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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   23649 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 7, 2026

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It's interesting the Houthis have been remarkably restrained. I even thought it was them who struck the pipeline but no it was Iran backed militias in Iraq.

Hopium but I bet the Houthis just want to win their own fight, and don't really care too much about the Iran thing except that it's distracting the rest of the world. And they know that if they start trouble, the Americans will get involved, but if they keep allowing shipping through, the American's won't touch the conflict with a 10 foot pole. The Saudi backed side has remarkably underperformed so likely they will probably turn tail and run back to their corner of the country and hunker down.

As far as oil going through the strait, IMO it is difficult to ascertain the true figures. ... Maybe someone has better data.

For osint the best I found was twitter for tankertrackers lvision_trading, phileeppos

It's interesting the Houthis have been remarkably restrained.

One possibility, although I have no specific evidence for it, is that the open conflict has allowed interdiction (or just dissuaded) Iranian shipping to their proxies. Sinking Iranian-flagged (or obvious false flagged) ships smuggling missiles in peacetime would cause trouble; less so today.

I don't think Yemen is making it's own long-range ballistic or anti-ship missiles. Small arms seem less of a logistical concern. But you could be right that restraint is being exercised locally.

I think the Houthis will also want to avoid a scenario where Iran has to stop supporting foreign militias as part of a peace deal, which would only marginally better for them than Trump invading. And they would also not want to piss off Iran too much, because if Iran stops supporting then Saudi-bought bombs might eventually wear them down.

And they know that if they start trouble, the Americans will get involved, but if they keep allowing shipping through, the American's won't touch the conflict with a 10 foot pole.

I expect Trump has told them this in so many words.

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