at his garage (Providence Cycle Worx in Austin, Texas) which will be awarded to a lucky guest to take home after the 21 cruise.

Host Dave Nichols: Daves motorcycle credentials include rides as editor-in-chief of Easyriders and V-Twin motorcycle magazines, host of V-Twin TV (26-episode series on SPEED Channel) and a new TV series called Chrome Chronicles featuring host Richard Karn. He has written and produced over 1,200 TV commercials, wrote and produced a series of specials for HBO and was head writer and producer of American Top 40 for ABC. He also has produced live TV events and developed ad campaigns for radio, TV and feature films.

Comedian Roy Riley: For more than 43 years, Roy has entertained crowds from coast to coast as a stand-up comic. Guests have been hooked on Roy ever since he joined the first High Seas Rally in 2003. Roy keeps the fun and frivolity rolling during onboard shows, events and gatherings.

Newly Remodeled Cruise Ship: Royal Caribbeans Mariner of the Seas recently completed a $120 million renovation that saw many new features added to the vessel.

Cabin rates for the High Seas Rally begin at $900 per person, and include meals, tickets to all concerts, activities, parties and other events. Further information can be found at http://www.highseasrally.com or by calling 844-279-8460.

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Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Hosting World's Only Biker Cruise in 2021 - Cruise Fever

Photo by: Melissa C. Beckman

S.A. Chakraborty is the Locus Award, World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Crawford Award, and Astounding Award-nominated author of The Daevabad Trilogy, which she describes as an epic fantasy inspired by the folklore and history of the medieval Islamic world that I dreamed up while working in a medical office and finished ten years later during a pandemic. Beginning with The City of Brassand followed by The Kingdom of Copper, the trilogy is now complete with The Empire of Gold, released in June.

For her next project, the writer is taking on a historical fantasy trilogy about an adventure heist thats a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean meets Oceans 11, set in the 13th century Indian Ocean, featuring ex-Crusaders and pirate mothers. (More details here.) A week after her AMA with r/Books (which we highly recommend for those interested in craft), Chakraborty dropped by r/Fantasy for another AMA, where she talked about post-trilogy-completing feelings, writing advice, historical medical procedures, a mythological tree that bears human fruit (!), a very cocky medieval guide to con artistry, parents (ranked), love, stealing a horse on the high seas, and much, much more. Here are the (spoiler-free) highlights!

[Editors note:Questions and responses may have been edited for length and clarity.]

How does it feel to wrap up The Daevabad Trilogy?

I am very, very tired. Haha, no honestly, my emotions have been all over the place. Ive been working on the Daevabad Trilogy for over a decade, nearly my entire adult life, and these fictional characters have been living in my brain through job changes and relocations, marriage and parenthood. Its hard to let them go! But for however sad and wistful Ive been, I mostly feel very, very satisfied. Writing these books put me through the wringer, but Im incredibly proud of the conclusionand more than that, I feel honored to see their reception among readers. People send me fan art! Theres fanfiction! Do you know how freaking cool that is a creator to see?? Its just been an awesome experience.

Can you rank the parents of The Daevabad Trilogy for us?

I feel like theres a spoiler version of this question but Ill resist!

From best to worst:

The Sens

MYSTERY

Hatset

Seif

MYSTERY

Daras parents

Kaveh

Manizheh and Ghassan, Ghassan and Manizheh.you know what, Im very barely putting Manizheh before Ghassan. Hes still the worst.

I think Nahri would make a good mom. Im sure shed be super anxious about it, but shes been through enough horrible things and fought for her own ambitions that I can see her being very understanding, supportive, and fiercely protective.

Lets talk about love! What made you decide to take Nahris romantic arc where you did? (Editors note: This answer is spoiler-free, but you can find the full, spoiler-filled version here.)

Ah, but the romance. With the Daevabad Trilogy, I really wanted to center the romance from Nahris point of view and explore the different ways love, attraction, and passion might weave in and out of her life throughout a period of years. And I wanted it to feel as real, nuanced and messy as love often does in real life. What is it like to have her first crush? To learn how to trust? To be betrayed? To have to navigate a political marriage? How would all this work in terms of her own agency and desire rather than prioritizing the feelings of male characters? And I wanted the story to reflect how Nahriherselffelt about love: that it could be a sentiment not to be trusted, a distraction. That in the end, there were other things she desired just as much, if not more.

Non-spoiler thoughts on romance since I have a spot to put them: I am not unaware this topic has roused some passionate debate among readers! Frankly, Im content to have written the canon and let readers find joy in shipping whoever they want. Its an adult book and were in the middle of a pandemic, steal your happiness where you can find it. But I hope people can do so without tearing into each other. Fictional men (heck, many real ones) arent worth that much negative energy.

How did you approach writing the trilogys complex medical characters and scenes?

I knew I wanted to make my main character a healer, but I also wanted to get it right (I was working in an ob/gyn clinic at the time and watching my own spouse go through medical school and a grueling residency). I wanted to play with some historical techniques and procedures such as the theory of humors, cupping, and trepanation. But more than that, I wanted it all to feel real. I wanted Nahris training to be as grueling and time-consuming as a modern medical student. I wanted some of her patients to be incredibly difficult and I wanted her to make mistakes that would get people killed. It was important to show the arc that gives her the confidence to do surgery in the third bookbecause you need a certain level of insane confidence to cut into someones head! But this also comes with responsibility. For all the politics and war and magical shenanigans (and romance, yes) her overriding ambition is to survive and take care of her patients.

