Mike Whitney – The Unz Review Dec 23, 2023
“Yemen has said it would stop the blockade of Israel-bound ships as soon as sufficient food, water and medicine are allowed to enter Gaza. Guess that’s asking too much.” Elizabeth Murray@elizabethmurra
Yemen’s Houthi militia has shown how a small army can take on the American Empire and win. They have shown how courage, resolve and commitment to principle can act as a force-multiplier allowing a much weaker military to ‘punch above its weight’. They’ve also shown that a few well-placed missiles in key locations on the world’s most critical shipping lanes, can send tremors across the global economy and shake the “rules-based order” to its foundations. In short, the Houthis have shown that David can bring down Goliath without breaking a sweat, provided that David maintains his perch along the Bab-al-Mandab Strait.
Here’s what’s going on: The Houthis occupy an area along the narrowest part of the Red Sea that is the most important shipping corridor in the world. It is “responsible for 12% of international trade and almost one-third of global container traffic.” When the movement of ships is disrupted along this waterway, insurance premiums skyrocket, prices on retail merchandise rise, and oil prices go through the roof. That is why western powers are committed to keeping these shipping lanes open at all times whatever the cost. Here’s some background from CNN:
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are stepping up their strikes on ships in the Red Sea, which they say are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.
The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes, which could potentially cause a shock to the global economy.
The Houthis are believed to have been armed and trained by Iran, and there are fears that their attacks could escalate Israel’s war against Hamas into a wider regional conflict. Who Are The Houthis, CNN
At present, these shipping lanes are effectively closed due to Houthis attacks on Israeli-bound vessels. This, in turn, has slowed overall traffic to a crawl. If the current situation persists or gets worse, the impact on the global economy could be catastrophic.
Today on UK Column News (1pm UK time) I will cover the latest on Yemen and how Ansarullah is already winning the war against the US-led global coalition destined for failure in the 'graveyard of invaders' which is the Yemen. pic.twitter.com/ZKXhuyiAjO
— vanessa beeley (@VanessaBeeley) December 20, 2023
Here’s more from the Washington Post:
On Monday, oil giant BP became the latest company to announce it would be pausing its shipments through the Red Sea. Several shipping companies, including MSC, Maersk, Euronav and the Evergreen Group, have said they are also avoiding the Suez Canal as militants target cargo vessels.
Roughly 10 percent of all maritime oil trade goes through the Red Sea — which connects to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Without access to the Red Sea route, many ships will have to take the far longer and costlier journey around Africa to reach their destinations….
It urged “the global community to continue to pursue every possible diplomatic effort in support of security in and safe navigation through this region that is vital to international trade.”New U.S.-led Red Sea task force won’t stop shipping attacks, Houthis say, Washington Post
It’s worth noting that the Houthis have repeatedly said that ships that are NOT bound for Israeli ports, will not be attacked. But that has not stopped all of the major shipping companies from rerouting their vessels from the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope. This alternate route adds weeks to the sailing time forcing carriers to raise their cargo prices and adjust their schedules. Bottom line: The action of the Houthis is going to further boost inflation in western countries pushing their economies into a sharp and protracted nosedive.
Surprisingly, the Houthis do not stand to gain anything for their efforts. In fact, they are putting themselves at great risk (of retaliation by the United States) in order to pressure Israel into stopping its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip and to allow the starving Palestinian people access to food, water and medical supplies. The Houthis should probably be applauded for their selfless compassion and humanity, but Washington doesn’t see it that way. They don’t think see the Houthis’ action as laudable, virtuous or just. They see it as a challenge to American primacy. They see it as a threat to their regional hegemony and global leadership. They see it as interference in their Gaza policy in which Israel has been granted carte blanche to kill and maim as many Palestinians as it sees fit in order to achieve its own strategic objective, which is Greater Israel. So, what we have is an unstoppable force and an immovable object. We have two opposing points of view, and no way to resolve their differences without a direct military confrontation. That means there’s going to be trouble in the very near future.
🚨🇾🇪🇺🇸 Yemeni Houthis have prepared NAVAL MINES for American & Israeli ships. pic.twitter.com/niBQsghTmM
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) December 22, 2023
And that is why, last Monday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that he had assembled a ten-member maritime coalition that would patrol the waterways in the Red Sea and defend the “freedom of navigation” in that area. (Coalition members include: Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain.)
