Asymmetric Warfare: Why the Houthis Can Beat the Collective West
By Russell Bentley – Sputnik – 14.01.2024
Dr. Michael Parenti once said, “Economic violence is physical violence in slow motion.” The economic sanctions against Iraq in the 1990’s led directly to the deaths of half a million Iraqi children. Economic sanctions can be a weapon as deadly as any artillery shell or cruise missile.
The Houthis might at first appear to be vastly outmatched by the US/UK armada that has struck Yemen, but militarily and economically, the US and Europe are actually much more vulnerable than the Houthis. To put it simply, in both economic and military terms, the US, UK and Europe, and Israel, have a lot more to lose.
The Houthis are not alone – Hezbollah, considered to be one of the most effective fighting forces in the world today, has an estimated 100,000 highly trained and motivated and very well armed soldiers in Lebanon, and is already at (undeclared, but de facto) war with Israel, and will probably escalate in the next few days. In October, 1983, Hezbollah was able to kill 305 US and French occupation soldiers at a cost of only 2 KIA on the Hezbollah side.
Of the US and French soldiers, 220 were US Marines, the greatest single loss in one day of US Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. In the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli War, in which Israel invaded southern Lebanon, Hezbollah was able to inflict “unacceptable casualties” on Israeli forces, which resulted in the withdrawal of IDF forces and the signing of UNSC1701. While the Lebanese casualties were significantly higher than Israeli, the conflict is generally seen as a tactical and strategic defeat for Israel. Israel and their US/EU allies would do well to remember both of these battles before continuing to escalate an already extremely volatile situation beyond the point of no return.
Escalation between Hezbollah and the IDF on Lebanon’s southern border will not only expand the current area of conflict into the eastern Mediterranean, it can quickly become a serious threat to the Israeli city of Haifa, only 20 miles from the Lebanese border. Haifa is Israel’s 3rd largest city, with a population of around 300,000. The Port of Haifa is Israel’s second largest by cargo tonnage, and the Haifa oil refinery (the largest, and one of only two in Israel) processes more than 66 million barrels of crude oil per year, more than a million barrels per week. The port, and especially the refinery would be prime targets, and significant damage to either, especially the refinery, would have serious repercussions for the Israeli economy.
The “massive attack” by US/UK naval forces against the Houthis involved airstrikes, as well as approximately 100 cruise missiles, at a cost of more than $1 million each. According to reports published by the Houthi military command and Western media, the attack killed five Houthis. Now, do the math. The US and UK just spent a collective $100 million to kill 5 Houthis and escalate and exacerbate an already volatile situation. Based on assurances from the Houthi government that only Israeli-connected shipping was under threat, the majority of Red Sea shipping traffic had actually continued the Red Sea unhindered.
This is no longer the case. As of January 13th, after the US/UK attacks and their possible continuation, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko), which represents almost 70 per cent of all internationally traded oil, gas and chemical tankers, said in an advisory to members to “stay well away” from the Bab al Mendab strait, and for vessels travelling south via the Suez Canal to pause north of Yemen. This major disruption of tanker traffic may well have an upward influence on oil prices, coming as it does right on the heels of Saudi Aramco’s announcement of a $2 per barrel discount beginning in February.
The Huthis don’t even have to shoot at any more ships – just the threat of the possibility of Houthi or coalition missiles being fired has been enough to disrupt Red Sea shipping traffic, which carries 12% of all global trade goods, and a staggering 30% of all container goods. It is actually the US/UK “coalition” that has escalated the situation to dangerous levels that now interfere with much more shipping, including tanker traffic.
UNSC has not authorized force against Yemen; China urges all parties concerned to abide by international law
Global Times | January 13, 2024
China opposes any forcible transfer of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip, and all measures must be taken to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe and make a cease-fire the most urgent task of the moment, China’s permanent representative to the UN Zhang Jun said during a UN Security Council conference on Friday local time.
An immediate ceasefire has become the overwhelming call of the international community, but a permanent member of UN Security Council (UNSC) has vetoed the consensus reached by the UNSC in this regard on various grounds, which is a blatant defiance of international fairness, justice and the authority of UNSC, Zhang said.
The UNSC failed to adopt a draft resolution on December 8, 2023 that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza due to a veto cast by the US. Many countries expressed disappointment over the US veto of the Gaza-related draft.
It is a blatant double standard for some people to talk about the protection of human rights and the prevention of genocide while pretending to be deaf and dumb, covering up and diverting attention from the tragic situation in Gaza, Zhang remarked, “We must remove all interference and take vigorous action to quell the war, save lives and restore peace.”
In addition, Zhang stressed that that any forcible transfer of the Palestinian people must be firmly rejected.