The scenes! I really like the history of medicine so first came the research (and some memorable trips to medical history museums in both the US and the UK). But for the final pass, I always made sure to run everything by the aforementioned spouse. Theres always plenty to nitpick and criticize when you read any book, but let me tell youI know I got the brain surgery correct!

And what about developing and realizing the arcs of characters caught between conflicting loyalties?

I really just wanted to make these characters as messy and real and human as possible and with every revision, I tried to bring this more to the surface. No matter the magical world, theyre dealing with things that rip apart both the larger world and peoples heart everywhere: struggles with faith, duties to community, family drama. I spent a lot of time both sitting with each new dilemma/scene and trying out various paths (so much rewriting and words that will never see the light of day). There is no rule, no craft secret Ive stumbled upon (I had essentially no creative writing background or experience before these books which I can admit now in public since theyve been nominated for awards enough 😉 Its just practice. Critique and revise as many times as you can.

Whats your favorite, most outlandish myth from the medieval Islamic world that you wish youd included in the trilogy but didnt?

Oh man, this is legitimately difficult as there are so many to choosebut the waqwaq tree. Which varies among tellings but is essentially a tree that bears human fruit. Yes. Sometimes children. Sometimes women. Sometimes just heads that wail and scream omens. Theres a bit of a mystery because sometimes its also referred to as the island of Waqwaq, which may or may not contain heads. But you can find elements of the story dating back to earlier Persian tales and the Alexander romances.

What book about that particular period of history would you recommend?

There are a lot but I really enjoy The Book of the Wonders of India. Its set up as a collection of sailors yarns by a tenth century Captain Buzurg ibn Shahriyar (who may or may not have existed) and it just captures such a wide-eyed and woundrous (and wild and often extremely racist!) look at traveling the seas in the early medieval era. From monsters and mermaids to deathly gales and dodgy piratesits one of those books that reminds you how very human the past was.

Any favorite books you came across while doing research?

Theres a great translation coming out from the Library of Arabic Literature of al-Jawbaris Book of Charlatans which is essentially a medieval guide to being a con artist, written by someone who was SUPREMELY full of himself. Its magnificently bizarre and contains an anecdote about a scheme using a trained monkey said to be a bewitched Indian prince to guilt people out of money of the mosque (where said monkey makes his ablutions and performs prayer!)

Lets talk writing advice. How did you get yourself to write when you first started out and not fall into the whole am I good enough to be a writer trap?

I have what is probably both a depressing and inspiring answer to this: I truly, deeply did not ever imagine my dream of seeing these books published would come true. I wanted them to! Desperately! But I had no creative writing background and was not raised with the idea that the arts could be a career (not that my parents discouraged mebut I was a first generation college student from a working class family: financial stability was the dream). And I didnt want to let myself dream too much because I didnt want to me crushed if it all came crashing down. So I wrote the books because I wanted to. I did the work of getting them critiqued and looking for an agent because I had people in my corner who loved them and pushed me, but I didnt let myself get hopeful. I meanI still havent and the trilogy has been optioned by Netflix so you think Impostor Syndrome would start to fade but apparently not.

Which is a long rambling way of saying there is no good enough to be a writer. Write if you want to write, if you have ideas and stories burning in your brain. Write them because you deserve to have a creative outlet in your life regardless if it goes anywhere that pays the bills. And if it does one day? Fantastic! if it doesnt? Every sentence you craft is practice that makes you better. Trust me: I know this is hard to internalize. I agonized over whether or not writing was selfish when my daughter was a baby. But you get to have this.

Coming from a historical background, how did you transition from something grounded in data and archives to building a fantasy world?

I think by both constantly trying to internalize that theyre different things and by reading other works of historical fiction to remind yourself that most arent getting down every tiny detail. Youre trying to sketch out an atmosphere, a scene, a tastenot argue a thesis.

Do you have any advice on adapting existing folktales and mythology without insulting their religions and cultures of origin?

This is a question that needs a far longer answer than I can provide here, but I try to flip the question and not ask what I can do without insulting such traditions, but what I can do to honor and respect them. People (often in the majority demographic) get horribly offended when they think theyre being toldnotto write something when really the attitude of questioning your intentions, trying to internalize and sit with critique, and considering existing power structures, your place in them, and the particular work under consideration will take you pretty far! And probably make you a better, more empathetic author!

In general, I dont think Id feel comfortable doing a deep or edgy reinterpretation of a living religion that isnt mine. Not because of fears of getting called out, but because it doesnt really sit right with me and isnt my lane in a way I think every writer needs to decide for themselves (and I think we should normalize both these discussions and the idea that people can learn). For example, I think the Mahabharat contains some of the greatest storytelling in history, and in particular I find Karna fascinating (the hidden family trauma! the loyalty to the one man who treated him right!) But I wouldnt try to retell his story. Im neither South Asian nor Hindu and it doesnt feel right. I might be inspired by elements of his character or arc, but I wouldnt try to make him as Karna mine. I couldnt do justice to him. (though relatedly, there is a fantastic YA space opera by a South Asian author that takes both Karna and the Mahabharat as its framing and its really, really good: A SPARK OF WHITE FIREhttps://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/sky-pony-press/9781510733817/a-spark-of-white-fire/

Whats the best writing advice youve ever gotten?

