I am sure that our Clueless Leader will somehow try to spin the latest news out of the Middle East as some sort of win for his lunatic strategies….
Looks like Iran and its proxies now control the east side and the west of the Strait of Hormuz….not a promising picture.
Recently in Yemen the Houthis attacked and won a vital port on the Strait of Hormuz….now Iran and its clients are controlling a lot of the traffic that will supposedly travel through the Strait…
A conflict that once looked containable is now spilling across borders in ways that damaging to both President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, writes Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times. Iran’s allies, particularly Yemen’s Houthi militia, have opened a new front by seizing much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and striking Saudi energy infrastructure, including the kingdom’s key East-West pipeline. Those attacks threaten the backup routes meant to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, raising the risk of sharper disruptions to global oil supplies just as Western countries head into winter.
“The US-Iran war can be seen as a three-dimensional conflict,” writes Rachman. “The first dimension is the battlefield. The second is the economic conflict. The third is the battle of narratives. All three are linked and currently turning against the US.” Iran has shown it can withstand initial strikes, hit US partners, and choke energy routes, while its authoritarian system insulates leaders from public anger in a way Trump cannot match if gasoline prices climb. Meanwhile, Trump reportedly rebuffed MBS’ push for rapid strikes on the Houthis, a sign Washington grasps the limits of force against battle-hardened local actors.
A Washington Post analysis by Gerry Shih and Sammy Westfall similarly argues that the Houthis’ rapid takeover of the Bab al-Mandab Strait late last week might be Iran’s biggest victory of the conflict so far. Friday was “the first day that Iran really started winning the war,” one Yemeni official tells the newspaper. The sentiment is echoed by Dennis Citrinowicz of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv: “This is a major, almost unprecedented, strategic achievement for Iran and the Houthis.”
This will effect the Saudis mostly….and as of this writing their oil traffic is all but stopped. What does this mean….probably very little for they have been bombing the crap out of Yemen for years and yet it has been ineffective.
I wonder if Israel will want a piece of this action?
Of course they will.
And since they will be given a fresh batch of American bombs it seems inevitable.
Just so you know….
The Trump administration is planning to move forward with a massive military aid package for Israel that will include 40,000 2,000-pound bombs, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, as the US continues to support Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and its wars and occupations in the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria.
The report said the sale, paid for with US taxpayer dollars, will include 20,000 MK-84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, each weighing 2,000 pounds. It will be funded by the State Department’s Foreign Military Finance program, under which the US provides foreign governments money to purchase US weapons.
(antiwar.com)
If our stockpiles are so low where will we get these ‘extra’ bombs?
Fresh supply of destruction on its way….Israel thumps its chest and pleases Donny’s bloodlust.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered “Israel’s services” to countries in the Arabian Peninsula and has expressed a willingness to participate in a “comprehensive war” against Ansar Allah, the Houthi movement in Yemen, Lebanese media have reported.
The report, by Al-Akhbar editor Ibrahim al-Amin, said that Netanyahu was pressing Israel’s security establishment and military to prepare for possible action against Iran and Hezbollah.
The proposed Israeli role was part of a “wider regional effort” to counter the Houthis and the threat to shipping through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb, one of the world’s main maritime corridors, Israeli media said.
But there is a caveat…. Israel was unlikely to rush into an active military role because of concern that the Houthis could resume missile and drone attacks against Israel.
That thought will demand the US take a larger roll in Yemen….just what this country needs an expansion of our deadly interventions.
Anything missing?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
I read yesterday that the attack on the Saudi pipeline will badly affect oil supplies on top of the current Hormuz disruption. We should all be bracing ourselves for another massive oil price hike soon, just in time for winter. The balance of power across the region is changing fast, with the west and its UAE/Saudi allies no longer dominant.
Best wishes, Pete.
Everything he touches dies…his “Vietnam” will haunt him for the rest of his life
The sad part, John, is that it isn’t going to haunt him at all. He literally doesn’t give a damn about himself. We’re the ones who are going to be haunted by this for decades to come long after he’s gone.
That should have said “he literally doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself.”
this is not going to end well for us. Costco and other retailers have already increased the prices of engine oil drastically, in some cases by 50% or more, and some retailers are actually rationing sales. Diesel fuel hit $6.20/gallon here. More than double what it was when Trump first took office. Out on the west coast it’s hit $10/gallon. Our entire food supply is driven by diesel fuel. It runs the tractors, the trucks. the railroads, the ships, etc. that run our entire food supply.
Here’s an interesting number for you: $5.5 billion. that’s what Trump’s little temper tantrums have cost just the state of Wisconsin alone over the last two years. Five and a half billion dollars. Just this state.
And that’s just the economic cost.