Over the past three months, millions of Palestinian people have been forced to relocate repeatedly and were under constant threat to their lives, said Zhang, noting that China is gravely concerned about the “voluntary emigration” of Gaza people, which has been advocated by some Israeli politicians.
The horrific idea of displacing two million people from Gaza and turning it into a “safe zone” devoid of human habitation, if implemented, would constitute a grave crime under international law and completely destroy prospects for the “Two-State solution,” Zhang remarked.
The Chinese envoy called for all measures to be taken to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
Zhang said it was totally unacceptable for Israel to accuse the UN of not having the will and capacity to provide humanitarian relief when it was clear that Israel was accountable for the continued bombing and striking in Gaza and setting obstacles to the entry of humanitarian supplies.
He urged Israel to immediately cease its indiscriminate military attacks and destruction of Gaza.
UNSC resolutions 2712 and 2720 must be fully implemented, and Israel must fulfil its obligations as the occupying party to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers and provide full cooperation with humanitarian relief efforts, Zhang said.
The envoy reiterated that a ceasefire must be implemented with the utmost urgency. “Only a ceasefire can prevent greater civilian casualties and humanitarian disasters and create conditions for the early release of all hostages; only a ceasefire can prevent the complete destruction of the basis of the Two-State solution; and only a ceasefire can prevent the entire Middle East region from being drawn into a catastrophe.”
Regarding the recent attacks launched by US and UK on Yemen against the Houthi rebels, which targeted Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea, Zhang expressed concerns about the spillover effects of the Gaza crisis.
Zhang said at a UNSC emergency conference on the Red Sea situation on the same day that the UNSC has never authorized any country to use force against Yemen. The military action taken by the related countries runs counter to the UN resolution 2722, which the Security Council has just adopted.
The envoy warned that the Middle East region is on the brink of extreme danger, and what should be avoided now is reckless military adventurism. He added that what is needed most of all is calm and restraint to prevent further expansion of the conflict.
China urges all parties concerned, especially the influential powers, to abide by the Charter of the UN and international law, adhere to the direction of dialogue and consultation, and make practical efforts to maintain peace and stability in the Red Sea and the Middle East region, Zhang said.
The US carried out further strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday night a day after launching a coordinated multi-nation attack on nearly 30 Houthi locations.
US Not Ready for War of Attrition in the Red Sea – Analyst
By Oleg Burunov – Sputnik – 13.01.2024
Further bombing of Houthi positions in Yemen may prove ineffective, Russian military analyst Andrei Martyanov told Sputnik.
US and British forces carried out a spate of air strikes on over 60 targets at 16 Houthi militant locations in northern Yemen on Thursday and Friday nights, reportedly retaliation for the militants’ attacks against ships in the Red Sea since November.
The Ansar Allah movement has already pledged that the two Western powers will pay a “high price” for the strikes, which came as part of the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea.
With the operation showing no sign of progress, it seems that the US is not ready for a war of attrition in the Red Sea and is headed for an embarrassing debacle in the area, Russian military analyst Andrei Martyanov told Sputnik.
He said that US destroyers deployed to the Red Sea “might have a very good radar, but if you send towards them a bunch of drones, eventually they’re going to run out of missiles.”
“The most insulting in this case, so to speak, the rubbing salt in the wound, will be the fact the Houthis just probably will be sending $5,000-6,000 drones that will prod you to expend your $1.5-2 million air defense missile, if not more, in terms of costs,” Martyanov said.
According to him, if America “has some destroyer, let alone aircraft carrier, hit by some kind of the explosive device or drone, it will have not just technical problems, it will be a political issue in the United States.”
“One of the most shocking revelations for people might be the fact that while the US definitely has ‘sophisticated’ weapons, they are not necessarily that effective. For example, it is a well known fact that their air defenses will not be effective against modern anti-ship cruise missiles, especially the salvo, which is a [large] number of missiles arranged in a specific way when they are launched,” the analyst pointed out.
When asked about further escalation of the situation in the Red Sea, Martyanov suggested that Americans may “move their couple of carrier battle groups away from the shore and start, basically, running those bombing runs and start bombing and shooting at whatever they will find in northern Yemen.”
“As a result, obviously, it will create another outcry. This might work not so well, but at least they will say, ‘you see, we didn’t lose anybody.’ They will declare the victory and leave,” the analyst argued.
Finally, he remained skeptical about the US putting boots on the ground in northern Yemen, arguing that such a move would be “very problematic.”
“President Joe Biden doesn’t need coffins coming into the United States, covered in the Stars and Stripes. That could be pretty damaging to the already basically shaky US administration,” the analyst concluded.