Best advice: FINISH THE BOOK. Dont get worn down into despair over a single scene or spend three months on the first ten pages. Writing is a very personal process but I do believe it is generally easier to see a storys larger arc or where the pieces need to go once you have a draft, even if that draft is half outline.

So tell us, how does one steal a horse on the high seas?

So I wrote the stealing a horse on the high sea as a nod to an anecdote from Ibn al-Mujawirs 13th century travelogue about the constant thieving between the so-called pirate amirs of Kish and the free agent pirate contractors horse merchants would hire to steal their horsesbackfrom the amirsthan realized I might want to use it in the next book so I might make you hunt the details yourself for now!

Head on over to r/Fantasy for the full AMA. For more, check out the AMA she did with r/Books last week.

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S.A. Chakraborty Tells Us the Best Writing Advice She Ever Got in Reddit AMA - tor.com

Ever since the shadow of coronavirus first started to creep up on us during the AW20 womenswear shows in Paris and Milan, questions have proliferated on just how fashion houses could go about showing their work at this time -- packing coughing guests tight next to one another for hours on end is not, after all, a savvy move during a global pandemic.

As weve seen during this most recent couture week, the overwhelmingly favoured option for debuting collections has been the fashion film. And with the first-ever Paris Fashion Week Online kicking off today, were sure to see the mediums reign continue, for this season at least.

At Louis Vuitton, however, a quick online flick isnt all well be seeing. They are indeed part of the official Paris Fashion Week Online calendar, showing a creative film at 14:30 CEST. This is, however, simply the introduction to an itinerant series of events that will see Louis Vuittons Message in a Bottle -- the title of Virgil Ablohs SS21 collection for the house -- travel the world.

Shot at Louis Vuittons Maison de Famille at Asnires, just outside Paris, tomorrows screening will see movers packing up Louis Vuitton shipping containers and loading them onto a barge, which sails down the River Seine and leaves Paris, according to a release. It isnt just the collection that youll find on board: on it, a colourful crew of animated characters called Zoooom with friends are hiding as stowaways.

After a month at sea, the shipment will dock in Shanghai, where a full-scale Louis Vuitton SS21 Mens runway show will take place on August 6th. Later in the year, therell be a third event in Tokyo, with further possible stops on the collections world tour to be announced.

As for the collection itself, itll be an extensive offering of around 80 looks, comprising new looks made from recycled material, looks repeated from the AW20 collection, looks freely created by the studio during the lockdown using recycled material, and new looks created from existing ideas.

Louis Vuittons proposed showcasing model is certainly future-forward, capitalising on the universal accessibility of film, while quenching a thirst for live runway shows. Its also a clever move at a time when border restrictions around the world prevent the full roster of typical show attendees from descending upon the industrys traditional centres en masse. Who knows, if Louis Vuittons proposal is anything to go by, we may just be entering an era in which, rather than going to see the shows, the shows come to you.

The rest is here:

Louis Vuitton Menswear is taking to the high seas for SS21 - i-D

Living the Life

Four years ago, weekends started with coffee and breakfast at the West End markets or a walk along the river to Southbank. Three days a week I cycled over Highgate Hill to work while my partner, Justin, dropped the kiddies at childcare, on my days off I met friends in The Froggy Park or attended Toddler Storytime at the West End Library. On the surface we were the typical young family negotiating a work-life balance. We were busy and tired.

Friends would ask, Now you have kids are you going to buy a house in the suburbs? But why leave West End? We loved our community. One evening I sat on my balcony trying to feed a child in tantrum mode, to keep calm I watched the active commuters cycling home along Riverfront Drive or Brisbane Ferries shuttling workers home up river. At that moment my neighbour walked past looking up and I waved sheepishly, embarrassed by the noise. Five minutes later, the same neighbour walked through my door and joined me on my balcony with wine and bubbles, I could have cried with relief. We shared a drink and laughed ignoring the now quiet toddlers captivated by bubbles. So to answer the question about leaving West End, I answered vaguely, not just now, never elaborating. But we were planning to leave our beloved home because we had a secret: an alternative plan for our life.

Love West End, miss West End. But leave we did. Not for the burbs, but for a life unknown. We eventually told our friends that wanted to live on a sailboat. A boat? With tiny kids? Is it safe? WHY?!

In June 2016, after selling or giving away almost everything we owned, we quit our good jobs, bundled the remaining items into our car and drove south to visit family and to practice living in a small space. We borrowed my Mums caravan and went camping in a Victorian winter. Ahhh, think of the FREE TIME, I thought. Having forgotten in the euphoria of departure that looking after two toddlers in an unknown, unbounded space is a full time job. Despite spending most of our time running after toddlers, we had fun and learnt how to live together. Three months later, we felt ready to take the next step and move our family to Malaysia where we would try living on Justins parents boat.

Before the boat would be ready for us to live on, it required some work, so we found a little house on a little Island near a marina. For two months, Justin and his parents worked full time on the boat while I embraced child care. Looking after young kids alone in a foreign country was tough, I couldnt even work out how to feed us. I had no car, two toddlers and the nearest shop was 500m away. Unfortunately, not eating wasnt an option so I went shopping.

