My Take | US envoy blames China for own failure against Yemeni Houthis
Most of world realises Red Sea harassment of international cargo ships is not terrorism, but a bid to stop mass killings of fellow Muslims in Gaza
It would have been amusing but for the background to his remarks. And that has to do with the United States’ potentially criminal complicity in suspected war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide alleged to be committed to this day by its closest ally, Israel, against the civilian population in Gaza for a year.
In a wide-ranging interview, Campbell – who is most responsible for Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy – also complained about Chinese state propaganda and twisted narratives. Of course, when he and his US colleagues say it, it’s information. But when you say something else, it’s disinformation.
“We realised that what the Chinese had tried to do – rather than joining with any kind of international naval consortium – would be to instead take actions to communicate directly with the Houthis about, ‘look, these are our ships, these aren’t our ships, target different ships’,” he said.
“Now that’s just profoundly unhelpful, and suggests an approach to the global commons that we have real concerns over.”
What “international naval consortium”? What “global commons”? The real point is the singular failure of the Biden administration to put together an international naval consortium. So why just pick on China? Actually, most of the world simply refused to join any US-led naval countermeasure against the Houthis. And most did it not because they failed to recognise or contribute to the “global commons” of international shipping lanes, but because they recognised a higher morality and obligation – which is to stop or at least not condone or support potential genocide.
What the Yemeni Houthis, usually portrayed as Iranian puppets or Islamic terrorists in the Western news media, have been doing is, in reality, form a blockade – the poor man’s version of sanctions – and try to stop the mass killings of fellow Muslims in Gaza. It has caused minimal casualties, unlike hi-tech sanctions imposed by the US against some poor countries. The Houthis are no longer militants, but an actual governing body that controls most Yemeni territories.