Now a reasonable person might wonder why Austin would cobble together another makeshift military coalition—whose strategic goals are far from clear—instead of first contacting the Houthi leadership to see if a deal could be worked out and a confrontation avoided. But those who have followed US foreign policy for the last 30 years, know that the US does not negotiate with people or countries it considers its inferiors. So, that option was quickly discarded. Instead, the US has decided to pursue its traditional approach to emerging crises, which involves a fair amount of incendiary rhetoric followed by a military hammer-blow. And, that appears to be the direction that things are now headed. Check out this excerpt from an article by John Helmer:
“… on Monday, in the Moscow newspaper Vedomosti, it was reported that Russian experts expect “most likely, the Americans will launch missile and bomb attacks on command centres and military depots of the Houthis, or targeted strikes by special forces may follow in order to eliminate the commanders of the movement. The operation will be roughly comparable to the actions of Western allies in Syria or Iraq.” The newspaper claimed that, according to its source, “the military forces of Saudi Arabia and the UAE may participate in the operation – their armed forces and their proxies have been waging a sluggish war against Iran’s allies in Yemen since 2015. John Helmer, Dancing With Bears
And respected publications in the western media are calling for a war with the Houthis too. This is from The World Socialist Web Site:
The US media is, meanwhile, agitating for the Biden administration to target both Yemen and Iran. In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal wrote, “The press is reporting that the Biden Administration is contemplating the use of military force in response to continuing attacks on commercial shipping by the Houthi militia in Yemen. It’s about time. The Houthi missile attacks pose the most significant threat to global shipping in decades, and they will continue unless a global coalition unites to stop them.”
The Journal continued, “The question is whether the U.S. and other Western navies are merely going to play defense and catch missiles as the Houthis set the terms of battle. Sooner or later a Houthi missile may get past U.S. naval defenses and kill American sailors. Then the White House will have little choice other than to strike back.” The Journal demands that the US escalate against Iran, declaring, “Eventually Iran’s rulers have to know that their assets—military and nuclear—are at risk if they continue to foment disorder, attack U.S. allies, and target American bases or ships.” As Gaza genocide continues, US prepares major escalation of war throughout Middle East, World Socialist Web Site
Map of current USN positions in the region FYI pic.twitter.com/kGPF5IQ8LA
— 🏛 Aristophanes 🏛 (@Aristos_Revenge) December 19, 2023
So, there’s definitely an element within the foreign policy establishment that supports the idea of a war on Yemen. We expect this ‘rush to war’ will gain momentum in the weeks ahead as more ships are diverted to Africa and hostilities continue to mount. But there’s no sign that the Houthis are going to ease up on their demands or abandon the Palestinian cause anytime soon. If anything, they appear to be more resolute than ever as is evident in this quote by Houthi Council member Muhammad al-Bukhaiti,
“Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our operations in the Red Sea will not stop unless the massacre in Gaza stops. We will not give up the responsibility of defending the Moustazafeen (oppressed ones) of the Earth.”
There’s not a lot of wiggle-room here. The Houthis want a cessation of the violence and the distribution of humanitarian aid. And they are willing to go to war with the United States to make sure their demands are met. And no one knows better than the Houthis, what that means. During the 9 years they were at war with Saudi Arabia, Washington provided the weapons and embargo-power that led to the deaths of an estimated 377,000 people. “More than half died due to starvation and disease caused by the siege.” (Antiwar.com)
So, the Houthis know what savagery Washington is capable of. Even so, they are not backing down and not caving in. There’s going to be a ceasefire or there’s going to be a war. It’s up to Biden to decide. But if he opts for war, he should realize that it’s not going to be a cakewalk. Oh, no. There are going to be attacks on American bases, American warships and Saudi oil fields and infrastructure. Oil prices will soar, commercial shipping will grind to a standstill, and global equities will tumble. And, all the while, China and Russia will be watching from the sidelines while Uncle Sam drains his last ounce credibility and power down a black hole on the Arabian Peninsula.
This is how Houthi leader Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi summed it up:
“If the US wants to go to war with us, they must know that we are waiting. We want a direct war between Yemen and the US and Israel. We are not afraid of America and all the people of Yemen will stand against them.”
This is a war that the United States can easily avoid by simply ‘doing the right thing’ and approving a ceasefire now. That will bring a swift end to Israel’s atrocities and stop the attacks on commercial shipping at the same time. That’s a solution we can all live with.