Off down the road I traipsed with toddlers in the midday heat past the rice paddies and buffalo. The shop: dark skinny aisles piled high with yet-to-be-stacked goods; the air thick with humidity and the smell of onions left too long; two toddlers playing hide and seek; and me, trying to read ingredient lists in Malaysian Bahasa. I remember the first thing I made resembling a meal chicken stir-fry with sweet soy and noodles it felt like a pivotal victory in the battle Family vs Adventure Unknown. Things got easier and there was a pool at the marina, so most afternoons we would make the 45 minute journey. The pool was our happy place, and we swam and splashed away our afternoons. One afternoon at the pool, a wonderful thing happened. Another boat child arrived. Suddenly, I wasnt the only crazy mum, I didnt feel so alone. We bonded while running after toddlers in a swimming pool and were still friends to this day. Eventually the boat was ready for us and the next big adjustment loomed boat life!

We moved onto the boat, trading rice paddies and buffalo for waves and fish and pointed the boat north toward Thailand. Justins parents planned to jump off in Phuket a week later. We swam in turquoise water, learnt to handle the boat and revelled in our new cruising life. Bliss. On the last day to Phuket we had light wind, so Justin put the engine on. Moments later the 30 year old engine turned its last. Kaput. A week into our adventure afloat it was over. Back on land, I looked for a place to live while Justin and his parents looked for a boat yard to haul out and replace the engine. Again I was alone caring for kids in a new country. Justin and his parents worked hard in the sweltering Thai heat and humidity to dismantle the boat and organise a new engine. Nothing happens quickly and a month into our Thai visa, encompassing Christmas and New Years in Phuket, we were ready to try again.

With the boat and shiny new engine back in the water, Justins parents departed. Alone now, we headed across the large bay to visit friends living an alternative life and there we spent an idyllic afternoon on a quiet beach drinking beer together. From that beach every possibility lay in front of us. But right in front of us, we could see trip boats ferrying tourists to a dazzling sandy island, and we thought, why not go there? We can go for free! The sandy island was a little exposed being almost covered at high tide, but newbie confidence had our anchor up and the next morning. As we arrived at the tiny little island, I looked windward to see a line of cloud and rain inbound. I assumed, wrongly, that we had time to drop and dig in the anchor. With the anchor barely touching the bottom, boof, the wind started pushing us toward a cliff. Newbie confidence was quickly replaced with newbie panic. Abort abort! Up came the anchor, back to our safe little beach. Lesson one in becoming-a-sailor: know your limits, assess the risks, dont be afraid to accept a lesser option. Slowly we learnt our lessons while simultaneously learning to find food in every bay and give kids daily exercise. During the evenings we poured over charts and researched places to visit. One particular island group called us further north: wild and remote with superior snorkeling. The Surin Islands were several days sail along the open coast. If we could get there, we would know we could do anything, but we had no pilot guide and little experience, still we decided to try.

We started inching our way north, stopping in manic Patong to run the gauntlet of tourists and ladyboys to buy food. We met other cruisers coming south who gave us maps and advice. We didnt realise it, but as a family sailing with young kids we stood out among the grey nomads: others were looking out for us. Along the way we found white sandy beaches shared only with seagulls. We discovered Thailand without tourists. We connected with other boat families and went to a full moon party in a bar built of flotsam. And we dropped anchor at the magical Surin Islands! We snorkelled with baby sharks, sat in the luminous aqua water and had fishes nibble at our toes, we climbed rocks and spied clown fish peeking out from anemones. We were happy drunk on life, our success and possibilities. Sadly though, the clock was ticking on our Thai visa. Good things really cannot last forever. Crash bang reality. Now we needed to make a big decision. With the wet season coming, what should we do next? We sat down late one night, looked at each other and asked the question are we ready to give this up? NO!

We began boat hunting, in the Mediterranean.

We hired a house for a month in La Coruna on the north west coast of Spain, where we spent days exploring a new culture and nights researching boats. After two months and another move to visit Justins family in Scotland, the right boat turned up in Southern France. She was a fixer upper, but affordable. Justin and his Dad flew down to have a look: she was a keeper, but required a couple of months of work before she could be launched. So, for the third time in a year, Justin was working full time on boat maintenance and I plunged back into full-time childcare. Alone, I moved myself, the kids and ALL our possessions to France, where at the end of a twelve hour day, I hired a car and learnt to drive on the other side of the road. As I crashed into a new bed that night after nearly no sleep for two days, I yearned for simple life of work, childcare and weekends. I felt alone, I speak no French and I had no internet. One night my son stopped breathing. I tried to call an ambulance, but I didnt know the number, my address, how to say respiratory distress and didnt even have phone reception anyway. Fortunately he was OK, but I was shaken to the core. Another important lesson learnt: plan for the unexpected. This wasnt the adventure I signed up for, but the boat was paid for, there was no going home now.

In the year since we left Australia, nearly half was spent on boat work. I look back on it as one of tough times, but also one of discovery, hope and optimism. The savings went down fast, but now we had our own floating home and we were the masters of our destiny! Or so we thought.

We launched Dizzie on 13 October 2017, just in time for winter storms in the Mediterranean to make sailing a potentially precarious activity. By October, holiday makers have retreated back to their colder northern homes and full time sailors retreat into a marina. So as soon as we started sailing, we stopped! We chose a marina with other boat-kids, in a little town at the bottom of Sicily. I didnt know it at the time, but it was exactly what we needed: to be surrounded by sailors more experienced, to be still and connect to a place.

