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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   1262 thread views

Transnational Thursday for December 28, 2023

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Red Sea

The United States has set up a multinational naval force to protect shipping in the Red Sea, involving thus far “Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain” (some of these countries are sending ships, others just operational support). Maersk has already said they will resume shipping through the corridor.

The Houthis have responded by saying they will fire on US ships, which seems inadvisable, but I guess we’ve been at proxy war for a while now anyway. The Us and Britain have reported already shooting down over a dozen attack drones. Ironically, Saudi Arabia, the country the Houthis have actually been at war with and who has the most to lose from a Red Sea conflict (36% of their imports), will not be joining the effort (the UAE won’t either), apparently because they are concerned with holding together their fragile peace with Iran. Probably for the best honestly. Of course, even among their rapidly anti-Houthi populace, Saudi Arabia does not want to be seen doing anything like supporting the pro-Israel forces of the war.

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