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How Yemen's 'asabiyya' is reshaping geopolitics
How Yemen's 'asabiyya' is reshaping geopoliticsSott: Sign of The Times - Jan 30, 2024
The Arabic word Asabiyya, or “social solidarity”, is a simple slogan in the West, but it is taken very seriously by the world's new competitors, China, Russia and Iran. However, it was Yemen that generalized it, sacrificing everything to global collective morality in an attempt to end the genocide in Gaza.
The Yemeni Ansarullah resistance forces made it clear from the outset that they had implemented a blockade in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the southern Red Sea only against ships belonging to Israel or intended for this country. Their only goal was and remains to stop the Gaza genocide perpetrated by Israeli biblical psychopathy.
strait of bab el-mandeb
In response to the moral call to end human genocide, the United States, masters of the global war on terror, has predictably redesignated Yemen's Houthis as a "terrorist organization", launched a serial bombing of Ansarullah's underground military installations (assuming US intelligence knows where they are) and formed a mini-coalition of volunteers including their British, Canadian, Australian, Dutch and Bahraini vassals.
Without wasting any time, Yemen's Parliament declared the US and UK governments "global terrorist networks".
Now let's talk strategy.
In one fell swoop, the Yemeni resistance seized the strategic advantage by de facto controlling a key geoeconomic bottleneck: Bab el-Mandeb. It can thus cause serious problems for the global supply chain, trade and financial sectors.
And Ansarullah has the potential to double down - if necessary. Persian Gulf traders have confirmed, unofficially, that Yemen may consider imposing an "Al-Aqsa triangle", named after the October 7 Palestinian resistance operation that aimed to destroy the Israeli military division of Gaza and capturing prisoners as part of a massive prisoner exchange deal.
Such a measure would involve selectively blocking not only the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea route to the Suez Canal, but also the Strait of Hormuz, thereby cutting off oil and gas deliveries to Israel from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - although Israel's main oil suppliers are actually Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
These Yemenis are afraid of nothing. If they managed to impose the triangle - in this case only with direct Iranian involvement - it would represent the Grand Design on cosmic steroids of General Qassem Soleimani of the Quds Force, assassinated by the United States. This plan has the realistic potential to collapse the hundreds of trillions of dollars derivatives pyramid and, therefore, the entire Western financial system.
And yet, while Yemen controls the Red Sea and Iran the Strait of Hormuz, the Al-Aqsa Triangle remains only a working hypothesis.
Welcome to the Hegemon's blockade
With a simple and clear strategy, the Houthis have perfectly understood that the more they lure the strategically deprived Americans into the geopolitical swamp of West Asia, in a sort of “undeclared war” mode, the more they are able to inflict serious pain on the global economy, which the Global South will blame on the Hegemon.
Today, Red Sea shipping traffic has fallen by half compared to summer 2023; supply chains are shaky; ships carrying food are forced to bypass Africa (and risk delivering cargo past its expiration date); As might be expected, inflation in the EU's vast agricultural sphere (worth 70 billion euros) is rising rapidly.
However, you should never underestimate a cornered empire.
Western insurance giants have fully understood the rules of Ansarullah's limited blockade: Russian and Chinese ships, for example, can sail freely in the Red Sea. Global insurers only refused to cover American, British and Israeli ships, exactly as the Yemenis wanted.
So the United States predictably turned the narrative into a big lie: “Ansarullah is attacking the entire global economy.”
Washington has put the turbo on sanctions (which is not serious since the Yemeni resistance uses Islamic financing), intensified the bombings and, in the name of the sacrosanct "freedom of navigation" - always applied in a manner selective - has bet on the "international community", notably the leaders of the Global South, who implore him to show clemency, that is, to leave the shipping lanes open, please. The goal of America's new, reframed deception is to push the Global South to abandon its support for Ansarullah's strategy.
Pay attention to this crucial US sleight of hand: Because, from now on, in a new perverse twist to Operation Genocide Protection, it is Washington that will block the Red Sea for the entire world. Washington itself will be spared: American shipping depends on Pacific trade routes, not those of West Asia. Asian customers and especially the European economy, already hard hit by Russian energy sanctions linked to Ukraine, will suffer even more.