The kids joined the state preschool five mornings a week where no one spoke English, Justin worked flat out on Dizzie and I embraced learning Italian.

Learning a new language was something for me, an accomplishment that I could own. Being a boat Mum, meant that everything I did was for the kids or the boat. I was used to working hard and owning the satisfaction of achievement. Now I was working hard and had nothing to show for it, it was wholly unsatisfying. Turns out this is a very common feeling among boat Mums. My confidence plummeted. All I did was cook and clean (which I wasnt doing entirely successfully). Learning to speak Italian gave me something of my own as an achievement. I needed it for self-confidence and to communicate with the preschool teachers. After six months of a delightful winter shared with wonderful families and salty sailors, we were ready FINALLY to realise our dream of sailing and living on our own boat. FINALLY, nearly two years after quitting our West End life, we were on the cusp of living our dream.

We left, said sad farewells (in broken Italian) to preschool, threw the dock lines and headed out into the open sea. Our first stop was a day trip to Malta and we had champaign sailing, but before we even had the chance to see the historic capital city bad weather chased us back to Sicily. Here we waited for better weather in a big safe harbour beside the captivating city of Siracuse. One month into the five month sailing season it felt like all we did was wait for good sailing weather, or run from bad weather. and it was still too cold to swim. I felt deflated: for more than a decade Id had a goal and now I had none. If you aim to climb a mountain, you plan, prepare, practice, you do it. You stand on the top, you raise your arms in the cold wind and cheer, you look down at where youve come from and realise an amazing achievement. There is resolution, completion, and acknowledgement. Well. we had reached our summit and there was nothing there. No-one gave me a high-5 and said, You worked hard! You made it! I looked on from my proverbial mountain and all I saw was more path, not up, not down, just onward into the mist. When I realised why I felt so down, I was able to grow past it and start enjoying life for what it was. Life is brief, the world is fascinating, and I have the front row seat to watch my kids grow. I saw the roses in the mist.

Im happy to say that since arriving in Greece two years ago, we have now found our groove. We travelled from Greece through the Med, across the Atlantic Ocean to South America and the Caribbean. Our lifestyle gives us the opportunities that other travel lacks. We rummage for the best apples with everyone else in the markets, we explore ancient ruins, but delve deeper into the issues of modern culture, we catch buses with the residents and avoid cruise ship days because we can. We boat-school in the morning and become free spirits in the afternoon. We are in tune with planetary rhythms; we eat dinner at sunset, marvel at the fish life on a new moon, feel the temperature drop before the rain comes.

Its not an easy life, but its never boring and we are living it together.

Lynita and family are currently in Martinique and will be heading south in another week or so.

All images by Lynita Howie

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A different Life: a West End family's adventures on the high seas - The Westender

Remember Skull & Bones? Ubisoft announced a nautical open world game about pirates on the high seas, with Assassin's Creed's naval combat serving as a base for the action. It sounded like a winner, and we were pretty interested to see how it turned out. Unfortunately, the game has been delayed multiple times since its debut at E3 2017. Most recently, we heard the game will be skipping next financial year, meaning it won't release until mid-2021 at the absolute earliest.

However, the game is apparently still alive. A new report from VGC has the latest on the seafaring adventure, and it seems development veered into rocky waters. The project has reportedly been rebooted after failed attempts to make the game a "premium box" open world, akin to Far Cry or Watch Dogs.

This is according to anonymous development sources, who are also saying Skull & Bones is becoming a "live" game. As VGC writes, the title will contain a persistent world, featuring "quests, characters and storylines that will drastically evolve and change over time". Apparently, Fortnite's "live storytelling" aspects have been a big influence. It sounds like the game will end up in the same waters as Microsoft's Sea of Thieves -- a live, online multiplayer ocean full of pirates that evolves through seasonal updates.

Elisabeth Pellen, writer and director of cel-shaded shooter XIII, has taken over as creative director after Justin Farren moved to another studio.

So, Skull & Bones is still happening, but it's taking on a completely different format. Instead of a big open world blockbuster like Ubisoft's other games, it's becoming a persistent online experience. Here's hoping it's shipshape whenever it comes to shore.

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Skull & Bones Reportedly Rebooted Into an Ongoing 'Live' Game - Push Square

When Springfield native Aaron Schneider expressed his interest in directing the recently-released World War II thriller "Greyhound," he wrote a heartfelt and detailed email to his agent outlining the potential the movie had.

Thinking the email was meant to be passed on, Schneiders agent sent it up the chain of command, finally landing with the head of the agency which represents Tom Hanks, who wrote the movies screenplay and was set to portray the captain of the USS Keeling, codenamed "Greyhound."

"As the story goes, Im told, the agent read the email to Tom over the phone and Tom said, Well, sounds like this guys passionate. Lets sit down, Ill meet him," said Schneider, who grew up in Dunlap and attended schools in Mossville and Chillicothe.

That meeting at Hanks production company, said Schneider, was a wide-ranging conversation about cinematographers Hanks had worked with from Conrad Hall ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") to Gordon Willis ("The Godfather" movies) and that Schneider had admired.