Israel Goes to Court for the Crime of Genocide
BY PHILIP GIRALDI • UNZ REVIEW • JANUARY 12, 2024
A friend of mine who follows international developments closely recently observed that the United States and Israel have “own goaled” themselves to become widely perceived as together the two most evil governments on earth. It is a judgement that is hard to disagree with regarding the Jewish state if one examines the abundant evidence that Israel is systematically committing war crimes against the largely unarmed Palestinian civilian population in an effort to bring about ethnic cleansing or even genocide in Gaza and on the West Bank. The process would include removing the Palestinians physically and/or killing them if they resist, which is what is currently taking place. Something like 10,000 dead Palestinian children attest to the brutality and inhumanity of the effort, together with nearly 400 doctors and nurses who were directly targeted plus more than 100 UN employees trying to bring aid to the civilians. What Israel is doing is monstrous, almost unimaginable. A number of senior Israeli officials have confirmed their government’s view, supported by public opinion, that a land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea swept clean of Arabs would be the most desirable outcome of current developments.
The United States is at the same time loathed alongside Israel because it is enabling the slaughter by the Israelis while simultaneously spewing the lies that it is somehow restraining or even making more “humanitarian” Israel’s attack. Nothing could be farther from the truth as the White House recently worked hard to defang a major UN-led diplomatic effort that had global support to bring about a ceasefire that would enable emergency relief supplies to be introduced into the battered enclave. Instead, Israel now continues its daily bombardment of Gaza and controls entering supplies, slowing the process down while watching people die of famine and disease, not to mention from artillery shells and bombs. Oh, and the United States both funds the Israeli war effort and supplies the munitions that make it all possible. That makes Washington an accessory to the war crimes and to what most of the world considers to be a genocide being perpetrated openly and with malice.
In spite of all that, and the tons of evidence of atrocities of all kinds which even includes “friendly fire” killing of Jewish hostages, the Joe Biden Administration continues to spout the nonsense that neither war crimes nor a genocide are taking place. Thursday saw the opening of the International Court of Justice hearings on evidence filed by South Africa demonstrating that Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinians amounts to a genocide as defined by the 1948 “UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” which both Israel and the US have signed. On the day before it opened at the Hague, US National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby preemptively stated that the charges were “meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” State Department spokesman Matt Miller added that the United States is “not seeing any acts that constitute genocide” in Israel’s bombing and physical destruction of Gaza. Both comments are contrary to the fact that Israel is clearly creating at a minimum “conditions that don’t allow the survival of the population,” which is a definition of genocide. It all means that the United States will be fighting hard on behalf of its favorite son, doing whatever lying, coercing and cheating that it might take to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the crimes-against-humanity crew that he has surrounded himself with. As it is not a US interest to become a nation that condones the killing of tens of thousands of helpless civilians, one must ask the question “Who owns you Joe and why are your top officials lying about what is taking place?”
As an American, what I find most offensive about the current state of play is that my country has been turned into a war criminal by a group of politicians and staff appointees controlled by a foreign government and its lobby whose ignorance is so profound that they should not be running a hot dog stand. In particular, it is soul-destroying to hear the pathetic squealing coming out of a subservient White House every time Israel kills another hundred or so Palestinian children and women cowering in the ruins of a hospital, church or school. Each squeal in support of more “humane” or “restrained” warfare is followed by an assertion from Netanyahu to the effect that Israel’s war cabinet will make its own decisions about who it will kill and when. One senior official Itamar Ben-Gvir even warned Biden that Israel is “no longer a star on the American flag.” Indeed, but it is not that Israel is ungrateful, as those two-thousand pound bunker buster bombs supplied by Biden can really do a number on them “terrorists.” The Biden Administration has now expedited two shipments of munitions to Israel worth about $253 million, relying on another lying rascal Antony Blinken of the State Department’s claim that the weapons were urgently needed for poor “victim” Israel to “defend itself, allowing circumvention of existing Congressional authority requiring legislative approval of arms sales. There is no step so low when pandering to Israel that the Biden Administration will not take it!
It is all as if Genocide Joe is in a hurry to get the job done on those pesky Palestinians so he can get back to the serious work of fooling the US electorate into voting for him a second time. He is now going around the country trying to sell the product that he is “saving democracy,” which he is claiming would be destroyed by Trump. As Trump is on an apparent revenge tour, Biden might actually be more right than he usually is, but one has to ask what is happening to American democracy with the current open borders and two wars being de facto fought simultaneously without any actual threat to the US having ever been involved and without the consent of the American people. Quite the contrary, opinion polls suggest the wars are very unpopular while Biden weasels his way to support the fighting while pretending that the US is not directly involved. Can one imagine voluntarily putting the survival of one’s nation in the hands of someone like Joe Biden?
