I'm not sure there's anything to say beyond impotently bleating what's already been said, but my god, the explosion in Beirut yesterday just feels like yet another example of human lives paying the price for cut corners and profit margins.

If the ammonium nitrate *is* the same cargo that was abandoned at the Port of Beirut in 2013 - it's still v early, and new information may well emerge contradicting this - it's yet another example of the shady conditions of FOC shipping having a devastating outcome.

Flags of convenience are used to conceal ownership, and avoid financial costs, scrutiny of cargo and labour conditions. FOC shipping has had a role in environmental disasters like Deepwater Horizon, and grave abuses of the rights of seafarers.

And richer countries are deeply complicit. The maritime registers of countries involved in FOC shipping - the organisation of documents, and the collection of fees - are managed by who? By companies based in tax havens, or in the States, or in the City of London.

These disasters are a symptom of a global economic system in which it's possible to shop for the legislative framework you wish to abide by, underpay taxes, and undercut wages, safety, and environmental standards.