Bahrain? Lmfao what a sellout pic.twitter.com/24hSDP6s77
— missfalasteenia (@missfalsteenia) December 19, 2023
thankyou hoputis
The evils done to the UK by dirty jews over the centuries
must be paid back
thankyou
Off topic,
May I take this opportunity to wish our esteemed editor, Mr. Rixon Stewart, and his family a very happy Christmas. I would also like to thank him for his relentless pursuit of the truth and his seemingly endless patience when it comes to tolerating contributors on here who insist on turning comments into 1000 + word diatribes which I never read.
Much thanks must also go to the illuminating comments from “two tomans”, “Andyay”, “Simon Smith” and “Peter Petherington”.
“Carl Jones” seems like a robot hooked up to “nazis” – whatever they are – which makes his stuff unreadable. And as for “nico x” and all of his various aliases, (Nancy Morrison,Tina,Crowley,Damien,Aleister,Lana,Disciple,Mosley,Harold Shipman,Molly Berg,Pedro,Theo,Clara,Soho beatnik,Apostle,Celine,Pamela,Holly,Edgar,Olivia,Yvette) one can only laugh. Hillarious how they all say “Nico was right” LOL.
We could support America if it were not Jews and Freemasons working in hypocritical secrecy. As it is, we have zero reasons to help them
Ah, yes, that old, or new, chestnut, the missile age. Not only can the Houthis stand up to the US Nazi empire and stand it’s ground, they could destroy the Saudis oil fields, and that would literally destroy the entire Nazi empire.
On the other side of the Arabian peninsula, you’ve got Iran, which is armed to the teeth with missiles and drones.
Others and I have already explained how Yemen and Iran can sends Nazi carrier groups scurrying off to a safe port for more fireworks, at $300 million a trip.
Take China, with untold numbers of 2000km plus range missiles.. There’s no way the US can fight China in its own back yard over the South China Sea or Taiwan.
The Nazi coalition to open the Red Sea has fallen apart. One, it looks bad aiding Nazi Israel, and two, losing a ship to $100k worth of drones and maybe $2 millions worth of missiles, is pure stupidity.
The US Navy pretends to police the seas, is no longer an expeditionary navy, in the sense ships and carrier strike groups can be resupplied at sea.
This is massively embarrassing for Nazi Amerika. As for the likes of Nazi Britain, their carriers are a joke. The UK doesn’t even have its own strike group ships to support their carriers, when they’re not broken down.
38 Degrees Logo
This Christmas, hundreds of thousands of people of our people will be on the street. In fact, there’s been a 14% increase in homelessness in the last year. While migrants get put in luxury hotels and B and Bs[1]
The amount of our people experiencing homelessness in our country is a disgrace:
There are a RECORD number of children without a home, stuck in temporary accommodation. [2]
People are DYING from being homeless and left in the freezing cold. [3]
There are SIX TIMES as many homeless families than social homes available. [4]
With the next general election just months away, ALL political parties should be prioritising ending this crisis by committing to real action like stopping the migrant armies. But so far, all the plans fall short of what is really needed. [5]
However, if enough of us come together and sign this petition today, politicians from all sides will see that the only chance of winning an election will be to fix the crisis and stop the racist migrant agenda once and for all. So will you sign the petition today ?
This crisis doesn’t just impact those who are homeless. Without enough genuinely affordable social homes, councils are being pushed to bankruptcy by the sky-high costs of temporary accommodation as they are forced to house people in cramped hostels and B&Bs. This means they struggle to deliver essential services we all need. [6]
But this isn’t councils’ fault – this crisis needs commitment from whoever wins the next election, with proper interventions like stopping the migrant armies.
“As a result of Houthi actions not a single cargo ship has arrived in Israel for the last two weeks. Moreover, this situation is expected to continue for another four weeks, at least”
Good. Maybe we can starve the kikes to death.
The Khazarian mafia must be so excited about what is unfolding for their objective is to have a regional war and win over Iran so they can control the whole region. Clearly all the countries listed above that allied themselves with usa and israehell are controlled by the rothschilds banks.
These greedy, heartless babylonian rhadinites sabbabean frankish cult are evil to the core.
Over many years the satanic plague of Israel has been the cause of wars in the world especially in the middle Eastern regions who sadly will never know peace untill this is dealt with once and for all.
Yeah right. Houthis is just another CIA/MI6/Mossad created/directed phony muslim ‘terrorist org’ like ISIS/Alqaeda/Hamas/Al Shabaab to advance the dialectical geopolitical-religious objectives of the Israel Overlords.
How convenient that this ‘Houthis blockade’ strangely advances & contributes to the global socioeconomic & techno-Communist goals of the WEF.
