Quiz: Which side is in the wrong here?
Israel is slaughtering kids. The Houthis will target vessels headed for Israel until the massacre stops. Biden has warned the Houthis to stop targeting ships but gives israel carte blanche.
Here’s your daily air strike update for Dec 15, 2023
Explosions thundered in the Khmelnitsky and Poltava regions, where airfields with carriers of NATO missiles are located: Starokonstantinovo and Mirgorod. [These airfields get hit often – Western long-range missiles such as HARMS, Storm Shadow or HIMARS are received there and mounted on specially adapted Soviet era aircraft hot points to be air-launched into Russia proper or recently acquired Russian territories. The carrier aircraft and missiles are targeted.]
In addition, the Ministry of Defense reported that during the day our units in the Donetsk direction alone eliminated 265 Ukrainian militants. During the counter-battery fight, many enemy artillery pieces and armored vehicles were destroyed.
In the Kupyansk direction, Russian troops repelled five Ukrainian attacks. All attempts to storm our positions were stopped; the enemy left a huge number of combat vehicles and manpower on the battlefield.
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Apparently, the authors of the legislation forbidding Russia to use dollars and euros are misled to believe that Russia WANTS to use these foreign currencies. These western lawmakers have apparently never heard of the famous de-dollarization policies of the BRICS countries.
As long as the West is run by knuckleheads, Russia has nothing to worry about.
14 DEC, 10:07
West 'shooting itself in the foot' with currency constraints on Russia — Putin
Meanwhile, the head of state noted that using the ruble only benefited Russia
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Ukraine out of just about everything
Always worth the read, Simplicius gives us enough info to enable some speculation as to when Russia will finally defeat Ukraine – which is still chillingly low on ammo.
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Quiz: Which side is in the wrong here?
The Israeli forces are slaughtering children. The Houthis target vessels headed for Israel and promise to keep doing so as long as the massacre continues. Biden has warned the Houthis to stop targeting the vessels but has not warned Israel to stop the crimes against humanity.
Which side is in the wrong?
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
Dec 15, 2023
Yemeni Houthis attacked a German container ship: fire after a direct hit
A ship caught fire in the Red Sea after an air strike from the Houthi-controlled part of Yemen, the Associated Press (AP) reports today, December 15, citing a knowledgeable American official.
The Liberian-flagged merchant ship Al Jasrah was attacked by either a drone or a missile. According to the AP, a fire broke out on the ship. The American news agency also cites data from the British security company Ambrey, which reported that one of the containers fell from the ship.
The shelling of a container ship in the Red Sea was confirmed by a representative of the German shipping company that manages it, Hapag-Lloyd. He stated that no one was injured as a result of the incident and Al Jasrah continued on its way after eliminating the fire.
This is the fourth trading post to be attacked near Yemen in as many days. Thus, the Houthis fired missiles at the Ardmore Encounter tanker flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, forced the Maersk Gibraltar cargo ship flying the Hong Kong flag to change course under the threat of attacks, and knocked out the Norwegian tanker Strinda in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with an ASCM anti-ship missile.
The president of the German-Israeli Society (DIG), Volker Beck, said in a commentary for the tabloid Bild that the attack on the German ship meant that “Germany was under attack.” He called for new sanctions against Iran, which is behind the Houthis.
[Germany has never called for sanctions on the Israelis who commit genocide and infanticide in Palestine. Does Germany think intercepting German ships is a crime more egregious than killing innocent babies? What kind of moral values does the West have? This is SICK!]
The pro-Iranian formations "Ansar Allah" ("Helpers of Allah", Houthis), who control the northern part of Yemen, in a sign of solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas, previously promised that they would attack all ships in the Red Sea heading to Israel, regardless of who owned them.
[Oh but, Zioamerican propaganda says that the Muslims are terrorist killers??! Guess Zionamericans think it is ok for Jews to kill babies but AWFUL for Muslims to punish them for it]
Traffic through the Red Sea currently accounts for 10% to 12% of global maritime traffic and accounts for 5% of global oil transport volumes.
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Yemen strikes two ships in Bab al-Mandab strait
Sanaa has reassured all commercial vessels transiting in the Red Sea that they will be safe as long as they are not headed to Israel
DEC 15, 2023
https://new.thecradle.co/articles/yemen-strikes-two-ships-in-bab-al-mandab-strait
The Armed Forces of Yemen’s Ansarallah-led government in Sanaa claimed responsibility for an attack on commercial ships headed to Israel on 15 December.
