> Bernhard Schulte has said previously that two Egyptian canal pilots were aboard when the ship got stuck. Such an arrangement is customary to guide vessels through the narrow waterway, but the ship’s captain retains ultimate authority, according to experts.
With tens of thousands of ships making that passage each year, it was bound to happen sometime.
The sandstorm is just an excuse IMO...
Remember that Egypt nationalized (stole) the canal in the first place from the UK. The only reason they were not bombed to oblivion was that it suited US goals of further humiliating former European imperial powers after WWII. Egypt operates tha canal as spoils of war and their only real concern would be if shippers begun considering the risks of relying on the Suez authorities higher than going through the Horn of Africa.
Nasser paid full compensation for shareholders based on the share price of the company on the Paris Stock Exchange, as he had said he would before the nationalisation.[1] So this was not much different to the nationalisation of companies in the UK that had been happening around the same period,[2] or to the compulsory sales that happen even now in the US.[3]
> only reason they were not bombed to oblivion was that it suited US goals
There was also the Soviet threat against the UK and its allies in the war.
1. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/suez-affair-highlighted-brit...
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zsd68mn/revision/6
3. https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-orders-chinese-firm-to-se...
I'm not a fan of Arab governments but this comment reads like an angsty 14-year-old nostalgic for the empire they learned about in school.