In recent days, the Houthis have become more and more excited, and in addition to Israel's merchant ships, even Lao Mei has not let go. And they said, "They will not recognize any ship that goes to Israel, regardless of the country." No, an American merchant ship flying the Indian flag was directly bombed by the Houthis in Yemen when it was sailing in the Red Sea.
Even so, the Lao and US sides are still at the level of moral condemnation, and they are only using escort ships to deter the Houthis. There is no ruthlessness in the slightest eye for eye and tooth for tooth, isn't it strange?
Don't say that a small Houthi is a small Houthi, even if the big brother Iran behind them ends up in person, the United States cannot be afraid. So why hasn't the United States taken action in this Red Sea crisis?
1. Why does the United States dare not use the Houthis?
To tell the truth, if the United States really attacks the Houthis, it will be a dimensionality reduction strike, and there is no suspense at all. So why does the United States keep swallowing its anger and dare not attack the Houthis?
I think there are three reasons.
First, it can't be drawn
Defeating the Houthis is easy. After all, there are too many high-precision weapons in Lao Mei's hands. But how to deal with the aftermath is a big problem.
Just like when Israel is attacking Hamas, it can kill Hamas in seconds on the frontal battlefield, but once it comes to street fighting, it is not so easy for the Israeli army to be at ease.
In the same way, are the United States really willing to risk the lives of a number of US soldiers and countless votes for the sake of a Houthi rebel? I think they will definitely not be able to make it.
Second, there are many opposing voices in China
They are about to have a general election in 2024, and Xiao Deng naturally hopes to get more people's support. At this time, if you start a war rashly, no matter what you say, there will be some people who oppose it, and this is very normal.
Moreover, there are many Islamic believers in the United States, including many Arabs, and in the Arab world, they may be in different countries and different factions, so they are-for-tat. But when they arrive in the United States, they will certainly defend their fellow Islamists in the face of Christians.
If Xiao Deng ordered the Houthis to be cleaned up at this time, it would be tantamount to automatically giving up the votes of this part of the people. That's definitely not worth it for him.
Thirdly, there is the fear of an Afghanistan replica
If you want to defeat the Houthis, the real difficulty is the operation after the landing, and there is no way to completely eradicate the armed forces in three and five years.
If they learn Xi Afghanistan and hide in the mountains and play a sneak attack with you from time to time, how long do you think the US military can hold out?
With an example of Afghanistan placed there, Lao Mei will naturally use it as a reference when considering future problems. This is also one of the important reasons that hinder the US military's actions.
Fourth, it's not like they're "celebrating the New Year".
In the past two days, it is Christmas Eve and Christmas again, which are all big days on Lao Mei's side, which is about the same as their New Year's Eve. Who wants to go out to fight during the New Year, I have to say that the Houthis are really good at picking days.
Seeing that after a year of hard work, waiting to go back to relax and relax after annual leave, do you dare to let me go on a business trip? This may be the mentality of the vast majority of American GIs today? After all, most people have families and want to go back to live a good life.
2. Can the Houthis solve the Red Sea problem?
The main problem with this Red Sea crisis is not the Houthis, but the Gaza battlefield. The Houthis gave a very high-sounding reason, declaring that they would block the Red Sea for one day as long as humanitarian supplies could not enter the Gaza area normally for a day.
In other words, as long as humanitarian supplies can enter Gaza, there will be no such thing as a Houthi blockade of the Red Sea. Then things are back to this round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Of course, some people will say that this is all an excuse for the Houthis, and they just want to justifiably attack the merchant ships of various countries, but they are just looking for a high-sounding reason, which can be regarded as a foil to Hamas from the side.
This cannot be ruled out, but there must be a reason for it. The Houthis are clearly pro-Hamas, and if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not resolved, the Houthis will not stop such offensives.
For this reason, even if the United States temporarily defeats the Houthis and stabilizes the situation in the Red Sea, will they stay here to maintain order? This is impossible, right? They don't even have a quick foothold.
Once they are gone, the Houthis will return, and the Red Sea will face even more serious challenges. As we said earlier, the United States is worried that there will be a second Afghanistan here, and they will not be able to completely eliminate the Houthis, so they must consider what will happen after the Houthis come back.