“The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces […] carried out a military operation against two container ships (MSC Alanya and MSC Palatium III), which were heading to the Israeli entity, targeting them with two naval missiles,” the Yemeni army said in a statement.
https://twitter.com/Yahya_Saree/status/1735657002427142152
Yahya Sare'e
@Yahya_Saree
5h
The Yemeni Armed forces vowed to continue to prevent the navigation of vessels heading to Israel until enough food and medicine that our steadfast brothers are in need of in Gaza are allowed into the Strip.
…
Biden thinks white Israelis are fully entitled to slaughter Palestinians because they deem them “animals,” and lends the authority of his white staff to help kill these brown kids by the thousands.
BUT since Biden represents white imperial authority in the West, he feels entitled to punish the brown Houthis who DARE to punish the infanticidal white Israelis.
This immoral approach is now who we are and what we stand for! Without outside forces applied to Washington, it will NEVER change.
And there’s a new twist. People who dare to mention the moral issue of the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians are told that Muslims are dangerous and they are allowed to marry children. Therefore, to kill them is to do the world a favor.
We always have an excuse to kill. The Zioamerican Neocons love to spread these stories about how evil and dangerous the Muslims are in order to assuage our consciences. It’s time to stop being led like sheep. BTW, both Biden and Trump are owned by Israel so neither can break the deadlock.
Below is an example of how the US leadership – regardless of who is in power -- can ONLY recommend military responses when in fact the only viable solution to the Palestine problem would be to sternly warn Israel to stop violating international law, stop the killing and get out of Gaza and the West Bank, which by law are not their territory – or otherwise suffer the consequences of having all aid cut off and having the US join forces with the rest of the Muslim and Arab world – as well as Russia and China – to isolate and sanction Israel.
If the US put its foot down hard, it would have the moral authority to negotiate with Iran and its allies.
But we do the opposite and pretend we’re seeking a solution.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/06/biden-houthi-attacks-yemen-00130333
Biden team wary of retaliating against Houthi attacks at sea
Some current and former officials are frustrated with U.S. statements that they believe are downplaying the threat.
[It would not be a threat if the US government told Israel to stop the cold-blooded murder or lose the billions of taxpayer dollars. It would stop tomorrow. So it is OUR responsibility and WE are the de facto killers! If we stopped coddling murderers the Houthis would not be going to these extremes.]
By LARA SELIGMAN and ALEXANDER WARD
Senior Biden administration officials agree that striking Houthis in Yemen is the wrong course of action for now, per three U.S. officials, even though some military officers have proposed more forceful responses to the militants’ attacks in the Red Sea.
[Does anyone remember what Trump did when Iran-backed Iraqi militias fired ballistic missiles into the base at Ayn al-Asad, housing US troops, in response to his illegal and extrajudicial murder of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a fighter who challenged ISIS? That’s right. Nothing. He knew Iran had the missile power to destroy every US base in the Middle East! But now his allies are trying to make the case that Biden is weak by not starting a war with Yemen – which would quickly degenerate into a war with Iran and perhaps others. As if a country that is at war with Russia, wants war with China and Iran, and is sending troops and materiel to CHILD KILLERS, needs more war and not less. Someone must put the US Neocon government in its place!]
There’s high-level consensus within the administration that it does not make sense for the U.S. military to respond directly to the Houthis, the officials said. Although the missile and drone attacks on three civilian vessels on Sunday drew a U.S. Navy warship into an hours-long firefight, U.S. intelligence officials have not determined that the warship was the target.
Separately on Wednesday morning, the destroyer USS Mason shot down another Houthi-launched drone in the Red Sea, according to a U.S. military official. There was no damage or injury to U.S. equipment or personnel.
Military officers charged with U.S. operations in the Middle East have drafted options to hit back against the militants, though they are not actively pushing them at this time, according to one of the officials and a fourth American official.
The military’s job is to present a variety of options to senior commanders, but the ultimate decision is up to the president and the administration’s political appointees. In multiple high-level meetings this week, the Pentagon has neither briefed President Joe Biden on options to strike Houthi targets nor recommended that he do so, two of the officials said. All were granted anonymity to detail sensitive internal deliberations. [The author is clearly trying to make it look bad that Biden was not briefed on the Houthis, but yet, who is briefing him that the entire world wants to stop the Israeli genocide? That doesn’t seem to bother these authors. We’re on the wrong side but our journalists are paid to focus on the Houthis, who are the ONLY entity in the world that is fighting back against the gross murders in Palestine, the worst atrocities since the Holocaust. America needs moral guidance and all we hear is how to counter a brave country that dares to oppose egregious crimes against humanity. This is why I refuse to read US mainstream sites and urge you to wean yourself off them. We are failing in every endeavor, our economy is faltering, people can’t afford health care, we have Americans living on the street and under bridges, we’re inundated by uncontrolled immigration, we are urging our children to have dangerous sex changes, we finance Nazis in Ukraine and child killers in the Middle East, but we think we are moral and entitled to enforce our deep immorality on the rest of the world??]
