Thank you for your support and interest

I would like to start by saying that my heart breaks for those who are suffering in Ukraine. As I once lived there, I have developed a strong interest in the matter. To say the situation is complex is an under statement, and as tensions run high, simply commenting on the subject requires extreme sensitivity.

Because of the profound geopolitical sea changes it has already created, I think the war in Ukraine will be one of the defining moments of our time - as significant as when the Iron Curtain came down or planes hit the World Trade Center. It will be very difficult to discuss almost any issue without contextualizing and making judgements around the war.

I have already seen a profound change in attitudes. Overnight, a sort of tribalism that hasn’t been present for ages has swept across the world. Switzerland broke neutrality for the first time in over 200 years. Countries are already engaged in an information war, banning voices from the other side. Changing trade patterns are already throwing the world’s commodity markets - especially its food and energy supply - into utter chaos.

Given this backdrop, it has become quite dangerous to make public statements that involve the situation in Ukraine, especially statements that involve qualitative judgements regarding the blame, justification, and trajectory of the war. While I don’t want to be silent, I decided that it was prudent to curate my audience and present my thoughts in a long form fashion, where my ideas can be more fully and meticulously crafted, and thus will be less likely to be framed in a context that I didn’t intend. I believe this is prudent not only to protect myself, but to avoid causing harm to others. It’s difficult to fit nuance and substance into a tweet, and even a series of tweets. Furthermore, the frequently neurotic format of Twitter encourages knee jerk reactions and snap judgements that can lead to regret later. I don’t want to say something I’m not truly willing to stand behind in a moment of anger, fear, or greed.

I will be discussing a range of issues as always. I know many followed me for shipping and investment content, and that will certainly on occasion make it into the topics I cover as well. However, as I mentioned, I believe it’s currently extremely hard to look at very many issues in isolation. It’s likely the war will be an even more dominant cultural and economic theme than covid was. For shipping and investment specific content, I do run a data and discussion platform around those topics with several hundred users. The platform covers > 40 shipping companies and includes daily spot rates data, financial comparisons, and shipping market data.

To conclude, I want to thank you for your support and understanding, and I want to apologize for my own lapses in emotional fortitude and judgement which resulted in my lashing out at others or promoting ideas that were not fully developed.

All the best,

Calvin