Hanks then grilled Schneider about Bill Murray, who Schneider directed in the independent film "Get Low" (2009) and is set to be reunited with in the forthcoming "Bums Rush."

"Hes envious of Bill Murrays career," Schneider said. "Its not something you expect to come out of the mouth of Tom Hanks.

"By the end of the meeting, (Hanks) said, Hey, why dont you come back in and meet Gary (Goetzman), my (production partner), and before you know it, we were building a movie together."

By his own account, Schneiders Hollywood adventure has gone "off script." A cinematographer (he worked on the second unit of "Titanic," among other films), Schneider got bit by the directing bug. His first film, "Two Soldiers," based on a William Faulkner short story, won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. The actor who presented him with the award, Billy Crystal, had suggested years earlier to his father that Schneider go to USC film school.

"Greyhound" dropped Friday on Apple TV+ and has drawn nearly universal praise. In the film, Hanks, as a longtime Navy veteran, is tasked with protecting a convoy of 37 ships carrying thousands of soldiers and supplies across the Atlantic during World War II. The small force battles menacing Nazi U-boats in whats known as "the Black Pit," a three-day ordeal with no air cover.

Schneider was born in Springfield and lived there up until age 8 when his father Delwin Schneider, an executive for Central Illinois Light Co., CILCO, got transferred to a Peoria office and the family, including a younger sister, Mimi, moved to Dunlap.

After retiring, Schneider and his wife, Beverly, who he met at CILCO, returned to Springfield to live.

Aaron Schneider, who turns 55 later this month, still makes an annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage to central Illinois. He favors a Steak n Shake steakburger when hes in Springfield and goes for Avantis when he visits Peoria.

"When you grow up in the Midwest, there are certain staples," Schneider said. "Small town life or Midwest community gets under your skin or becomes part of your DNA. Its part of you and you take it wherever you go, whether thats over to Springfield and up to Peoria youre a farm boy working as an executive at CILCO, like my dad or youre an Illinois kid making Tom Hanks movies.

"You are who you are and youre formed by your experiences in your youth and my youth was Midwestern."

Schneider said indelible images of Peoria for him were driving past Caterpillar "with the workers on strike warming their hands over a barrel as we drove by on the school bus," the sight of the riverboat, the Peoria Beer Fest in the summer.

It was Schneiders father who struck up a conversation with Billy Crystal while both were vacationing in Florida. If he was serious about the movie industry, Crystal recommended Schneider, who was then studying mechanical engineering at Iowa State University, go to USCs film school.

"Hes certainly had a lot of support from a lot of people, including us," said Delwin Schneider, in a separate phone interview. "Its been a great ride. Not a whole lot of people from a small town in central Illinois go to the (Academy Awards) to see their son win an Oscar.

"Its been more than a great ride, its been a lot of fun. Hes continued to be successful in his career for which were eternally grateful and very proud."

"Aaron had worked very, very hard to get to that point," added Beverly Schneider, who worked as a real estate agent in Springfield. "My motto with him was, somebodys gotta do it, why not Aaron Schneider? And, lo and behold, hes made it and made a big splash in Hollywood and I couldnt be more thrilled and neither could his dad."

Aaron Schneider said he counts "Saving Private Ryan," a film he first saw with his father, a Korean War veteran, as putting him on a course to try his own hand at directing and to directing "Greyhound" some two and a half decades later.

"I finally get a foothold in this business (as a cinematographer) and I decide to throw caution to the wind and go in a completely different direction (by directing)," Schneider said. "Every step of the way, (my parents) were there saying, All right, go for it. To their credit, they just wanted me to be happy and they have literally been a backbone in that sense my entire life, so my career is as much a testament to their support as it is to the work I put into it.

"Making a movie that goes on to win an Oscar is a cool thing, but it was just one of those times in life where you felt supported. You felt loved."

"Greyhound," Schneider said, "is not the kind of war movie where people pull out photographs and talk about their girl or their kids back home. It throws the audience into the pilothouse of a World War II destroyer on day one of a three-day nightmare and follows it through all the danger and apprehension."

While the action takes place on the high seas, much of the film was shot on the USS Kidd, a decommissioned WWII-era destroyer that now serves as a museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Virtually all of the battle scenes and ocean vistas were created using visual effects.

What did Schneider think about working with Tom Hanks?

"The big news, which probably isnt big news anyway, is that Tom Hanks is everything you expected him to be," Schneider said. "Pretty much what you see is what you get. Hes a lovely man.

"Hes a lot of fun to be with. Hes got good energy, which set the tone for a project."

Schneider attended elementary school and junior high in Mossville before attending Illinois Valley Central High School in Chillicothe.

Schneider describes himself as a bit of "a sentimental sap." Hes gone back to the house he grew up in in Dunlap to find a message "a little dedication" he wrote on a beam in a crawlspace before moving out. Four or five families who have lived in the house since, Schneider said, have also left their own messages there.

Delwin Schneider grew up in Farmer City, where he worked for his uncle, Epstein, who owned a shoe store.

Schneider said his father would tell him stories about characters from the town, people like "Rat Trap Lewis" and "Pushcart Charlie."

It served Schneider well when he was developing Robert Duvalls character, Felix Bush, from "Get Low."