Some current and former military officials were frustrated by the administration’s initial response to the Houthis’ Sunday attacks on the ships. The Houthis launched four drone and missile attacks on three ships; the destroyer USS Carney, responding to the distress calls, shot down three drones in its vicinity. Those current and former officials say the Iran-backed group’s increasingly aggressive behavior poses a significant risk to American forces in the region, and took issue with the administration’s public statements on Monday, which they say downplayed that threat. [What are US forces doing in the region? Impoverishing Syria with sanctions, stealing their oil and wheat, encouraging genocide. OF COURSE they’re sick of us. OF COURSE! And of course they’re threatening us. And of course we need a come-uppance]
But while top Biden administration officials acknowledge the threat to U.S. troops, they are not convinced the U.S. needs to respond militarily. They believe the Houthis were attempting to target assets with ties to Israel [the Houthis admit that is what they are doing] — either owned by Israeli companies or crewed by Israelis — not U.S. warships. But Houthi missiles aren’t overly precise. [These US officials and the authors of this article seem oblivious to the fact that the Houthis are NOT targeting Israeli ships or ships with Isreali crews. They are only targeting ships that are headed for Israeli ports, regardless of who owns or crews them! The only course of action that makes sense is to leave and end the chaos, but no. Our presidential advisors ONLY know how to shoot our way out of the messes we make wherever we go.]
And as the White House and senior Pentagon leaders seek to contain the violence in Israel and Gaza, they are concerned that Iran, which backs the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, could escalate the conflict. [The absurd myth has always been that Iran is “destabilizing” the Middle East, but the myth makers in Washington are incapable of even hinting that killing innocent people in Palestine is deeply immoral and Iran is only responding to our immorality and criminal behavior, as we aid and abet the most immoral country in the world and its crimes against humanity! Look, Iran is not about to let us get away with corrupting its region. If they stop for any reason, there is always Russia and China, Turkey, Egypt, Algeria. These countries are all sick of the constant crimes against humanity and the lies supporting them. The crimes will not go unpunished]
Senior officials across the government are also worried that a major strike on Houthi positions could derail progress on another Middle East conflict: U.S. and U.N.-led efforts to broker another cease-fire between Saudi forces and the militants in Yemen, according to a fifth U.S. official and a lawmaker. [So the author pretends that the main issue is anything but the Israeli crimes. The US is not the clean hands party to broker anything. China is the one who can broker deals because it is not wallowing in evil up to its neck. But the US is not concerned about being a broker it is ONLY concerned about keeping China and Russia out of the region, even though the people there desperately need and WANT their help. Remember that China brokered diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi, despite the US hysterical efforts to block this. Thus, the main task for the US is to leave the region alone! But they won’t leave until ushered out at gun point.]
The U.S. envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, is in the Middle East to protect global shipping and “end the Yemen conflict,” per a State Department release. Talks between the Saudis and Houthis have been ongoing for months, with many sticking points to be hammered out, including the exit of foreign troops from Yemen.
“In light of the recent targeting of civilians [that is NOT what Yemen is doing. They are seizing ships headed to Israel to force that country, with economic pressure, to stop the slaughter] by the Houthis and its piracy in international waters, we have begun a review of potential sanctions,” said a State Department spokesperson. [Funny how when the US seizes Venezuelan and Iranian ships, which have done no wrong, that is NOT piracy but just legitimate peace keeping. But here we have the Houthis interfering in shipping to stop the genocide/infanticide, and THAT is piracy??] “We will be considering other options together with our allies and partners, as well.” [As long as you are not considering the option of ceasing your support for genocide, you are just dodging the issue and pretending to be useful when you are the culprits – it’s the fox guarding the henhouse. BTW, the US has no allies in the ME]
Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. partner in the region that recently resumed ties with Israel, is also urging the U.S. to show restraint, according to reports.
