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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   1753 thread views

Transnational Thursday for January 11, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Red Sea

Speaking of the Red Sea, things still look chaotic there. The US issued a “final warning” to the Houthis to stop attacking or face reprisal, which the Houthis immediately defied by attacking the next day. It’s been a week since then and it’s unclear to me if the west has escalated in any specific way.

Otherwise, tanker traffic still looks remarkably stable though the shipping behemoth Maesrk has recently put a pause on the route for their vessels though, despite the US sinking three Houthi vessels that attacked Maersk ships.

Don’t worry though, Sri Lanka has now announced they will join Operation Prosperity Guardian.

Don’t worry though, Sri Lanka has now announced they will join Operation Prosperity Guardian.

A sensible decision, though a token one from my understanding of their naval prowess. Funnily enough, they're likely one of the nation's least affected by the closure of the Suez route, since even shipping taking the Horn usually passes by them. I would assume they still see negative effects from increased costs and decreased traffic.

Maybe they are useful as logistical support/base/place to store captured terrorists?

Or is it pure "hey, this is multinational coalition and not only USA"?

I would wager it's mostly optics, and that's not necessarily something to be too cynical about, the world showing a united front is reassuring, even if in the case of Sri Lanka it's more flag waving as better armed navies do the work.

As for detention facilities or the like, I haven't heard of any such arrangement, and I don't see why they'd be a good choice really. For terrorists, I assume there's closer places at hand that don't ask too many questions. Too out of the way for somewhere to dump economic migrants, and they're not notorious for sending illegal immigrants either.

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