The Foreign Ministry summoned a chargé d'affaires on Thursday afternoon, a quiet act that in ordinary weeks would merit a paragraph on page four. This is not an ordinary week. Armed exchanges between rival fleets have been reported in waters that touch the eastern lanes on which the Kingdom's corridor surcharges — and therefore a meaningful share of Monday's fuel vote — depend.

Foreign Minister Agnès Puigdomènech, in a brief communiqué, described the incidents as 'deeply destabilising' and reiterated Almaria's long-standing policy of maritime neutrality. The phrase is a drafted one; it has appeared in three ministerial statements since February, and its reappearance now is itself information. The Kingdom does not take sides at sea, and has no intention of learning to.

What changed on Thursday is not the policy but the posture. The Royal Almarian Navy has placed its coastal patrol squadron on heightened alert, and the Harbour Authority in Cordoba has asked merchant vessels to refile routing declarations. Two shipping agents at the Moll Gran told the Herald the new paperwork arrived before lunch and was being completed by late afternoon; a third said the language of the request was firmer than any he had seen since the corridor tariffs were first mooted.

The diplomatic and the commercial are now braided. Corridor surcharges have held near 18 per cent through the week, and the Chamber of Commerce's bulletin on Thursday — cork, olive oil, light manufacturing — named the industries that will feel a prolonged closure first. Trade Counsellor Bernat Esplugues spoke of 'a fog of uncertainty'; the phrase is kinder than the ledgers it describes.

Monday's vote on the Fuel Stabilisation Reserve remains on the order paper. Government whips confirmed the schedule late on Thursday. The Opposition has not asked for a deferral, and is unlikely to; both front benches understand that a vote postponed under the shadow of armed incident is a vote conceded. The Nationalist leader, Don Rafael, has said publicly that discipline before the vote is 'the first duty'; the Leader of the Opposition, Renko, has said nothing on the corridor this week, which is itself a choice.

The Proprietor of this newspaper, in his capacity as publisher of the Almar Commercial Ledger, argued on Thursday for stability over sovereignty. Reasonable men may read the argument and disagree; reasonable men, this week, are reading it. What the Navy's pier lists will show by Sunday evening is a more reliable guide to Monday's mood than any editorial, this one included.