Issue 27
January 12, 2024
FLASH $Microsoft briefly overtakes $Apple as world’s most valuable company
1 In Mideast war escalation, US bombs Yemen
2 Iran seizes oil tanker
3 $1B+ in military aid to Ukraine missing: audit
4 Americans feel negatively about economy: poll
5 OPINION Post-WW2 American world order ending
1991 Congress authorizes Gulf War I
see ad astra on x @greg_loving
1 In Mideast war escalation, US bombs Houthis in Yemen
The United States and five of its allies on Thursday carried out military strikes against more than a dozen targets in Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, in an expansion of the war in the Middle East that the Biden administration had sought to avoid for the past three months. The American-led air and naval strikes came in response to more than two dozen Houthi drone and missile attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November, and after warnings to the Houthis in the past week from the Biden administration and several international allies of serious consequences if the salvos did not stop.
NYT
Iranian-backed Houthi forces and their allies condemned on Friday the American-led military strikes in Yemen and vowed to respond, as the region was on alert for retaliatory attacks that could expand conflict in the Middle East.
NYT
Yemen’s Houthis will not be deterred by United States-led attacks on them in retaliation for their targeting of Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea, and could in fact be emboldened further, say analysts.
the Houthis could gain from a raised regional and domestic profile, as the world’s sole superpower takes on a group that is not internationally recognised as the government of Yemen despite controlling large parts of the country, say experts.
Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/12/how-the-us-uk-bombing-of-yemen-might-help-the-houthis
Oil prices jumped by more than 2% after America and Britain launched air strikes against Houthi militias in Yemen, marking a dramatic escalation in the conflict in the Red Sea.
Economist
http://espresso.economist.com/9f365ac1b27ce95a3f99bdcc68420756
The escalation in the Red Sea is mirrored by maritime mayhem elsewhere. The Black Sea is filling up with mines and crippled warships; this year Ukraine hopes to eject the Russian navy from Crimea, its base since Catherine the Great. The Baltic and North seas face a shadow-war of pipeline and cable sabotage. And Asia is seeing the largest build-up of naval power since the second world war, as China tries to coerce Taiwan into unifying and America seeks to deter a Chinese invasion. After Taiwan’s election on January 13th, tensions there could soar. These events are not a coincidence, but a sign of a profound shift taking place on the planet’s oceans. The world economy is still globalised. Some 80% of trade by volume and 50% by value travels on a fleet of 105,000 container ships, tankers and freight vessels that ply the oceans day and night, taken for granted by the people whose livelihoods depend on them.
Economist
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/01/11/mayday-a-storm-is-brewing-over-mastery-of-the-oceans
Ed. Note: Secretary of Defense, who remains hospitalized, released a statement https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3643830/statement-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-coalition-strikes-in-ho/
2 Iran seizes oil tanker in new threat to Middle East shipping
Iranian forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Oman as the threat to shipping in the Middle East spilled into one of the world’s most important oil export routes. With western countries signalling their likely retaliation to maritime assaults by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in the Red Sea, the capture of the tanker on Thursday raised fears that Tehran could step up its own attacks.
FT
3 $1B+ in military aid to Ukraine not properly tracked by Pentagon: audit
More than $1 billion in military weapons and equipment that the United States has provided Ukraine to fight invading Russian forces cannot be accounted for and is not being fully tracked, according to a Pentagon audit released Thursday. Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been given roughly $45 billion in U.S. military aid that has included a wide range of weapons such as air-defense systems, anti-drone systems, various missiles and rockets and small-arms ammunition. The Defense Department inspector general concluded in the report that about $1 billion in weapons that are required to be tracked have not been.
Stars and Stripes
4 Across demographic lines, Americans feel negatively about economy: poll
Republicans, rural Americans, renters, women and single people feel like they're in a big fat funk financially. 76% of respondents agreed with this statement: "Economists may say things are getting better, but we're not feeling it where I live."
Axios
Half of millennials and Gen Z say they're staying up late worrying about money. Women in particular don't feel like they're getting ahead financially. And nearly 60% of Hispanics say they're more stressed about their household budgets than they were before the pandemic. 49% of Americans overall said their household budget today brings more stress than their pre-pandemic budget.
Axios
https://www.axios.com/2024/01/12/vibes-poll-biden-voters-stressed-money-2024
5 OPINION Post-WW2 American world order ending
It will seem obvious by 2033, if not sooner, that the pax americana faced a well-coordinated challenge from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea in the early 2020s. The first move was the invasion of Ukraine. The second was the war of Iran’s proxies against Israel. The third will most likely be a Chinese challenge to American primacy in the Indo-Pacific, perhaps — if Xi Jinping is bold — a blockade of Taiwan.
The pax americana seems to be ending. The fate of Ukraine — of Israel and Taiwan, too — hangs in the balance. I cannot say I am surprised. It was always very likely that the overreach of the Global War on Terror would be requited in this way: with a resurgence of isolationism.
@nfergus https://www.hoover.org/profiles/niall-ferguson
This day in history
1991 The U.S. Congress gives the green light to military action against Iraq in the Persian Gulf Crisis.
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Sports
Bill Belichick out as Patriots coach after 24 seasons, 6 Super Bowls