Israel continues to play its own hand as the US has given it political cover to bomb and otherwise kill as it sees fit. Civilian deaths from bombing totaled 247 on one night alone in early January, but the Netanyahu government has just announced that it will be shifting from large scale troop movements in Gaza to more “directed” operations that will focus on Hamas concentrations, finding hostages, and destroying the tunnels that connect resistances points. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, described how the new phase of the campaign, hopefully to be completed by the end of the month, will involve fewer soldiers and airstrikes, though Israel has previously lied repeatedly about its actual intentions. Ironically, the US concern appears to be that the war is already expanding apart from Gaza. The violence by armed settlers directed against Palestinians on the West Bank is increasing and foreign targeting by Israel now includes the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon, regular bombing missions directed against targets in Syria which recently killed a dozen senior Iranian officials near the Damascus airport, assassinations in Iraq, as well as the terror bombing in Tehran claimed by ISIS that killed 103. Both Israel and the US are known to have cooperative clandestine relationships with ISIS.
And there are several other issues that are worthy of mention. First, is how a steady stream of mostly Republican hawks have been making the pilgrimage to Israel to express their wholehearted support of Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinians. Most recently, former Vice President Mike Pence made the trip and was photographed near Israel’s border with Lebanon writing messages or possibly signing off on US made artillery shells that were about to be fired against Hezbollah. This pushing for direct US involvement in an impending war that should and could be avoided has had an impact in Washington, where clowns like Senator Lindsey Graham have called on the Biden administration to “… hit Iran. They have oil fields out in the open, they have the Revolutionary Guard headquarters you can see from space. Blow it off the map.” This pressure has prompted Biden to pledge to those in Congress calling for war and also to the Israelis that he will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and do whatever it takes to stop it. As US intelligence has declared its judgement that Iran has no such weapons program, the alleged intelligence suggesting that Iran has a secret program will inevitably come from Israel and Netanyahu, so guess what? Israel will be working hard to produce fabricated evidence that will drag the US into a first strike against Iran, which will in turn hit back against US bases in Syria, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq. It is all too reminiscent of the neocon-Israeli plot that dragged a clueless George W. Bush and Condi Rice into initiating the disastrous Iraq War in 2003.
And the other issue that absolutely no one chooses to talk about is the “secret” Israeli nuclear arsenal of 200-400 weapons together with delivery systems, which is definitely a potential game changer no matter what happens in Gaza and on the West Bank. Would Israel use the nukes? They sure would, especially if the war they are deliberately expanding should turn against them somehow. When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was queried about how the rest of the world might respond to Israel using its nukes to effectively wipe out its Arab neighbors, he responded “That depends on who does it and how quickly it happens. We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force… We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.”
The plan by America’s “best friend” and “closest ally” to nuke the world even has a name: “The Samson Option,” recalling how the Biblical strongman Samson brought down the temple where the Philistines were mocking him, killing thousands of them. So maybe Joe Biden should be thinking long and hard about how, and with whom, he is getting our country set up to go to war. Or just maybe it is already too late!
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
Iran strongly condemns ‘arbitrary’ US, British attacks on Yemen
Press TV – January 12, 2024
Iran has strongly condemned US and British military attacks on Yemen, calling them an “arbitrary” action and a clear violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of international laws and regulations.
Yemen’s Ansarullah officials said explosions hit the cities of Sana’a, Hudaydah, Sa’ada and Dhamar early Friday, with a US official announcing that American and British attacks against Yemen were carried out by airplanes, ships and submarines.
In Iran’s first reaction to the aggression, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani stressed that the “arbitrary attacks will have no result other than fueling insecurity and instability in the region”.
“These military attacks are carried out in line with the continuation of the full support of the United States and the United Kingdom for the last hundred days of the Zionist regime’s war crimes against the Palestinian nation and the oppressed citizens under the complete siege of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“While the Zionist regime continues its attacks and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in Palestine, the United States and England are trying to detract the attention of the people of the world from the crimes of this fake, criminal and aggressor regime against the people of Palestine by expanding their umbrella of support for the Zionist regime,” he said.
Kan’ani expressed his concern about the consequences of such arbitrary attacks for regional and international peace and security, calling on the international community to prevent the spread of war, instability and insecurity in the region with responsible reactions and actions.
Earlier, President Joe Biden said US and British forces launched airstrikes on Yemen, characterizing them a “defensive action” and pledging that he “will not hesitate” to order further attacks if needed.
The attacks come as Israel’s three months of a ferocious military campaign against the besieged people of Gaza is sputtering in the face of heroic resistance from Palestinian fighters.
The economic costs of the invasion are also beginning to mount as operations by Yemeni armed forces in the Red Sea against Israeli ships and vessels bound for Israeli ports in solidarity with the Palestinian people are having a mark.
Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called Yemen a part of the reality and security of the West Asian region.
“Yemeni leaders, emphasizing the security of navigation, say that they will only stop the ships that are going to spread the war and send weapons to the occupied territories,” he told his Norwegian counterpart Espen Barth Eide.
