THE RED SEA CRISIS

Thirty-four years after the Persian Gulf war against Iraq, Joe Biden and the War Party in Washington seek to draw the Union into another endless war. Will the American people tolerate it?

 

By Dany Smith

Why is the current crisis in the Red Sea different from the 1990 Persian Gulf crisis? This is one of the questions that crossed my mind when I saw what is happening in the waters of the Red Sea and especially at the entrance of the “Bab Al Mandeb” strait.

It is clear that all situations cannot be the same, although there may be factors that are similar and to some extent yield similar conclusions. In 1990, as a result of a settling of scores with its oil-rich neighbor Kuwait, Iraq, after talks distorted by Washington, led Saddam Hussein to take the bait and launch his invasion on August 2, 1990, which ended with the war that lasted from January 17 to February 28, 1991. It is now clear why this was in Washington's interest and inspired Baghdad to launch as it did.

What advantages did Washington gain from this? First, to justify its landing on the Arabian Peninsula, where the holy places of Islam are located, with all that that entailed. Second, to establish itself as the protector and regulator of the Middle East by making the Saudis the forced hosts of its military bases. Third, to establish the US CENTCOM operations center just a few kilometers from Iran. Fourth, the destruction of the most relevant Arab military and political force at the time (Iraq) that could rival Israel.

At that time the George H. Bush administration was in a US on the cusp of power given that with the USSR crumbling and no contenders to rival, it made it the only global superpower.

Under those circumstances it was easy for Washington to recruit and line up partners in the campaign we would come to know as “Desert Storm”. Candidates lined up to sign up. Thus a Coalition of countries was formed to support the war effort and operations against Iraq that were to be launched on January 16, 1991. But could that war have been avoided?

Of course, it could have been avoided, there were even proposals and negotiations for Iraq to withdraw its troops if previously (according to the Russian proposal) talks were held on the situation of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation, something that the US Secretary of State James Baker would not even take into consideration. Simply because the plans involved that war had already been planned and with 31 armies under the unified command of General Norman Schwarzkopf the adventure could not fail.

But today in the Red Sea, although the situation is different, the operational framework and the circumstances that have unleashed the hostilities there have some similarities and basically involve the same actors and the same causes.

Here the Yemenis have not invaded anyone and on the contrary, they are exercising their right to self-determination by supporting the Palestinian cause against an unjustifiable genocide that is today intolerable for all to see.

Unlike the Iraqis in 1990, the Yemenis of both the “Ansar Allah” resistance militias and the armed forces have opted for direct and decisive action just as Israel has been doing when it takes the liberty of launching air strikes or terrorist attacks against other countries. Obviously, the framework is different, although there are some similarities in terms of the characteristics of the theater of operations.

We have in this case a water space as in 1991, an Arab riverine state attacked by the USA and Great Britain who are allies of Israel and the most important thing for them is the control of the sea lane over the “Bab Al Mandeb” strait to prevent the Israelis from having any more economic losses due to Yemen's actions. As you can see, the same actors for different reasons.

When the “Ansar Allah” groups demonstrated that they could successfully retaliate against Israeli ships and those of other flags carrying goods to ports such as Eilat from occupied Palestine, Joe Biden raised a hue and cry and assured his old friend “Bibi” Netanyahu that he would do something to stop this. And so he did, effectively declaring war on Yemen.

Biden and his neocon colleagues (like Lindsey Graham) thought they could put together another Allied Coalition like Bush did in 1990 but they did not realize how wrong they were. Unlike then, the moderate Arab states, including the Gulf monarchists, especially Saudi Arabia, want nothing to do with this and even many of their European partners excused themselves from taking part in the adventure.

In addition to this, the massacres that Israel continues to commit, including the hostages, have created widespread popular rejection in countries under governments aligned with Washington. In Latin America, luck was no better and although there is a renaissance of pro-US liberal governments such as in Argentina (which participated in 1991), no one wants to put their head under the guillotine.

Another big difference from the Iraqis in 1990, is that the Yemenis did not wait to be pounded by the Americans or to swallow the whole diplomatic circus of talks at the United Nations. The missiles and drones of “Ansar Allah” went straight for their frigates threatening their operations and that is how the “USS Carney” trying to protect Israeli transport ships became a legitimate target for the arab resistance.

For Yemenis, the US and its Israeli partners, are two sides of the same coin representing a stage of pain and suffering. They supported since 2015 Saudi Arabia by providing weapons (especially 2000 lbs bombs), fuel and advisors. They were also the ones who imposed a maritime embargo against Yemen that deprived food, fuel and medicines that slowly killed thousands of Yemeni children, just as they did with the embargo imposed on Iraq from 1990 to 2003 killing in the same suffering way more than 500,000 Iraqi children.

As they have demonstrated, the Yemenis know how to use ballistic missiles and drones very well and they also know how to take advantage of the scenario especially in the strait area. The American and British frigates despite the advanced technology already figured it out, maybe Biden will ask them to go down to see what is down below.

Finally, there is another thing that is very clear my friends, and that is that this time there is no cannon fodder for a new “Desert Storm” and much less, generals willing to sink in this terrain. Those of us who were there in 1991 know that and I can assure you that I wouldn't go back for the world. But suppose Biden tried to pull out all the stops for his buddy Netanyahu and his club of Ashkenazi racists and decided to send in the US infantry or paratroopers, let this decrepit old fuck know that the “Seals” and other CIA special teams that tried to seed “Daesh” were made mincemeat of by the “Huties”.