“What we don’t want to see is the conflict in Israel widen to a regional war. As of today, it has not,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh on Monday. [So you think if the ME states have tolerated the infanticide so far, that’s proof positive that they don’t care and will never ever intervene, right? Er, but what about those million-strong marches in Muslim countries? The dam WILL burst at some point. We are tampering by encouraging the genocide. But this author wants to ignore the main problem. It’s like a mechanic ignoring bad spark plugs but adding air to the tires]
On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder declined to discuss specific future strikes. However, he noted that the U.S. was discussing setting up an international maritime task force to counter the Houthi attacks, within the framework of the existing Combined Maritime Forces, a 38-nation partnership based in Bahrain focused on combating terrorism and piracy. [This is a red herring. The US defines terrorism as any group that opposes Israeli and US policies. As long as they pretend that US-backed terror and Israeli terror are NOT terror, the problem will just get worse!]
[Ryder sounds like he is convinced of the West’s moral superiority, like, we are fully entitled to defend Israeli genocide and will stand for Israel as long as we live no matter how many kids they murder! But we will invade and bomb anyone who disagrees with us]
“We are definitely looking to take action as it relates to working with partners and allies throughout the region. Oh, by the way, it’s something that we’ve been doing for years,” Ryder said.
[But didn’t those allies just meet with Putin? Are you sure they’re still allies? Putin has reprimanded Israel for all the wanton killing. Could it be that these “allies” can be influenced by the perpetual “aggressor” Putin? At any rate, the Middle East is not focused on opposing Putin and Xi and this is a good thing.]
Still, some officials at Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military forces across the Middle East, have discussed options to strike Houthi-held positions in Yemen that launched the attacks in the Red Sea, according to the fourth U.S. official and one of the former DOD officials.
[The Houthis have a good ally and friend in Iran, who has threatened that if Israel crosses a certain line, it can use its formidable missile forces to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa. Could this be one of the reasons the invincible US has refrained from striking Iran so far? Could another reason be that nuclear-armed Russia is a very strong ally of Iran? And that nuclear-armed China is another very strong ally? At any rate, these “officials” at Central Command can only remedy the situation by GETTING OUT asap, not by mucking around and pretending to “help”]
Officials are also concerned that DOD has not done enough to respond to Iran-backed groups’ continued attacks on U.S. ground forces in Iraq and Syria, said another person outside the government who was briefed on the discussions. [Iran is doing what the Middle Eastern people want, nudging Israel to end its crimes against humanity by threatening ships trading with Israel. Since the US refuses to put the brakes on in Palestine, Iran is the ONLY country that is willing to intervene effectively – Israel is FAR beyond using diplomacy and only understands force.]
“Current actions aren’t resetting deterrence,” the person said. There’s a “strong belief that Iran needs to be ‘shocked’ out of this cycle.”
[There is this “strong belief” ONLY in Necon warmonger-controlled Washington and in Tel Aviv. There is a strong belief among sane, intelligent Americans that the US must butt out of the rest of the world. This can’t happen as long as AIPAC controls our government. No candidate who refuses to pledge allegiance to Israel can win office. This puts Israel in charge of the entire US government and it is now a disaster, with a president and cabinet that doesn’t dare tell Israel to stop slaughtering children. The system has gone to its logical end and its failure is visible to the world. It is effectively over]
Biden administration officials have been worried about lighting a powder keg in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7. The officials have worked furiously to contain the Israel-Gaza conflict within the enclave’s borders and insist that they have succeeded.
Within DOD, however, many believe the conflict has already escalated — and U.S. on land and at sea in the Middle East — are increasingly at risk.
[The problem is, DOD is like the hammer. For the hammer, everything looks like a nail. For DOD, every human being is an enemy that must be bombed or shot. The name is deceptive. There is no Department of Defense. The US ONLY does offense and creates enemies through provocation, as it did in Ukraine in 2014 when the Obama regime invaded the Maidan and turned a peaceful protest into a violent coup, installing a Neo-Nazi government and bringing the world closer to the brink of nuclear war than ever before].
“It’s time for us to start shooting back,” said retired Vice Adm. John Miller, a former commander of naval forces in the Middle East. [“Former” means he was a commander when Russia and China were not yet present in the ME, when Iran was just a pipsqueak and when Saudi Arabia was a US lapdog. He is living in the past and can only create problems, not solve them. No one should be quoting this fossil. If we listen to him and start “shooting back,” Iran may just destroy every US base in the ME]
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Latest in the genocide
https://newsletters.mondoweiss.net/emails/webview/59730/107639135058003380