Targeting another commercial ship in the Red Sea, Iranian-backed Houth rebels continue their rampage unabated, with the USS Eisenhower carrier strike group called back to Norfolk, Virginia. President Joe Biden’s Ukraine War has left U.S. foreign policy and national security in shambles, unable to defend hot spots around the globe without Russian help. Whether adversaries on some issues or not, Biden has turned the once cooperative Russian Federation into a mortal enemy, giving the U.S. no intel or help when it comes to terrorism Before Biden was president, the U.S. could count on Russia to help in the war on terror, especially in the Middle East, Horn of Africa and Asia. With Biden funding proxy war against the Kremlin, there’s zero help coming from 71-year-old President Vladimir Putin, now seeing the Ukraine War as one between Moscow and Washington.
Returning the USS Eisenhower to port shows the extent to which long deployments can’t accomplish their mission of assuring safe travel for global shipping in international waters. Houthi rebels laugh off the periodic throwaway missile attacks, having no practical effect on discouraging more attacks on commercial shipping. Whether or not the Dwight D. Esisenhower is replaced by Theodore Roosevelt, the same problem exists with U.S. foreign policy. Biden has no linkage with other adversaries to help contain Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism, leaving the U.S. navy out on a dangerous limb. Iran’s Houthi rebels have diverted some 80% of commercial shipping from the Red Sea, forcing commercial ships to take the long, costly route
costing millions more in shipping costs to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, adding at least two weeks to shipping time.
Biden’s Ukraine War policy has focused only on the microcosm of a territorial dispute between Ukraine and the Kremlin. U.S. foreign policy has bigger fish to fry in the scheme of things with the Russian Federation and China. Yet with Biden funding proxy war against the Kremlin, he’s left Putin no choice but to build coalitions with past trading partners seeking to avoid U.S. and European Union [EU] sanctions. Biden once threatened to hit Putin with the most crippling U.S. sanctions in history, before he realized that he didn’t need the European market to sell petroleum and natural gas. Biden wanted everyone to go along with his sanctions against the Kremlin but found that Russia’s loyal trading partners like China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia, etc. would buy unprecedented amounts to petroleum and natural gas to compensate for the loss of EU revenue.
Biden had plenty of time since the Ukraine War began Feb. 24, 2022, to find an alternative strategy to moving the conflict to the peace table. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, 46, has rejected all peace proposals from China, Brazil, South Africa and others, all because they call for negotiation and compromise. As long as the U.S. foots the bill and supplies the lethal weapons, Zelensky has no incentive to compromise to end the conflict. Putin has made several offers to end the conflict if Zelensky accepts Russian sovereignty over Crimea and independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, both Russian speaking provinces in Ukraine’s Donbas region. Zelensky seems perfectly content to pay Kiev’s bankrupt government with U.S. tax dollars into the indefinite future. Zelensky feels no pressure to settle the conflict because he has the cash to keep the war going.
When it comes to global cooperation with U.S. adversaries, Biden has created a mess of things trying to subvert China’s power in the South China Sea, assembling a coalition of Pacific Rim countries, including Japan, Philippines and Australia, to challenge China’s power in the region. Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have asked Biden to stop meddling in the Indo-Eastern Europe and the Indo-Pacific, both rejected by Washington. Last week’s trip to North Korea and Vietnam irked the White House, fearing Putin could start arming North Korea and Vietnam, both sharing communist governments. State Department officials fear a new arms race on the Korean Peninsula, already fraught with daily threats and skirmishes. Biden’s deployment of the USS Eisenhower to the Red Sea failed because Iran has now aligned with Russia to counter U.S. power in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.
Biden hasn’t figured out, nor will he, that the U.S. military can’t go it alone without global cooperation with American adversaries, including Russia. If Biden really wants to contain the Houthis or Iran itself, he needs to stop the Ukraine War and start reinstating diplomacy, détente and arms control with the Kremlin. As long as Biden funds proxy war against the Kremlin, how’s he supposed to get cooperation from Putin? Whether the war with Hamas ends anytime soon, Iran’s Houthi backed rebels will continue attacking commercial shipping until they’re stopped by extra clout from Russia or China. Sinking the Belize-flagged Tubymar fertilizer ship in the Red Sea, it’s clear to most commercial ships that they can no longer afford the risks in the Red Sea. What’s the International Court of Justice going to do to stop Houthi rebels in the Red Sea?
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