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Irish MP: The European Union has no moral authority
Irish MP: The European Union has no moral authorityInternational Network - Jan 23, 2024
Irish MP Claire Daly said "the European Union's efforts to make a decision on Yemen rather than Israel are proof that the EU has no moral authority."
This is what emerged from his speech during a session of the European Parliament on Sunday on the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
“As Israel stands trial for genocide in The Hague, its accomplices, the countries of the European Union and our supposed like-minded partners, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, are committing an illegal and unjustified crime against Yemen, in flagrant violation of the United Nations agreement,” she stressed.
He added, “The Yemenis didn't kill anyone, but 25 Palestinians were killed and you are all angry about the interruption of international supply chains. The European Union has no moral authority. If you want to solve the problem, stop the genocide in Gaza.
In “solidarity with the Gaza Strip”, in the grip of a devastating Israeli war with American support since October 7, 2023, the Houthis target, with missiles and drones, cargo ships in the Red Sea which belong or are operated by Israelis, as well as companies that transport goods to and from Israel.
Tensions in the Red Sea have entered a remarkable phase of escalation since the Houthis directly targeted an American ship on January 9.
It should be noted that the disruptions to maritime transport in the Red Sea have destabilized EU countries, where many automobile factories in Europe have stopped production due to these tensions which raise fears of a new surge in inflation and disruption supply chains.
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Anglo-Saxons go to war in Yemen
Anglo-Saxons go to war in YemenVoltairenet - 14 Jan 2024
Since November 19, 2023, Ansar Allah has attacked around twenty ships in the Red Sea in order to force Israel to stop the massacre in Gaza.
At first, only ships carrying Israeli goods or stopping in Israel were covered. Then, when the West covered Israel, all the ships of the nations supporting the massacre in Gaza were hit. Russian or Chinese ships have never been worried.
Western shipping companies and Western oil transnationals gradually diverted their ships from the Red Sea, through which a third of Western traffic passed. They now go around Africa rather than taking the Suez Canal.
The United States has formed an international coalition to protect Western maritime traffic in the Red Sea, Operation Prosperity Guardian. After President Emmanuel Macron decided to join, the French army general staff refused to participate in an operation aimed at allowing the massacre in Gaza to continue. Likewise, Spain withdrew.
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How Yemen changed everything
International Network - Dec 30, 2023
In one fell swoop, Yemen's Ansarullah defeated the West and its rules-based order.
Whether it was invented in northern India, eastern China or central Asia – from Persia to Turkestan – chess is an Asian game. In chess, there always comes a time when a single pawn is capable of upsetting the entire board, usually through a move in the back row whose effect is simply impossible to calculate.
Yes, a pawn can impose a seismic mast. This is what is currently happening geopolitically.
The cascading effects of a single move on the board – Yemen's Ansarullah's stunning and carefully targeted blockade of the Red Sea – extend far beyond global shipping, supply chains and corridor warfare economic. Not to mention the much-lauded reduction in force projection of the US Navy, which is no longer necessary.
Yemen's resistance movement, Ansarullah, has made it clear that any vessel affiliated with or destined for Israel will be intercepted. While the West is upset and imagines itself a target, the rest of the world understands perfectly that all other ships are free to pass. Russian tankers – as well as ships from China, Iran and the Global South – continue to pass through the Bab al-Mandeb (narrowest point: 33 km) and the Red Sea without incident.
Only the hegemon is disturbed by this challenge to his “rules-based order.” He is outraged that Western ships delivering energy or goods to Israel, which violates the law, may be obstructed, and that the supply chain has been interrupted and plunged into a deep crisis. The intended target is the Israeli economy, which is already severely drained. A single Yemeni action proves more effective than a torrent of imperial sanctions.
It is the tantalizing possibility that this single action will transform into a paradigm shift – with no return – that adds to the apoplexy of the Hegemon. Especially since imperial humiliation is deeply rooted in the paradigm shift.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a confidential tone, is now sending an unequivocal message: Forget the Suez Canal. The way forward is the Northern Sea Route – which the Chinese, under the Russia-China strategic partnership, call the Arctic Silk Road.
For the stunned Europeans, the Russians detailed three options: First, sail 15 miles around the Cape of Good Hope. Second, use the cheaper and faster Northern Sea Route. Third, send the cargo by Russian Railways.