The US-led aggression, however, came on the first of two days of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague where Israel faced the charge of being involved in genocide in Gaza.
The ricochet from the case, observers say, will inevitably land at the doors of the West, especially the US and Britain which have supported the invasion with continued shipments of armament and ammunition.
“America’s entry into direct war against civilians, women and children of Gaza is a strategic mistake,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a phone conversation with Eide late Thursday.
“We have warned since the beginning of the bombing and genocide in Gaza that war is not the solution, but if the killing of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank continues, the scope of the war will expand. This warning is due to our understanding of the situation in support of Palestine in the region.”
The Norwegian foreign minister emphasized the need for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the sending of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the start of a political process based on the formation of an independent Palestinian government, as he welcomed Iran’s constructive role in the region to reduce tensions.
DeSantis Doesn’t Oppose Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | January 11, 2024
During the latest GOP debate, Governors Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis argued which candidate would give more support to Israel. Desantis pledged to support Israel even if it conducts an ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Haley said she has a record of fighting for Tel Aviv.
Moderator Jake Tapper asked the Florida Governor, “Some Israeli cabinet officials are pushing for the mass removal of Palestinians from Gaza. Governor Haley told CNN last week, she does not support that, do you?”
He responded, “We’ve got to support Israel in word and in deed, in public and in private, and they’ve got to be able to finish the job. I think to be a good ally, you back them in the decisions that they’re making with respect to Gaza.” The Florida Governor added, “But for us to be sitting in Washington second-guessing them, I don’t think that’s the right way.”
When asked for clarity, DeSantis explained further, “As president, I am not going to tell them to do that. I think there’s a lot of issues with that. But if they make the calculation that to avert a second Holocaust, I think some of these Palestinian Arabs, Saudi Arabia should take some. Egypt should take some,” DeSantis said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials have called for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Netanyahu said he was looking for other countries that would “absorb” the Palestinians.
The Florida Governor attempted to contrast himself with the former South Carolina Governor on Israel policy. He said he does not support the creation of a Palestinian state, unlike Haley.
“We also have a disagreement, Gov. Haley and I. When she was at the [UN], she supported the idea of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. The problem with that is the Palestinian Arabs don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.” DeSantis continued, “So doing a two-state solution doesn’t create something that’s going to lead to a lasting peace. It creates a stepping stone for Israel’s destruction. So under no circumstances as president am I going to pressure Israel to risk their security to do a so-called two-state solution.”
When asked about Israel, Haley endorsed Israel’s current policies. “Right now we have to make sure that Israel has the support that it needs.” She explained, “There should be three things. Give Israel whatever it wants to get the job done. Two, eliminate Hamas once and for all. And three, do whatever it takes to bring the hostages home.”
Haley said she fought for Israel every day when she was the US Ambassador to the UN. She attacked DeSantis for his relationship with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). “It’s really rich that Ron is going to act like he suddenly cares for Israel when he brought [Massie] to Iowa,” she said. “That’s the most anti-Israel Republican in the state, the person that went and voted against Israel’s right to exist in Congress, the person that voted with the squad against antisemitism on college campuses.”
Massie has voted against providing additional military funding for Tel Aviv and opposed laws restricting Americans’ First Amendment rights. The Congressman also criticized Republicans who prioritize Israel over the US.
During the debate, Haley explained in her worldview, “First of all, we need to understand that the reason we need to support Israel is Israel’s a bright spot in a tough neighborhood. They’re the tip of the spear when it comes to defeating terrorism. It has never been that Israel needs America, it has always been that America needs Israel.”
Several Israeli and international human rights groups have concluded Israel is an apartheid state. The Israelis subject millions of Palestinians to a brutal military occupation. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called the Palestinians that live in Gaza “animals.”
DeSantis also attacked President Biden, claiming the White House had not done enough to support Israel. “So we’ve got to support Israel, in word and in deed, in public and in private. And they need to be able to finish the job. Joe Biden is knee capping them. He’ll say one thing, then he goes, and his base doesn’t like Israel, so he’s got to do all these other things.” He argued, “This is a time to recognize that they suffered the most murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas wants a second Holocaust. They want to annihilate the state of Israel.”
The Biden administration has placed some pressure on Israel to scale back operations in Gaza and release tax money to the Palestinian Authority. However, Tel Aviv has publicly snubbed Washington’s requests. Even with Israeli noncompliance, Biden has remained steadfast in providing Israel with all the support it needs to continue military operations in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Palestine: EU’s Borrell bats for US
BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | INDIAN PUNCHLINE | JANUARY 11, 2024
The diplomatic arena of the Middle East was dominated in the past week by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s regional tour to Türkiye, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt. It was a ‘road show’ to rally the leaders of the Arab countries behind the US but culminated in an acrimonious meeting in the West Bank between Blinken and the Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas marred by “quarrels and arguments,” according to Sky News Arabia.