"These were communities with personalities and they had so many stories," Schneider said. "Inevitably, you turn to what you know and you cant help but imbue your own experiences and sense of community into the work. In that sense youre putting a piece of yourself into the work."

Contact Steven Spearie: 622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/stevenspearie.

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Hollywood director Aaron Schneider: Small town life still part of DNA - Pekin Daily Times

Supplies land on T-3 by parachute in June 1969. The murder occurred the following year.Dave Scoboria, USGS via Library of Congress

Mario Escamilla was furious. A colleague of his, nicknamed Porky, had just stolen his jug of raisin wine. So the 33-year-old Escamilla grabbed a rifle and set out to reclaim it. He had no idea he was about to get tangled up in one of the knottiest homicides in historya killing that also raises serious questions about how humankind should handle the first, inevitable murder in outer space.

Escamilla worked on T-3, also known as Fletchers ice island, a Manhattan-size hunk of ice that at the time was floating north of Canada in the Arctic Ocean, roughly 350 miles from the North Pole. T-3 had been occupied off and on since the 1950s, and 19 scientists and technicians were stationed there during the summer of 1970, studying ocean currents and wind and weather patterns.

Despite the constant polar sunshine in the summer, the weather could be harsh, with temperatures dipping down to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit sometimes and winds reaching 160 miles per hour. But the worst thing the scientists faced was boredom: Besides work, there was almost nothing to do. For movies, they had a few 16-millimeter reels theyd seen a dozen times each. For music, they had two eight tracks. One was Jefferson Airplane.

To compound the problem, the scientists had virtually no contact with the outside world. Satellite communication was iffy and often failed. And planes couldnt land on T-3 most of the summer, since the surface of the ice turned mushy under the sun. So after the initial arrival of people in the spring, that was it. Just 19 smelly dudes, with little to do but stare at one another and drink.

As a result, T-3 attracted some real misfits at times, including alcoholics and weirdos. And all that angry, bored energy finally came to a head exactly 50 years agoon July 16, 1970.

If contemporary accounts can be believed, Donald Porky Leavitt was a drunk, and a mean one. Three separate times on T-3, after running low on liquor, he attacked people with a meat cleaver to get his hands on their booze. On the night of July 16, Porky targeted electronics technician Mario Escamilla, breaking into Escamillas trailer and stealing a prized jug of homemade raisin hooch.

When Escamilla found out, something snapped. He was actually an unlikely vigilante. He was pudgy and wore glasses, and was considered quiet, even wimpy. But when he heard about the theft, he grabbed the base rifle and marched over to confront Porky. It was nearly 11 p.m., but the arctic sun was blazing like a Wild West high-noon showdown.

Unfortunately, Escamilla didnt know that the rifle hed grabbed was faulty. One hard bumpeven without pulling the triggerand it would fire.

Escamilla found Porky in a trailer with a meteorological technician named Bennie Lightsy, a 31-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky, who was Escamillas boss on T-3. Porky and Lightsy were, to put it mildly, shitfaced. Theyd been drinking a truly foul mix of raisin wine, grain alcohol, and grape juice; Lightsys blood-alcohol level was later estimated to be 0.26.

A struggle for the raisin wine ensued, and in the confrontation that followed, Escamilla shot not Porky Leavitt, but his boss, Bennie Lightsy, square in the chest. He bled out moments later. With the help of newspaper articles, court transcripts, and online reminiscing from people who were there, Ive laid out more details about the killing in my new podcastalong with many more details about life on the impossibly remote T-3 (including, because I know youre curious, how they went to the bathroom). But here Id like to focus on what happened after Lightsys death, because thats when the real chaos startedthe legal mess.

T-3 was technically run by the U.S. Air Force, but Escamilla was a civilian, so they couldnt court-martial him. The nearest land mass was Canada, but T-3 lay well outside Canadas territorial waters, so it had no jurisdiction there. Perhaps the United States could have claimed the ice islandsimilar to the many uninhabited Guano Islands full of rich, natural fertilizer that the U.S. government seized during the 1800s. But unlike the Guano Islands, T-3 was temporaryit would melt away in the 1980sso under international law, no nation could claim it. Perhaps the law of the sea applied? After all, T-3 was in some sense the literal high seas, being high-latitude frozen seawater. Except, the law of the sea applies only to navigable areas, and T-3 wasnt navigable.

In sum, T-3 was neither fish nor fowl. Murder in Legal Limbo, Time magazine called the case. Some legal scholars seriously questioned whether any nation had the right to try Escamilla. As one noted, It may shock the layman to learn that there may be parts of the world in which possible murders may go untried.

In the end, might essentially tried to make right here. Four U.S. marshals undertook a harrowing, multiday journey via plane and helicopter, first to Greenland and then T-3, fighting brutal Arctic winds and weather. Upon landing, they grabbed Escamilla, the rifle, and Lightsys frozen body for transport back to the United States.

T-3 was essentially treated as a freak occurrencea random, one-off event. But it wontbe.

Escamilla was then charged with murder in a federal court in Virginia. Why there? For the less-than-airtight reason that, well, Virginia was the first place the marshals and Escamilla landed after leaving Greenland, at Dulles Airport. Escamilla initially appeared in court in the same black Arctic rubber boots hed been arrested in.