Rosatom, which oversees the Northern Sea Route, stressed that ships without ice certification can now sail during the summer and autumn, and it will soon be possible to sail all year round with the help of a fleet of nuclear icebreakers.
All this is the direct consequence of Yemen's sole action. What's the next step ? Yemen's entry into BRICS+ at the Kazan summit at the end of 2024, under the Russian presidency?
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Yemenis know the US is bluffing, here's why
International Network - Dec 29, 2023
The United States knows that the Yemenis are a people who fear nothing and who do not bluff. On the other hand, the Yemenis know that the Americans are bluffing.
The United States announced this week the creation of a multinational naval force to counter Yemen's blockade of the Red Sea. They also warned that they were ready to carry out military strikes in retaliation against the Arab country.
The stakes are considerable. By controlling the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which opens into the Indian Ocean, Yemenis control the vitally important global Red Sea shipping route. The impact of closing this chokepoint on global trade is enormous. This is why the Americans and their European allies took action by threatening retaliatory measures.
In response, the Yemeni armed forces, allied with the Houthi rebel movement, sent the Americans packing.
The Yemenis have warned they have ballistic missiles to sink any warship or submarine the United States and its allies deploy in the region. The Yemenis added that they would continue to block cargo ships using the Red Sea route until the genocide in Gaza stops.
Over the past week, Yemen has intensified its ban on cargo ships attempting to transit the Red Sea route. Several major shipping conglomerates have confirmed that their ships are being rerouted around the African continent. Additional transportation costs and disrupted supply chains are already increasing price inflation in Western economies, adding to already painful economic hardship and political damage for governments scorned by struggling populations.
The Yemenis say they are only targeting ships linked to Israel, but it appears the deteriorating security situation in the narrow maritime corridor is discouraging all shipping companies. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, 32 kilometers wide, straddles Yemen and the Horn of Africa. Hundreds of container ships and tankers use it every day to transport goods from Asia to Europe via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the other choke point further north, in Egypt. Closing a choke point results in the closure of the entire road.
The United States has attempted to portray the Navy task force as a law enforcement operation aimed at protecting international commerce and freedom of navigation.
The Yemenis, meanwhile, said their disruption of Israeli-affiliated shipping was a legitimate action in solidarity with the Palestinians.
US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin announced the new naval coalition, dubbed “Operation Prosperity Guardian”. “The recent escalation of reckless Houthi attacks from Yemen threatens the free flow of trade, endangers innocent sailors and violates international law. The Red Sea is a waterway essential to freedom of navigation and a major trade corridor that facilitates international trade. Countries seeking to uphold the fundamental principle of freedom of navigation must come together to meet the challenge posed by this non-state actor launching ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at merchant ships of many nations which transit legally in international waters.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, spokesperson for Yemen's Houthi rebels, responded: "The US-led coalition aims to protect Israel and militarize the Red Sea without any justification, and it will not prevent the Yemen to continue its legitimate support operations in Gaza. We do not demonstrate force against anyone [except Israel]. Anyone who seeks to extend the conflict must face the consequences of their actions.”
The Americans are trying to make it appear that the Yemenis are acting as criminal sea pirates and that the US-led task force nobly serves the interests of international trade and peaceful shipping.
Washington and its allies cannot publicly admit that their actions are aimed at supporting Israel. The genocidal offensive on Gaza since October 7, during which nearly 20 civilians were murdered, is politically untenable for Israel's Western allies.
The naval task force launched by the United States this week includes nine other nations: Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, as well as the Seychelles and Bahrain. The latter two countries are token non-Western parties which give the impression that this is not overtly a Western imperialist coalition. Bahrain is where the US Navy's Fifth Fleet is based in the Persian Gulf, and so it makes sense that this small monarchy would be included in simple logistics.
However, the notable fact is that no other Gulf Arab nation is involved in the task force. Egypt is also absent, although it is an important Red Sea coastal country, as is Saudi Arabia. Their absence belies the official US justification. If Operation Prosperity Guardian was truly about protecting international trade and shipping, why aren't the Red Sea Arab states joining in? Of course, they don't, because the task force's real goal is to help Israel.
