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Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

bbc.com

121–130 of 678 posts

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#121

My quibble here is with the house style "Iran-backed" that they attach to every mention of the Houthi's. While it's fine for governments to use that language, I don't think journalists should use it without being very specific to its relevance to the particular subject under discussion. The "Houthis claim major advance in Yemen - what you need to know" article could omit "Iran-backed" in its entirety and lose no info…

its a hint to the western audience that they're supposed to be sad about this.

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#122
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. A cynic might think a significant part of this half-arsed Iran war was: - make sure fuel prices increase globally - The US economy is relatively well-shielded from the fallout by its own fossil fuel sources, local and in colonies like Venezuela. - export more US fossil fuels, especially to Europe, at inflated prices. US insiders reap the profits. - further kneecap European competitiveness in energy intensive sect…

You're missing a key part: energy prices in US go up too. It doesn't matter if US and its colonies are net producers.

[deleted]

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#123

My understanding is we haven’t gotten to full Hormuz apocalypse mode because the Chinese have a ton of stockpiles. And the Red Sea has been an option. Those conditions seem to be changing.

the reason China was using stockpiles is they want to time the gasoline price shock right to the midterm elections. The moment they stop using stockpiles and start purchasing the prices will jump

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#124

My understanding is we haven’t gotten to full Hormuz apocalypse mode because the Chinese have a ton of stockpiles. And the Red Sea has been an option. Those conditions seem to be changing.

the reason China was using stockpiles is they want to time the gasoline price shock right to the midterm elections. The moment they stop using stockpiles and start purchasing the prices will jump

Well roughly now would be when you’d time a huge shock

OTOH midterm generic ballots are much more stable than top line presidential horse race polling. So it might only matter at the margins.

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#125
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the parent was pointing out that Israel's or USA's claims are usually stated without quotes, such as: Israel invades Lebanon due to risk of Hezbollah attacks rather than: Israel says "risk of Hezbollah attacks" reason for invasion

I'm unconvinced that this is a pattern that is distinguished by the nation being reported on. Headlines vary. Both of your example headlines might appear at different times in the outlets I read. I think this was just a stylistic choice and that this whole thread is a weird tangent.

This is a stunning amount of credulity after "looted vs found" and "https://x.com/i/status/1322999903753220099" -style memes.

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#126
post #55

Will this bring oil prices down in Europe? Oil tankers could still go to the mediteranian via the suez canal. This will not help asia, but I can imagine if it is too dangerous the go through bab al-mandab strait it is more lucrative to sell the crude oil to europe at a discount?

No. A cynic might think a significant part of this half-arsed Iran war was: - make sure fuel prices increase globally - The US economy is relatively well-shielded from the fallout by its own fossil fuel sources, local and in colonies like Venezuela. - export more US fossil fuels, especially to Europe, at inflated prices. US insiders reap the profits. - further kneecap European competitiveness in energy intensive sect…

Its almost like not having meaningful power projection capabilities when you rely on imports for essential industries is not good!

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#127

Will this bring oil prices down in Europe? Oil tankers could still go to the mediteranian via the suez canal. This will not help asia, but I can imagine if it is too dangerous the go through bab al-mandab strait it is more lucrative to sell the crude oil to europe at a discount?

I've never seen oil prices decrease due to any regional disruption; the market is global. If the price in Alberta went up when the Straight closed, I wouldn't hold my breathe for Europe in this scenario.

>I've never seen oil prices decrease due to any regional disruption; the market is global.

oil spiked and then crashed during the gulf war & the iraq war in 03.

the gulf war probably because of western price control methods kicking in, the iraq war because of an increase in confidence that the region would produce oil after western 'securing' of oil fields allowing further volume investment from the UAE and friends.

I guess it really just depends on what the definition of 'regional disruption' is.

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#128

All we had to do was not bomb Iran (starting with a school full of girls). There was no benefit to the US in this war, it’s 100% for Israel. Bribery and blackmail, not democracy, are now determining world events.

[flagged]

Is blaming the government of Israel equivalent to blaming the Jews?

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#129
This war started as a regime change operation in Iran, one of the shakiest regimes in the world pre-war, but ironically the war might end up with most of the nations who supported the war (either vocally or quietly) "regime changed" (loosely defined), including Israel, US, some European countries and now possibly some Gulf nations, awhile the Iranian regime seem to have tightened its grip more than ever.

Yet MAGA supporters were saying early in the war that they are "plan trusters" as prior US admins sucked at regime change because it is a "skills issue" and none of the prior admins had the triple digits IQ of Hegseth, Trump and Bessent.

Re: Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

#130

My quibble here is with the house style "Iran-backed" that they attach to every mention of the Houthi's. While it's fine for governments to use that language, I don't think journalists should use it without being very specific to its relevance to the particular subject under discussion. The "Houthis claim major advance in Yemen - what you need to know" article could omit "Iran-backed" in its entirety and lose no info…

The first question should be: who supplies their military equipment?

The next question should be: who benefits?

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