this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
169 points (93.3% liked)

World News

39127 readers
2949 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

US President Joe Biden has said that attacks on the Houthis will continue even as he acknowledged that the group have not stopped their Red Sea attacks.

The US carried out a fifth round of strikes on Yemen on Thursday after a US ship was struck by a Houthi drone.

White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that US forces "took out a range of Houthi missiles" that were about to be fired towards the Red Sea.

He said the American attacks took place on Wednesday and again on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a Houthi drone hit a "US owned and operated bulk carrier ship" which later had to be rescued by India's navy. It came as the US designated the Houthis as a terrorist organisation.

"Well, when you say working are they stopping the Houthis? No," Mr Biden told reporters in Washington DC on Thursday before he left for a speech in North Carolina.

"Are they gonna continue? Yes."

Archive

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net -3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

From the position trying to secure the best strategic outcome, though, what does that tell us? That sounds like a lot of opinions on the past, but what guidance do you take from all that?

Direct confrontation still fulfills their strategic objectives, and presents a nearly unwinnable situation. Instead, what would limit their willingness and ability to fight?

One thing would be ending our support for Israel's wildly unpopular violent occupation. I hear people say that the Houthis are just cynically seizing on this morally and emotionally powerful cause to maintain popularity among the people of Yemen. And even if that's true, it still serves our strategic interest to take that valuable asset away from them.

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

The Houthis assisted in the planning and carrying out of the October 7 attack. They've been Iranian proxies and ideological allies of all sorts of fundamentalist terrorists since they came into existence.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_movement

Nothing will limit their willingness to fight. But drone strikes can end their ability to threaten their neighbors. Push them back into their hole, let them scream "death to America" into an increasingly smaller spit of empty desert with dwindling prospects for continued habitability. Maybe their people will get tired of not having nice things or will realize "death to America" won't put food on the table. Maybe not, and eventually their neighbor is going to get sick of their bullshit and swallow them up.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Saudi_Arabia_proxy_conflict

[–] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 1 points 10 months ago

This feels like a bunch of Bush era talking points.

They aren't orcs. There's this notion that our adversaries are unable to demonstrate the self control they need to make environments safe to raise kids but possess motivation for self destruction that is inexaustible.

After exclusively putting more and more weight on the boot on their collective neck with nothing buts decades of successive failure, let's try something else.

For those unmotivated by Christian mercy, I suggest what I am going to call "Machiavellian kindness".

What if their appetite for death is actually weaker than advertised? What if we try to give them a taste of comfort and security with the diabolical awareness that people who become accustomed to weekends of rest and full bellies, who watch their kids reach milestones lose their edge. They get gluttonous and lazy. They become attached to material comforts and the expectations of retirement and grandkids.

Perhaps my cynical machinations are too wicked. But in desperate times when all else has failed, I think they've given us no other choice.

[–] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 1 points 10 months ago

This feels like a bunch of Bush era talking points.

They aren't orcs. There's this notion that our adversaries are unable to demonstrate the self control they need to make environments safe to raise kids but possess motivation for self destruction that is inexaustible.

After exclusively putting more and more weight on the boot on their collective neck with nothing buts decades of successive failure, let's try something else.

For those unmotivated by Christian mercy, I suggest what I am going to call "Machiavellian kindness".

What if their appetite for death is actually weaker than advertised? What if we try to give them a taste of comfort and security with the diabolical awareness that people who become accustomed to weekends of rest and full bellies, who watch their kids reach milestones lose their edge. They get gluttonous and lazy. They become attached to material comforts and the expectations of retirement and grandkids.

Perhaps my cynical machinations are too wicked. But in desperate times when all else has failed, I think they've given us no other choice.