This Red Sea shipping disaster is just another Biden legacy.
Afghanistan
Ukraine
Gaza
Red Sea
Persian Gulf
The Zionists trashed the Trump win and put in their Shabbos Goy moron, pedo Biden, who is really f-cking things up. But it was Trump-Kushner who authored the Abraham Accords which is cited as THE REASON for the Oct. 7th attack.
The Biden/Trump TEAM is a total fail.
And now BP halts all oil tanker to Red Sea:
https://infostormer.com/us-prepares-to-wage-new-jewish-war-in-yemen/
——————-
Iran threatens to shut Strait of Gibraltar
https://www.yahoo.com/news/iran-threatens-shut-strait-gibraltar-172232802.html
———————
Iranian drone hits chemical tanker off Indian coast: US defense official
Washington Examiner on MSN.com|1 day ago
Saturday’s attack on the motor vessel CHEM PLUTO, a Liberian flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker, was the first time one of the recent ballistic missile and drone attacks originated from Iran, not Yemen as the other ones have, a United States defense official told the Washington Examiner.
——————
https://www.rigzone.com/news/chemical_tanker_struck_by_missile-14-dec-2023-175056-article/
@ Tony O’Neill
I value your comments too.
In real time, I’m raising my glass of Jameson to you and wishing you a Happy Christmas and the very best of New Years. Cheers!
Houthis 🥰🥰😘😘
BLESSED ARE THE HOUTHIS WHO LEARNED
FROM JEWS THEIR LESSONS OF HATE !
North Sea oil and gas would be rather helpful, so there’s no chance of that is there, and there’s only suicide parties to vote for if we have an election.
Two Greats, Scott Ritter and Larry Johnson, have offered intelligible explanation of why the armed-to-the-teeth Israel and the US are being bested by HAMAS and the Houthies. And we hear that Hezzbolah is mightier than the latter two, and will capture Galilee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQKkD9eBOCI
But the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza continues. Has everyone left them to their fate, albeit in a ‘sorry we can’t do more’ way? But they can do much more than nothing. Indeed, it would be enough if all the oil producing Gulf states simply declined to supply oil and gas to Israel. Why have they not done that already?
to start the new year lets finish with the Hitler in Scotland hoax this idea that after the war hitler and eva moved to scotland where they secretly changed the UK government into a natzi state
a regular crackpot writer tell us that all western nations are secretly natzi
please rixon delete all bullshit like this for 2024
Nico X= 👍👍👍👍👍
Tony (O’Niel)
Thumbs up, & I agree..& also re- the positive characters you mention.
🙂
I skim over & skip read too.
“This is a war that the United States can easily avoid by simply ‘doing the right thing’” …. Oh, that’s bloody good…except if anyone can name the last time the rabid lurching golem Jewnited States “did the right thing”, I’ll send them a bottle of 19 year old Balvenie.
@ Tony O’Neill … Agreed, sir. Much appreciation and thanks to Rixon, and all the best to Rixon and his family, and many of you here, for a healthy, fulfilling, and prosperous 2024. I agree with your assessment of who some of the best commenters are here, and you are certainly in that number. I’d apologize to everyone for having to suffer through my comments, even if skimming, except it would be a hollow apology as I’m not actually sorry. 🙂
What is truly impressive, sir, is how you were able to name so many of Nico’s army of aliases…and as stunning as that number is, I don’t think you named them all. It’s actually kind of funny to see him chiming in through his alters to praise himself. Yup, funny…and a sign of mental illness. If Nico were only hugged as a child a bit more… Despite all that, I’d STILL like to have a pint or two with the guy…and his dozens of adoring fans. lol
Do not be fooled, for My disciples are legion.
The Army of Aiwass is growing.
“stamp down the wretched & the weak” –II:21; The Book of the Law
A.A.
Overall, we need more balance, as the Moslems are as big a load of wank as the Jews, and so are the mainstream Christians. If you kill all the Jews now, who is killing the Moslems?
never trust anyone who is anti-Nico X.
the arabs should stop oil+gas production for
america + westeuropa ! ARAB SOLIDARITY !
Umbra Bellator, my dear good fellow, no one here “has to suffer through your comments.” On the contrary, I, at least, love your uniquely inventive invective. I’m always amazed by your ability to summon surch terse phrasing with such sardonic elan.
One of my favourite of your recent phrasings was “I’d rather fight a rabid badger on PCP.”
Fantastic! I might have to borrow that phrase. It’s too good to just disappear.