• BeamBrain [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    63·
    9 months ago

    “Why won’t the people we’ve repeatedly demonized and called for war against protect us from the consequences of our own actions???”

    Once you’ve deprogrammed yourself of the idea that western hegemony is the natural state of the world, it’s so easy to see just how arrogant and entitled these people are.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    62·
    9 months ago

    I love that shipping insurance rates are spiking for western companies but not China or Russia. It makes the comfort bombing campaign so much more pathetic when it undermines all of the west’s strategic goals.

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      35·
      9 months ago

      Why would China’s shipping suffer when most of their traffic is in and around the South Pacific?

      Like, there’s a reason Israel exists, and its to guard-dog the Suez for the benefit of oligarchs in and around the Mediterranean. But China is far more invested in the Straight of Taiwan than the Red Sea, as they’ve got very little in the way of proxies and economic investment on that side of the planet.

      But what’s really funny is that in Republicans’ rush to villainize China, they’ve missed a much more obvious and presumably even easier target to screech about - South Africa! You know, the country around which all that Suez traffic now has to circle on its way to Europe. Guess who is absolutely cleaning up right now, thanks to the enormous increase in business traffic? Guess who is heavily invested in Palestinian Rights at the ICJ, atm? Guess who is a BRICS member most well-positioned to benefit from Russian mercenaries driving the last vestiges of Western colonialists out of the Sub-Sahara?

      But because NRO only knows how to play one note, they’ve completely missed a ripe opportunity to be super racist under cover of neoliberal internationalist dogma.

      It makes the comfort bombing campaign so much more pathetic when it undermines all of the west’s strategic goals.

      The goal is to reclaim the Gulf of Adan, reopen traffic through the Suez, and reestablish trade flow to allies in Western Europe. I would not say it undermines the goal, only that the goal is moving farther and farther away from reach as Israel’s slaughter in Gaza continues. We’re shoving more and more fingers into the dam as the Israelis and Turks and Saudis steal stones out of the foundation.

      • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        26·
        9 months ago

        The maritime channel I follow on youtube laid out two major Chinese shipping routes through that area. The US East Coast-China route only loses a few days if China diverts shipping around South Africa. However, US ports can’t handle the largest Chinese cargo ships. Their main big ship route is to Europe for which a South Africa diversion is like a two week difference across very dangerous waters.

        By the west’s strategic goal I’m referring to the explicit mission of the US Navy and justification for US power projection, protecting maritime shipping routes. But it’s only hurting western consumers and western-flagged shipping lines, making the former hostile to the US presence in the region and the latter more incentivised to register with a BRICS country. The most vulnerable ships to attack are ones shipping the natural gas Europe’s economy needs from the American refineries that have tried to absorb Russia’s supply deficit since that’s the main revenue source for Russia’s war that’s undermining NATO. The naval presence required to protect the more expensive logistics lines risks open regional ground war every time they intercept a missile within machine gun range of a ship, and that’s another war the US will lose while compounding all of the problems the Houthi attacks have highlighted. They have the narrow focus of reclaiming control of the shipping route in the same way that Ukraine had a strategic focus on controlling Avdiivka. The bigger picture makes that look like a psychotic devotion to dying on hamburger hill.

        • zifnab25 [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
          6·
          9 months ago

          However, US ports can’t handle the largest Chinese cargo ships.

          TIL. I would never have suspected.

          The most vulnerable ships to attack are ones shipping the natural gas Europe’s economy needs from the American refineries

          Okay, but surely they’re not passing through the Suez.

          They have the narrow focus of reclaiming control of the shipping route in the same way that Ukraine had a strategic focus on controlling Avdiivka. The bigger picture makes that look like a psychotic devotion to dying on hamburger hill.

          The ideology of the American Empire isn’t all that far off from the Israel state. Its the American version of the Dahiya doctrine. We have to crush the Houthis because they dared to strike at us. Just like we had to crush the Taliban and Saddam and Al-Assad and Qaddafi. Presumably, we’re going to try and wreck the shit out of Iran before too long, but only if we can decouple ourselves from all the other wars long enough to get around to it.

          • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
            8·
            9 months ago

            From what I’ve seen, like 20%~ of northbound Suez Canal LNG traffic and 50% of southbound is from the US. The US>Asia ones, which can’t use the Panama Canal since it’s running at 30% capacity with huge backups, are operating under carriers that cut all their traffic through the canal regardless of destination. All petroleum and fuel tankers are extra vulnerable so things like diesel and jet fuel are also being impacted.