Why would the U.S. even care? These aren’t American cargo ships.
Houthis have tried to directly attack US ships in the last few weeks
All unsuccessful so far, but it shows the menace that is there
Optics. And as Pox hinted at, to p!$$ off the Iranians.
One observes what is missing from the article, which mentions the"Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned and -operated container ship."
What was being shipped, from what country and to what country. Uncle Sucker is picking up a large part of the expense, but what country's "shipped goods" is protected by US military assets?
All the talk about "collective action" is obfuscation, when the US is doing the actual confrontation with air resources.
Freedom of navigation is in our strategic national interests. It is part of the USN’s mission statement.
The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas.
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and four other ships in its strike group moved through the Red Sea.
Because the world economy is supported by Pax Americana?
Because U.S. prosperity depends, in part on the world economy?
Because freedom of the seas is an integral part of the world economy?
“Why would the U.S. even care? These aren’t American cargo ships.”
About ten percent of world trade goes through the Red Sea. You might say, why do we care? It’s not our trade. Picture markets as one big world-sized bucket of stuff. Each country dips into the bucket for their needs. If the stuff in the bucket gets more expensive, then everyone who dips into the bucket pays more, including the US consumer. Further, some of the bucket-dippers are really poor and each percent of increased costs means a certain number of people starve to death. You might say, why do we care? Well, in today’s connected world they might get on a ship to South America and eventually come acrost America’s wide-open border to sponge off American welfare payments. Or they’ll migrate to our allies and cause them problems. Anain, why do we care? It’s not a direct effect, but enough of these civilization destroying events will eventually build up to the point where we can’t do anything. It is much better to fight small manageable fires rather than wait until the entire house is on fire. Our anger arises from the fact our government makes no attempt to explain why we should care. We aren’t consulted. Part of that is because we have a representative government. They don’t hold a plebiscite for each and every issue because we hired them to make those decisions. Still, we’d be better served if the government took a minute to explain why they do the things they do on our behalf.
It’s crazy but slowed or stopped deliveries on these massive ships on the international level causes devastating ripple effects even in the US economy. It’s also part of the thesis in Peter Zeihan’s The End of the World is Just the Beginning which is a fantastic read regarding international trade and international dependence on shipped goods.
It’s still global commerce, with the majority of activity still held by the west.
These aren’t American cargo ships.
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The US only has a handful of ships.
99.99% of all the goods that come to the US are by container ships owned by various non-American shipping companies. one of the biggest is COSCO, owned by the CCP.
“Why would the U.S. even care?”
America has been at war against Muslim pirates since 1783.
IIRC-—There are a couple of CHOKE POINTS in that area, which if a large ship got SUNK-—would STOP all of that shipping route.
Have you noticed empty or partially empty shelves in stores in the locality where you live? That's why. Or, to put it in a more acerbic way, it's the supply chain, stupid.
C’mon, be sensible. If a thug breaks into your neighbor’s house and beats them up, you gonna just sit there and not demand action?
YOu must be a NYC citizen.
Pirates are evil. Like pedos. Just kill them on sight.
Because free trade of the seas matters. In fact, most ships coming and going from the US are foreign owned.
For reason that have to do with fees and costs most ships - even ours - don’t sail under a US flag. Years ago I think it was Libertarian flags that were favored.
Piracy on the seas is everyone’s problem. Besides, Brandon’s approval ratings needed a boost.