The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

The Houthis have been around since the 1990s, when they emerged as just another lunatic Shia terrorist organization. Oh sure... they were nominally a political movement that was anti-Saudi, and of course anti-American, but let us face reality. Every Muslim freedom movement or revolutionary movement devolves into terrorism.

Here is their official slogan. Seriously:

God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse be upon the Jews, Victory to Islam

They are a garden variety terrorist group, but with a twist. They are closely aligned with Iran, and receive a huge amount of aid from that paragon of international cooperation. Primarily weapons, which is why this group of 7th century maniacs can threaten shipping at the Red Sea choke point south of the Suez Canal, and shoot missiles at Saudi Arabia. If it weren't for that twist of geography, the Houthis would be scrabbling in the dust like everyone else in Yemen, and we would never have heard of them.

President Trump's statement

The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective. The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt, and attacking the core principle of Freedom of Navigation upon which International Trade and Commerce depends.

Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists' bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom. No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.

But the vast majority of the commercial ships threatened by the Houthi terrorists are not involved in American trade. Much of our shipping is across the Pacific. So why is there not a commanding presence of European navies (stop laughing!) and perhaps the Indian Navy and Australian Navy and Japanese Navy and others busily pounding the Houthi military infrastructure into dust? Hell... what about the Saudis, who love to spend their petrodollars on high-tech weaponry, but are conspicuously absent, or on the losing end of the battle when it comes to using those toys! Yeah, the Houthis have smacked the Saudis around.

President Trump ran on a platform of no new wars, and a renewed focus on America. He is pursuing that platform with vigor, so why are we once again front-and-center in a fight that, while it does involve us, is best conducted by others?

Of course the damage being done to the Houthis is also hurting Iran, and that is an unalloyed good thing. Iran is in difficult economic straits, with inflation running at a reported 50%, demonstrations across the country, a depreciating currency, and all of their proxies getting the snot knocked out of them! Will Iran be able to resupply them with new weapons and more cash? Probably not, especially since they are very worried about an Israeli strike on their nuclear facilities, and must rebuild their destroyed air defenses.

If the long game is the destruction of the current regime in Iran, then the attacks on the Houthis make more sense. But... Europe and others still need to be involved, so at a minimum, they begin to understand that the Pax Americana that has allowed them to spend their money on themselves rather than a common defense has closed up shop.

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X]

posted by CBD at 11:00 AM

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