Yemeni Houthis have attacked the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea. The strike was carried out in response to US airstrikes on Yemen, reports Al Jazeera and Houthi Brigadier General Yahya Saree.
“The Houthi military spokesperson said that the group has responded to the US bombing of Yemen by attacking the USS Harry S Truman with ballistic missiles and a drone,” the report said.
Yahya Saree specified that the Houthis launched 18 missiles. He also claimed that the US had carried out more than 47 airstrikes on several Yemeni provinces, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.
As contentious statements go, “The average american does not posess even an abstract understanding of the political and economic realities present in the mid. east” is one I wouldn’t even consider objecting to.
Sure but claiming that America, a net energy exporter would have cards held over them because of Saudi oil is a bit silly. America wouldn’t be as “touched” by this as you both seem to claim.
The fall of the saudi oil fields would lead to the weakening of opec, and thus the already precarious nature of the petro dollar, a cornerstone of american financial hegemony, would be scooted just that much closer to the edge of collapse. But it is gross understatement to say the politics of this region cannot be accurately summarized in a lemmy comment.
I don’t disagree that there’s a lot riding on that house of cards, but as you pointed out the stakeholders in keeping that up are nearly every global state. Do the Houthis really hold any cards when they’re under that microscope?
I imagine attacking a target that could literally collapse the world economy would be slightly harder than flying drones at a very expensive boat.
Edit: The petrodollar is all but phased out by Saudi Arabia. I don’t think that current US financial interests are anywhere near as coupled to those oil fields (compared to just a few years ago).
But… they’re attacking said world-collapsable superpower precisely by flying drones at boats. But US geopolitical ties to the House of Saud really are too complex to summarize in a lemmy comment!
So that said, a summary in a lemmy comment: The regional power of the US is very much tied to the stability of Saudi power in the region, which is itself tied to approx. three thousand years of political infighting, outfighting and just general fighting. Its complicated, but our bases alone in the region are dependent on keeping the Saudis in power, and are a huge US consideration.
Idk what realizable power the houtis have, I haven’t actually been arguing for them being in what you may call a “good position” since the start of this. All I think is that grabbing the attention of an unstable lunatic is probably a bad idea when he’s the head of an operation that can casually warcrime hundreds of your people when not even really trying. Focusing that attention on yourself when you’re the aggressors is… only going to end badly, and I wish they acted like they knew that.
There’s been more than enough death already without pouring fuel onto the funeral pyres, and as much as I’d like to stop the killing on the “killing” side, that’s proving really hard.