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

bbc.com

421–430 of 679 posts

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

#421

If Dems win next time around they should repeal the AUMF at the very least. We cannot be at war at all times.

There is no AUMF, and I believe Congress already repealed previous ones?

I thought the remaining issues were a dispute related to the timing requirements in the War Powers Resolution, plus unsettled Constitutional law.

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

#422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But using your own reasoning then Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so they are also throwing out a structured system that doesn't comply with their own feelings.

There’s zero evidence Iran was developing nuclear weapons

Then I have some Siemanns Uranium Hexafluoride centrifuges for sale. Just have to come to Natanz, Iran!

They might have blown up due to the Israeli malware incident.

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

#423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't read the Twitter link, but that sounds made up. Where in the battlefield decision making process are they listening to social media recordings to make combat decisions?

What do you think the chain of command looks like in the third world? Even in the Russia/Ukraine conflict they use Telegram for basic operations. All chat applications are dual-use.

Third world? Have we forgotten the Pete Hegseth Signal fiasco?

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

#424

The Houthi's have a Saudi backed adversary, I haven't heard about them lately in mainstream media how are they faring? I just thought they would be a tough resistance for the houthis restraining them from what they're currently doing

The Houthis are one side of a protracted civil war between North Yemen and South Yemen, which was until relatively recently two different countries, and the other side of that civil war is heavily backed by the Gulf States. The Houthis are also a Shiite minority opposing an overwhelmingly Sunni population.

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

#425
post #180

Ansar Allah (Houthis) is a terrible Islamist group that commits warcrimws against both Yemenis and people thousands of miles away. Here’s just one example, executing men for gayness: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/27/yemen-houthis-sentence-m... “In addition to death sentences that include crucifixion and stoning, the Houthi court sentenced 23 men to prison for periods of up to 10 years. Three of them were also sent…

>Ansar Allah (Houthis) is a terrible Islamist group IMO this is kind of bad framing because it suggests that they're the minority in Yemen, when in reality they basically are the government of 70-80% population of Yemen and absorbed 60+ percent of the Yemeni regular army. They are basically at this point the de-facto Yemeni government

Ansar Allah isn't even close to a majority of the population of Yemen. Yemen is majority-Sunni. Ansar Allah is a militant Zaydi revivalist movement, and what they're attempting to revive is a Zaydi caste system.

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

#426
post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, that is a plausible argument given Dario's public positions. I have to admit that I keep cutting them some slack for standing up against automated kill chains, and domestic surveillance.

To be clear, I don't think they're doing it because they want all the money, I think they truly believe that this is existentially threatening, and are trying to regulate their open source competition away because they think that's the way to be safe. That they can be trusted with the power, but if it's out and about, that's unsafe - they like to compare it to nukes, and they want nuclear non-proliferation.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

This is the most "I get both sides" issue in my mind these days. I am still not sure where I fall, or if there is even a correct position with which to agree. It really seems like there are no good options.

On the one hand, if all knowledge work ended up in two dude's hands, that is really bad. On the other hand, if every surviving child victim of war (US, RU, IL, CN, whatever) has access to the knowledge to make custom viruses for a few grand, that is also really bad.

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

#427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Believe it or not, they're not exactly a 1-to-1. Up until fairly recently, Israel was a stand-out in the region for actually having things like decently fair elections and a political class derived from a relatively wide sample of its populace. Other countries in the region were either Arab nationalist republics, Islamic republics, or authoritarian monarchies. While it was ethno-theocratic, it was one that seemed to…

They want to nuke the land they consider holy?

"The largest issue with Iran having nuclear weapons is that it almost certainly intends to use them against an already nuclear-armed power, Israel, in a way that really doesn't have any rational endgame."

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

#428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but the scale of violence committed by the US and allies is very large. Are there theocratic states recently committing similar levels of violence? Too often in the past, the oppression done by Middle Eastern governments is used to build political support for their destruction by the West.

Iran is known to have killed at least 10,000 of their own people just this year. The US has done bad too, but the scale isn't nearly as large.

> the scale isn't nearly as large.

This year.

... so far.

All sides are bad.

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

#429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All other nuclear nations behave Russia, China, the U.S., North Korea, Israel. These are all countries that absolutely do not behave. Each commits atrocities on a regular basis. Them having nukes makes accountability much more difficult. Just to be clear: the current situation is a huge mess caused by one deranged leader.

> Just to be clear: the current situation is a huge mess caused by one deranged leader. Sorry that's just dead wrong. This doesn't happen in a vacuum. I mean you could simply add Netanyahu and make your statement incorrect here. Nevermind all the other actors, Iran's deranged death cult, and more.

no, it is just trump. netanyahu's been pushing for this for decades, but prior presidents just didn't let themselves be pushed.

as for iran, they've been the picture of restraint since trump's first term.

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

#430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. It's an intolerable premise and if the price to be paid is global oil catastrophe it's a price well worth paying Says you. All other nuclear nations behave (even Pakistan and India, which are at each other throat all the time). What makes you think that Iran won't? It will also have Russia and China keep a lid on them, same as North Korea. And I don't buy the "Iran is different" go…

> All other nuclear nations behave (even Pakistan and India, which are at each other throat all the time). What makes you think that Iran won't?

Because Iran's leadership is actually crazy.

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