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The Biden Administration Is a Bad Joke – HotAir

January 10, 2024
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The Biden Administration Is a Bad Joke – HotAir

Beege has a piece about the utter failure of the Biden Administration to deal with the Houthis essentially shutting down shipping in the Red Sea.

The level of incompetence displayed by the Biden Administration is almost beyond parody. It’s like our entire executive branch of government has created a script by cribbing from Veep and 1984.

US troops are being attacked, international shipping is being squeezed, and the Iranians keep escalating their proxy war against Israel and the United States.

The administration’s response? Aside from shipping boatloads of cash to the Iranian regime, our Secretary of State has revealed that he is begging Iran to please stop, or else we might be mildly upset.

It is, as I said, beyond parody.

The crisis in the Red Sea is no joke. Shipping delays are stretching out to weeks, with a decent percentage of the world’s goods usually traversing the Suez Canal between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Shipping prices on some routes have doubled to quadrupled.

The Red Sea is one of the main trade routes between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, with Clarksons estimating that 10 percent of world trade by volume utilizes this route. This includes 20 percent of all container shipping, nearly 10 percent of seaborne oil, and 8 percent of LNG.

The Houthis are escalating their attacks, directed at both private shipping and Western military vessels. So far, the successful strikes have been all on commercial shipping, but we are playing Russian roulette with our naval forces, and for every $2000 drone we shoot down, we are spending millions for the missiles required to do so.

The exchange rate in cost is at least 10 to 1 in favor of the Houthis–really the Iranians. And the US keeps threatening, and then the US keeps threatening again. We haven’t even struck the Houthis, who launch missiles and drones.

The policy is insane and exists only because the United States wants to be friends with a country whose motto is “Death to America” and describes us as “The Great Satan.”

Friendship seems unlikely. Instead Iran is identifying the targets and guiding the attacks.

The Houthis rule the poorest country in the world. The only reason they have these weapons is that Iran supplies them, and is committed to keep on supplying them. Time and again–and in places far removed from the Red Sea–the Iranians attack the United States and our allies, and we politely ask them to stop.

They will never stop. Why would they? The US refuses to return the favor.

The United States doesn’t look weak; we look pathetic. We look pathetic because this administration is pathetic. Warnings only matter when you mean them, and this administration doesn’t. The Houthis–and reall, the Iranians–keep committing acts of war and the United States keeps warning it will do something about it.

Everybody now knows they didn’t mean it. Instead, we are wasting expensive–and, more importantly, scarce–missiles to take down cheap and easily replaced missiles and drones.

Meanwhile, our military chain of command is a bad joke, with the Secretary of Defense disappearing for days and nobody in the Administration knowing about it- or caring- during a legitimate military crisis.

Lloyd Austin? Who?

The Houthis–and remember, this really means Iran–attacked a US warship directly and almost hit it. No more pretending that this is anything but a war against our country. Yet, so far, all we do is talk. The biggest task of the US Navy is to defend freedom of navigation and we do nothing.

The Department of Defense is apparently nothing but a jobs program for DEI trainers and an institution dedicated to funding abortions and sex change operations.

Crap like this didn’t happen during Trump’s administration. Say what you will about his being a blowhard; when he needed to, he made clear that he would blow things up without getting sucked into a drawn-out war.

None of us wants to get dragged into a war–and the best way to accomplish that goal is through deterrence. And deterrence requires follow-through.

Is it possible, even likely, that the US will eventually make at least modest strikes in Yemen? I think so because our allies in Europe, Asia, and the region will pressure us into doing something. But we have let this situation fester for months, all while appeasing Iran. They have gotten the message that they can get away with attacking us, and they will continue to do so.

Until Iran pays a high price for their aggression, it will continue. My guess it will do so at least until Biden leaves the stage.



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© 2024 americabrigade - .