The region is gripped by angst that Israel may provoke a fateful expansion of the conflict in the Gaza Strip to Lebanon and Iran after the assassination of a number of senior military figures from Hamas and Hezbollah in the recent days, which overlapped Blinken’s presence in the region and underscored Tel Aviv’s disdain toward diplomatic niceties. Two videos from the West Bank showed Israeli troops shooting a 17-year-old boy and repeatedly running over the dead body of a man they had shot last Friday.
The US fears the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East. Yet, Blinken was burdened with the contradiction that the rhetoric of Washington’s continued support for the Israeli operation is so visibly at odds with the words of President Joe Biden last week that he was doing “quiet” work with the Israeli government “to get them to significantly reduce their presence and largely withdraw from the Gaza Strip.”
Blinken claimed that “the (Arab) countries agreed to work together to help the Gaza Strip stabilise, chart a political path for the Palestinians and work towards long-term peace, security and stability in the region.” At the same time, he conceded that to do this, it is necessary to end the conflict in Gaza and identify a concrete path to the creation of a Palestinian state. Blinken flagged that the countries of the region are still interested in normalising relations with Israel, but only on the terms of a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Arguably, these could be incipient signs of a road map emerging.
The killing of senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials indicates that Israel is not making significant progress on the battlefield and the leadership is under compulsion to gather ‘trophies’ and claim ‘victory’. In a hybrid war, such killings will not significantly weaken the resistance movement. An effective leader was appointed overnight to head the IRGC’S Quds Force when the legendary Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was assassinated in 2020.
That said, the probability of a direct conflict between Israel and Hezbollah should not be overestimated, since the latter is well aware that an outbreak of hostilities is precisely what suits Tel Aviv. Iran also sizes up Israel’s calculus to drag the US into the war. According to reports, Iran has supplied cruise missiles to Hezbollah.
Against such a tumultuous backdrop, in a carefully choreographed sideshow, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also appeared in the region at the same time as Blinken. Borrell’s destinations were Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. The EU announcement said that Borrell’s mission “will be an occasion to discuss all aspects of the situation in and around Gaza, including its impact on the region, especially the situation at the Israeli-Lebanese border, as well as the importance of avoiding regional escalation and of sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance to civilians.”
While speaking to the media in Beirut, Borrell was highly critical of Israel’s war in Gaza and called for a pause “that could become a permanent one.” He also said, “It is imperative to avoid a regional escalation. It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict.” Borrell saw his mission as one to take stock of the situation and “to contribute to a way out of the crisis.”
Borrell met with the Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) General Aroldo Lazaro, a compatriot from Spain. Indeed, there has been some talk of deploying a peacekeeping force on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported, citing a government source in Beirut, that Borrell also had an unpublicised meeting with a delegation from Hezbollah led by Mohammad Raad, a member of the Lebanese legislature. Conceivably, this might have been a key item on his itinerary in Beirut.
While the US and several European countries, including Germany, the UK, Czech Republic, Austria, among others, regard Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, the EU restricted itself to merely adding Hezbollah’s so-called “military wing” to its terror list, leaving the door open to interact with the movement’s political leadership if need arises.
That came in the wake of the group’s alleged 2012 suicide bus bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver. During a debate on the crisis situation in Lebanon last July, the European Parliament, for the first time, adopted a resolution calling for the EU to add the whole of Hezbollah to its list of banned terrorist organisations, but that hasn’t yet been acted upon.
Borrell’s meeting with the Hezbollah delegation would only have been with the knowledge of the Biden administration — it could even be providing a thinkable (and actionable) leitmotif of Borrell’s trip to Lebanon. BBC had reported a week ago on secret contacts between Israel and Hezbollah as well.
At any rate, by a coincidence, Borrell happened to be in Saudi Arabia when Blinken arrived there, and the two of them had a meeting. Later, in a prepared statement to the media after talks in Saudi Arabia with foreign minister Prince Faisal, Borrell also took a nuanced stance apropos Hamas, saying,
“And now we have to stop the killing of civilians in Gaza. We have to stop this great number of casualties. Hamas has to be eradicated. But Hamas is an idea, it represents an idea, and you cannot kill an idea. The only way of killing an idea –- a bad idea — is to propose a better one, to give a horizon to the Palestinian people, to their dignity, to their freedom, to their security, which has to go hand in hand with the security of Israel.”
Clearly, Borrell strove to break the ice by engaging with Hezbollah. Considering that the EU has been the US’ junior partner on major international issues, Borrell’s mission can be considered as substantive aimed at opening a diplomatic track to ease the Israel-Lebanon border tensions.