But the trial presented all sorts of legal issues. First, there was the question of whether the government even had the right to try Escamilla, given T-3s legal limbo. Second, there was the question of venue. Technically, the marshals and Escamilla had landed in Greenland first on the trip back home, so according to international law, he should have been tried there. The U.S. government simply ignored this. Federal prosecutors also attempted to charge Escamilla under special maritime law for crimes committed on vessels, despite the fact that T-3 wasnt a vessel in any real sense.

In addition, the judge in the case instructed the jury to ignore testimony about the harsh, crazy-making conditions on T-3which was surely relevant in determining whether Escamilla had been negligent in wielding a gun there. Along those same lines, theres the question of whether the trial was fair from a constitutional standpoint, on the grounds that Escamilla couldnt possibly be tried by a jury of peers in Virginia. After all, T-3 had no police force or other legal authorityand it did have a meat cleaverwielding maniac running around. Property rights there were enforced with guns or not at all. Contrast that to suburban Virginia, where most peoples grimmest daily fears involved traffic. Could a jury there really understand the pressures Escamilla faced and properly judge his actions?

Ultimately, after an initial conviction for manslaughter and the inevitable appeals and remands, Escamilla was acquitted of all charges, given the faulty rifle. But because of that acquittal, all the juicy legal issues remained unresolved. T-3 was essentially treated as a freak occurrencea random, one-off event. But it wont be.

The July 16, 1970, ice island killing took place one year to the day after the launch of the Apollo rocket that brought the first human beings to the moon. And even at that time, legal scholars realized that, given the legal limbo of T-3, the Escamilla case had huge implications for crime in outer space. No matter how noble and uplifting spaceflight seems, human nature is human nature, and sooner or later somebody will stab or shoot somebody else up there. And we have no idea how well handle it.

When looking for analogues to crime in outer space, some scholars point to Antarctica, where a surprising number of crimes have already taken placeincluding an ax murder over a chess game; an assault with the claw end of a hammer; and arson, when a stir-crazy doctor burned down a building to try to force an evacuation. (Most recently, at a Russian base in 2018, an engineer stabbed a welder in the chest with a knifeeither because, depending on the report, the welder insulted the engineers manhood by offering him money to dance on a table, or because the welder kept spoiling the ending of books the engineer was reading, and he finally snapped.)

In some ways, however, Antarctica isnt a great analogy for space. However remote and undeveloped, its still permanent territory, on Earth, and several countries have made territorial claims, however disputed. Bases down there are largely run by governments anyway and are essentially treated as sovereign territory. The no mans land of T-3 seems a better analogue, legally, to the near-vacuum of judicial oversight in space.

About the only existing law governing space is the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. But the treaty focuses almost entirely on what nation-states can and cannot do (e.g., deploy nuclear bombs, seize celestial bodies). Its virtually silent on what private companies or individuals can dowhich suddenly seems like a glaring loophole given the rise of private space companies like SpaceX, which recently transported its first astronauts to the International Space Station. These private vessels are far murkier in a legal sense.

To be sure, a clause in the Outer Space Treaty does require nations to monitor their own citizens in space, which works fine when astronauts are few. But when hundreds or thousands of people reach orbit, that will become increasingly untenable. And so far, most crimes in remote places like T-3 have involved the citizens of one country alone (e.g., one Russian attacking another).

In 2019, news reports surfaced of the first-ever alleged crime in outer space, when an American astronaut reportedly accessed her estranged wifes bank account from computers on the International Space Station. Since then the astronaut has been cleared, and the wife charged with making false statements.

But even if that crime had taken place, it would have involved two Americans and an American bank, and taken place on the American section of the International Space Station. As a result, only American laws would have applied. But the International Space Station is already, well, international, and future spaceflight likely will be, too. So consider this scenario: a German woman poisons a Congolese man on a spaceship owned by a Chinese-Belgian conglomerate thats headquartered in Luxembourg. Who the hells in charge then?

When colonies get set up on Mars or the moon and people start having children there, things will get even more dicey. Should an Earth court really have jurisdiction over people who have never set foot on Earth in their lives? If exercising legal power over T-3 was a reach, imagine the consequences for doing so on another planet.

As another issue, how would you arrest someone in space? It took U.S. marshals two full days to reach T-3 and grab Escamilla. Mars is multiple months away at its closest, and often farther. So is it really worth sending someone on a billion-dollar interplanetary mission just to make an arrest? Where do you hold the perp in the meantime? (In the most recent Russian assault in Antarctica, the engineer was tossed into the bases tiny Orthodox chapel, since no proper jail cell existed.) And if you do drag them back to Earth, what about finding a jury of peers? Could any earthling truly understand life on Mars and pass judgment on someone living there?

Mario Escamilla had no desire to become a legal pioneer. He just wanted his raisin wine back. But as we return to the moon over the next few yearsNASA has plans to land people there in 2024, and push for Mars in the decade afterexpect to hear more about this obscure homicide. At a minimum, the spacefaring nations of the world need to update the Outer Space Treaty to account for private space flight.

Sure, bickering over treaty clauses and extradition issues isnt as romantic as the quest to land on Mars or as sexy as the technology to get us there. But the Escamilla case shows that mundane legal issues matter, too. Laws dont save lives by themselvesthe first murder in space will happen with or without them. But a little forethought in handling such a case could go a long way toward ensuring that the society were working so hard to build up there gets a chance to survive as well.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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How Not to Deal With Murder in Space - Slate