After all, whether it is the Houthis or the Lebanese Allah Party, they have a big brother behind them, and that is Iran. Iran has money, resources, weapons, and a large population, and it is not a problem for them to help their younger brothers recover in a short period of time.
Even if we take 10,000 steps back, if the United States really destroys the Houthis, will no one create another one? The dispute between the Sunnis and Shiites in Yemen has not been going on for a day or two, but for decades or even hundreds of years, and the old United States, an outsider, cannot solve it at all.
Third, no one wants to get involved in this matter at a critical moment in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
Nowadays, although a joint convoy of more than a dozen countries has been formed, there are almost no other countries except the United States and the Arab country of Bahrain who really dare to identify themselves.
The main reason is that these Western countries are unwilling to get involved in the Red Sea crisis at a time when the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has reached this critical juncture. What is the reason for this? It's not because there are so many Islamic believers in the country? These Islamic believers come from several sources.
First, the legacy of the colonies
Western countries used to colonize Africa, but now they can't get rid of it, for example, France, which currently has nearly 10 million African-American nationals and millions of African-Americans who have illegally settled in France. The point is, their fertility rates are exceptionally high.
Africa is also a place rich in Islamic believers, and France used to have a large number of colonies here, and they must take into account the attitudes of these citizens when dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Red Sea crisis.
It is clear that from a religious point of view, they unconditionally support Hamas and the Houthis, after all, everyone is on the same page, and there is nothing to be gained in supporting Israel.
Second, Arab immigration
After five wars in the Middle East, the Arab countries have created a large number of displaced people abroad. These people are mainly from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and other countries.
These displaced people are the direct victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and they will not have a good opinion of Israel, regardless of the causes and consequences. After all, the destruction of the homeland and the fact that it was sent to the fence by itself were all caused by Israel.
These people, with their national hatred and family hatred, naturally pay more attention to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Red Sea crisis. If their country does not handle this well, it is very likely to cause internal turmoil.
Third, indigenous Islamic adherents
Many people mistakenly think that white Europeans are Christians, but this is not the case. Due to the huge influence of the Arab Empire and the Ottoman Empire on the world at that time, in addition to the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and other places, which were deeply influenced by Islam, in fact, there were also many Islamic believers in Europe.
The Arab Empire ruled Spain for hundreds of years, and the Ottoman Empire occupied the Balkans for hundreds of years. These were all opportunities to introduce Islamic culture to Europe.
There are so many followers of Islam within these Western countries, and it is natural for them to take into account the feelings of these people. Jews are now mainly concentrated in Israel and the United States, and the Jews in Western countries are very small, and under the trade-off, Western countries naturally have to take care of their own people.
The cost has to be shared equally by ordinary people
Many people have the mentality of eating melons and watching dramas, and even think that this matter is still beneficial to China, which is simply ridiculous. Rising global freight rates will only benefit resource-based countries.
The price of oil exports from these countries will definitely take the opportunity to mention it on the Internet, and production cuts are the basic operation. The cost of the shipping company will definitely be evenly distributed among all goods.
Some people say that it is not big, because we are a big light industrial country, and we can almost all produce the goods that can be seen on the market, and we do not need to import them from Europe. Is this really the case? Can we still do our foreign trade business?
If Europeans feel that it is not worth importing goods from Asia, will they turn to the North American and Latin American markets? Isn't this a disguised blow to China's foreign trade industry?
The blockage of foreign trade will cause a chain reaction, and in the end, all costs will be evenly distributed to every ordinary person, and no one will be an exception.
On the other hand, as a big country with resources, the United States will have the idea of eating melons and watching dramas at present. After all, in addition to raising oil prices, the blocking of the Asia-Europe line is also conducive to them picking up the light industry market again. During the founding of the People's Republic of China, Sichuan threatened to return to the manufacturing industry to increase the employment rate, and it seems that the Houthis have invisibly helped them a lot.
Of course, the old United States is not happy with the Western brothers, and the shipping financiers will not be too happy, if the United States considers its own international status, it may not be for this little profit, regardless of the life and death of the little brothers. Let's sit and wait for them after Christmas, in addition to escorting, what other tricks can be taken.