Posted on 01/18/2024 5:16:55 AM PST by McGruff
U.S. President Joe Biden's emerging strategy on Yemen aims to weaken the Houthi militants but stops well short of trying to defeat the group or directly address Iran, the Houthi's main sponsor, raising risks of prolonged conflict, experts say.
The strategy - a blend of limited military strikes and sanctions - appears aimed at preventing a wider Middle East conflict even as Washington seeks to punish the Houthis for their attacks on Red Sea shipping.
But it is unclear whether it will accomplish Biden's main goal: halting the militants' attacks.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Everything BribeMe does is half-assed.
Kinda like his plan for America.
The test for american victory isn’t destroying the houthis. The important issue is whether shipping can move freely through the red sea. Dealing death and destruction into yeman doesn’t help if they’re still launching anti-ship missiles into shipping lanes.
I’nm assuming this is because of some enemy-of-my-enemy calculation.
So, who does the Deep State want these guys to fight?
Biden has been dead wrong on every foreign policy issue for the last 40 years. At this point if he gets something right it’s purely accidental.
Either completely destroy the Houthi ability to make war or get out.
L
Never let a crisis go to waste.
“halting the militants’ attacks”
Yemen is not a terrorist country repreented by a terrorist group. The houthis live within the country, not run it like hamas in gaza. They do not represent the Yemen people. So unless Biden was cleared by Yemen to assist, he is firing into a country that is not part of the equation. He is increasing world disagreement with US policies and displays a lack of responsibility by misrepresenting the US in the action. Destroys confidence in the US and promotes war mongering to them. They will not work with us on this issue if we fire within their borders and it will not stop the problem. They have to want to help.
wy69
They don't want to help. Screw 'em.
"You must shoot at the archers, not at the arrows".
If we are not willing to destroy the Houthis (and their Iranian sponsors) within the Yemeni borders, we lose. We need to pack up and leave in that case.
Let the Europeans and the Chinese work this out. They are the ones who will suffer the most from an Iranian hegemon controlling access to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
100%
Death and destruction are exactly how you stop piracy and low-level warfare. If it does not stop, you have not hit them hard enough in the right places.
"If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting". (General Curtis Lemay)
Our current rules of engagement ensure that we never hit enemies hard enough, soon enough, or in the right places. That is because we are ruled by fools and knaves. Best to avoid war of any kind until we can sort out our domestic political and cultural problems.
Biden’s strategy
There’s an oxymoron for ya
“If we are not willing to destroy the Houthis (and their Iranian sponsors) within the Yemeni borders, we lose.”
That little problem is with the shipping lanes and we can’t afford to create a combat zone there. And so far, Iran is not taking a direct hand in it. But firing on them may start a different scenario with them getting into the arms acts which would include the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea which ties to the Suez Canal.
About 12% of world shipping traffic transits the canal and 4-8% of global LNG cargoes have passed through it in 2023. As much as 8.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and oil products traversed the Red Sea over January-November, according to analytics firm Vortexa.
This year, a total of 16.2 million metric tons (MMt), or 51% of LNG trade, has flowed from the Atlantic Basin east through the Suez Canal, while 15.7 MMt went through the canal from the Pacific Basin west, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.
So we need that area open, not in combat. And there is no way that I know of to destoy a terrorist group. Another head grows from the ashes.
We need to find a non lethal way for the iranians to want to take care of them themselves. Trade, blockaides, tariffs, cutting goods...make it hurt until they do something about it.
wy69
“If we are not willing to destroy the Houthis (and their Iranian sponsors) within the Yemeni borders, we lose.”
That little problem is with the shipping lanes and we can’t afford to create a combat zone there. And so far, Iran is not taking a direct hand in it. But firing on them may start a different scenario with them getting into the arms acts which would include the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea which ties to the Suez Canal.
About 12% of world shipping traffic transits the canal and 4-8% of global LNG cargoes have passed through it in 2023. As much as 8.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and oil products traversed the Red Sea over January-November, according to analytics firm Vortexa.
This year, a total of 16.2 million metric tons (MMt), or 51% of LNG trade, has flowed from the Atlantic Basin east through the Suez Canal, while 15.7 MMt went through the canal from the Pacific Basin west, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.
So we need that area open, not in combat. And there is no way that I know of to destoy a terrorist group. Another head grows from the ashes.
We need to find a non lethal way for the iranians to want to take care of them themselves. Trade, blockaides, tariffs, cutting goods...make it hurt until they do something about it.
wy69
There isn't one.
We need that area open, not in combat.
Too bad for us. The Iranians do not need that area open. And they can benefit greatly from closing it to transit except by their permission. And suitable payments, of course.
And there is no way that I know of to destroy a terrorist group. Another head grows from the ashes.
You might want to ask the Tamil Tigers about that. Oh wait, you cannot do that. They were all killed by government forces with Chinese assistance.
Terrorist groups can most certainly be destroyed. It is a romantic myth that they can arise from ashes after catastrophic defeats. Most of them do not make it. The ones who get cut off from their foreign sponsors and allies are all in that category.
Our problem is that we buy into the romantic revolutionary mythos. We are not really willing to do what is required to stop enemies from attacking us. "That is not who we are", say the apologists. It is a strategy for losing wars.
If we are not willing to kill the Houthis and their Iranian paymasters, then we have no business keeping our forces in that part of the world and asserting "freedom of navigation at sea" is important to us. Maybe it isn't.
Maybe we are being played for suckers, willing to pay for other nations' commercial shipping traffic at our expense. I can see that point as a reason to abandon the area. Maybe.
The Iranians are using force to get what they want. That is because force works until someone bigger and badder comes along.
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