Equally, Borrell and Prince Faisal rekindled the so-called Peace Day Effort launched in September last year jointly by the EU with Saudi Arabia, the League of Arab States, Egypt and Jordan as an initiative “to reinvigorate the peace process in the Middle East.”
A joint statement issued at that time on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, in the presence of almost fifty Foreign Ministers from around the world sought “to produce a “Peace Supporting Package” that will maximise peace dividends for the Palestinians and Israelis once they reach a peace agreement, … thus incentivising earnest efforts to reach it.”
As EU foreign policy chief, Borrell navigated international turbulence and divisions within the 28-member bloc to make Europe more united and turn it into a diplomatic heavyweight, but with patchy success. Of course, Ukraine spoiled the party. Palestine could well be Borrell’s last waltz. Borrell’s five-year term in Brussels ends in December.
Iranian Navy Detains US Oil Tanker in Gulf of Oman
Press TV – January 11, 2024
The Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced the seizure of an American oil tanker with a court order in the Sea of Oman.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) identified the tanker Marshall Islands-flagged St Nikolas, saying it was boarded at about 7:30 am (0330 GMT) off Sohar in Oman and changed course towards Bandar-e-Jask in Iran.
Ambrey, a British maritime risk company, said the recently renamed tanker was previously prosecuted and fined for carrying Iranian oil, which was confiscated by US authorities.
“Iran has previously taken action against those it has accused of cooperating with the US,” it added.
The vessel had been loaded with 145,000 tonnes of crude oil in Basra, Iraq and was destined for Aliaga in Turkey via the Suez Canal, the tanker’s Greece-based management company Empire Navigation said.
Last August, the US Navy unloaded a tanker of stolen Iranian oil worth around $56 million off the Texas port, despite warnings from Iran and after American oil firms had resisted the temptation of touching the 800,000-barrel tanker for fear of Iranian retaliation in the Persian Gulf waters.
The decision came as Iran was marking the 70th anniversary of the CIA-engineered military coup against Iran’s then-PM Mohammad Mosaddeq.
The Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan tanker carrying Iranian oil was illegally seized by Washington in April 2023 under the guise of “a sanctions-enforcement operation” and guided toward the Texas port.
It came days after a group of US senators and House representatives, at the behest of the Israeli lobby in Washington, began mounting pressure on the Joe Biden administration to unload the tanker, without considering its possible repercussions.
It was not the first time the US had resorted to the unconventional step of seizing a sovereign country’s cargo in international waters.
In May 2022, the US seized a Russia-operated ship, the Pegas, carrying Iranian oil off the shore of Karystos near Greece to dispatch the oil cargo to the US but the Greek court ruled against the move.
In February 2021, Washington seized a tanker carrying Iranian oil off the coast of the Emirati city of Fujairah and sold more than a million barrels of oil confiscated from it for $110 million, or $55 a barrel.
The Unite States has also regularly stolen Syrian oil in recent years under the guise of anti-terror operations in the Arab country. In August 2022, the Syrian oil ministry accused the US and its mercenaries of stealing 66,000 barrels of oil per day, accounting for almost 80 percent of the country’s oil production.
Oman seizes drones headed for ‘pro-UAE factions’ in Yemen
MEMO | January 10, 2024
The customs authorities in Oman intercepted a shipment of drones yesterday, which were concealed on a truck from the UAE heading for Yemen. The discovery was made at the Hafeet crossing on the border between the two Gulf states.
“The Directorate General of Customs seized a truck at the Hafeet crossing loaded with wireless drones coming by transit system from the United Arab Emirates heading to the Republic of Yemen,” said the customs authorities.
“Customs inspectors were able to discover the shipments that were hidden professionally in places specially prepared for smuggling them in the truck. The concerned authorities began investigating the case in order to complete the rest of the legal procedures against the suspects.”
According to the Sanaa-based Yemen Press Agency, citing informed sources, the drones were destined for UAE-backed factions in southern Yemen, most likely the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).
The outlet noted that some observers speculate that the US may be using the UAE-backed proxies to turn international public opinion against the Houthi-led Yemeni forces by targeting merchant ships. The latter have been targeting Israel-linked vessels, or those heading for the occupation state through the Red Sea, because of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
UAE-backed groups in Yemen plot ‘false-flag’ attacks in Red Sea: Sanaa
The Cradle | January 10, 2024
UAE-backed mercenary groups in Yemen are preparing to carry out false flag attacks against commercial vessels in order to implicate the Sanaa government and prompt further US militarization of the Red Sea, an official said on 9 January.
Fadl Abu Talib, a member of the political bureau of the Ansarallah resistance movement, said on Tuesday that “the UAE, through its mercenaries in Yemen, is making arrangements to target commercial ships that are not destined for the Zionist entity.”
