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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   22304 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026

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The Houthis agreed to stop attacking the US Navy

The statement from Oman was that "In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping" so I don't think this is correct. The US government indicated the same.

which were the only "US vessels" that even attempted to cross the Bab el Mandeb during Trump's term.

This is incorrect also; it was publicized that Maersk sent a US-flagged vessel through this January.

since the very start of operations

This is an article from April 10, 2025, referencing a blockade that started in 2023 and a bombing campaign that started March 15, 2025.

which ultimately left the blockade in place

Yes, the blockade is currently so in place that traffic noticeably increased and Maersk resumed transiting the Bab al-Mandab.

What I would say isn't a good idea is repeatedly letting the whole world see the hard limits of American power as some mid tier power grabs control of key international waterways and squeezes while the President impotently screams and issues a half dozen contradictory statements ranging from "It doesn't matter, high oil prices are good" to "We'll bomb all their power plants" to "We'll send in the Marines". This whole affair seems like a combination of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Suez Crisis, neither of which were "good ideas" with positive consequences for the countries involved.

Sure, the jury is going to be out on this war until it is concluded (and perhaps for some time after that.)

Well currently it seems like neutral countries are choosing to pay the Ayatollah Toll rather than try to take the Strait by force so I'd say that's not a great sign for the wisdom of this operation

Man, Trump snatching Maduro has really set insane expectations for the duration of military operations. I'm going to have a stroke if I get on here to read about the Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030 or whenever and people are declaring it a failure when it's not over after 3 hours.

Anyway, if you read up a bit on US doctrine, you'll see that against a large regional threat like Iran, the doctrine will be to systematically dismantle larger threats before moving to smaller ones, a process that is both imperfect and time-consuming. Possibly US operations will fail in this area, but I think it is too soon to judge - the US is unlikely to move ships into the Strait until it has sanitized the area thoroughly, which is such an exhaustive process that I would not be surprised if the US reached a political solution to the problem before achieving a military one.

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