Abu Dhabi and its proxy wish “to mix up the cards and give the Americans [the] justification for militarizing the Red Sea,” Abu Talib added. “But we tell it that its despicable behavior is exposed, as our operations in the Red and Arab seas have specific, clear objectives.”
Ansarallah and Yemen’s Armed Forces have carried out numerous naval operations against vessels linked to or bound for Israel. The attacks come in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the Palestinian resistance, and aim to prevent goods from reaching Israeli ports for as long as Gaza’s access to aid is hindered.
Sanaa has vowed that only Israeli-linked ships or those heading towards Israeli ports will be targeted, and nothing else. No deaths or injuries have resulted from Yemen’s attacks.
The US established a maritime task force last month in order to protect Israeli interests in the Red Sea. As part of the operations of this task force, on 31 December, US helicopters sank three Yemeni vessels and killed ten naval officers.
On 9 January, CENTCOM claimed that US and UK forces shot down 21 missiles and drones fired by Ansarallah towards Red Sea shipping lanes, calling it the 26th Yemeni attack. Sanaa has only confirmed 13 operations.
According to Arabic and Israeli media reports, officials in Yemen’s secessionist, UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) have expressed an interest in joining Washington’s task force and helping to protect Israeli shipping.
The STC has also reportedly discussed with Washington the possibility of mobilizing UAE-backed mercenary groups and STC-linked militias “against Israel’s opponents in Yemen,” Al-Akhbar newspaper reported last month.
“The STC in south Yemen wants to fight Houthi terrorism … If Israel recognizes our right to self-determination in southern Yemen, you will find an ally in the field against the Houthi threat,” Hebrew media cited a source close to STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi as saying.
US gives Spain ultimatum to ‘rectify its decision’ and join anti-Yemen alliance
The Cradle | January 10, 2024
Pentagon officials are pressuring Spain to “reconsider its refusal” to take part in the Red Sea Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) and have set an 11 January deadline for Madrid to “join with a ship or, at least, with personnel stationed in the area,” according to informed sources who spoke with Spanish daily El Confidencial.
As the US-led alliance struggles to make an impact against the pro-Palestine actions of the Yemeni armed forces, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, on Monday contacted his Spanish counterpart, Admiral Teodoro Lopez Calderon, to reiterate Washington’s “desire to work with all nations that share an interest in defending the principle of freedom of navigation and ensuring safe passage for global shipping.”
“Spain is a vital NATO ally and shares a long and strategic relationship with the US,” says the US navy readout of the phone call.
In parallel to this conversation, which was made public, a separate phone call took place between the US Secretary of the Navy, Carlos del Toro, and the Spanish ambassador in Washington, Santiago Cabanas, during which the Pentagon official “in much more direct language” pressed Madrid to take part in the naval coalition in support of Israel.
“[Del Toro] gave [Cabanas], at the end of the conversation, a kind of ultimatum: He wants to know, at the latest on Thursday the 11th, if Spain corrected its decision,” El Confidencial reports.
Spain has been the most vocal NATO member to reject being named part of this “coalition of the willing,” vetoing a vote at the EU that called for support of the coalition and making it clear that its forces committed to Operation Atalanta – a counter-piracy operation off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean – would not join OPG.
The veto by the Spanish mission to Brussels was a direct order from Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, according to local reports.
This public pushback prompted US President Joe Biden to contact Sanchez in late December to discuss the crisis in Gaza and warn him about the “Houthi threat” in the Red Sea.
Nonetheless, Sanchez maintained his decision against joining OPG and also refused to join a statement that the US and its main European and Asian allies published on 3 January in which they issued a collective warning to Yemen. France did not subscribe to this text either.
While Madrid has not publicly explained their reasoning for refusing Washington’s demands, El Confidencial reports that authorities believe that, if Spain were to join OPG, this “would be … a way to relieve pressure on Israel and reduce the possibilities of reaching a definitive ceasefire in Gaza.”
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Book Review
The Greatest Threat to World Peace? A Review of Daniele Ganser’s ‘USA: The Ruthless Empire’
Review by Marilyn Langlois | November 10, 2023
If you regard the United States as perhaps flawed but overall a force for good in the world . . .
If you scoff at the notion that the US, a republic founded on principles of freedom and democracy, has morphed into a world empire, perpetrating assassinations, coups d’état, acts of terror and illegal warfare . . .
If you want to promote peace but haven’t yet explored deceptive events that precipitate US warmongering . . .
. . . here is a volume that will clear the air and paint an honest picture of the significant, not-so-rosy impact US foreign policy and actions have had in the world around us.
USA: The Ruthless Empire, by Swiss historian and peace researcher Daniele Ganser, is the newly published English language translation of his book Imperium USA, originally written in German and published in 2020. Here is a summary of key points — including some lesser-known ones — along with remedies for a more peaceful future, that are covered in the book. … continue
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