LOS ANGELES.–Tesla Motors Berlin announced today that it would shut down production from Jan. 29 to Feb. 11 due to shipping delays from the Red Sea where Yemen’s Iran-funded Houthi rebels attack shipping in international waters. President Joe Biden, 81, had ordered the U.S. carrier strike groups Gerald R. Ford and Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Mediterranean to prevent an escalation of the Oct. 7 Israeli-Hamas War. Whatever Biden knows at this point is anyone’s guess. But you’d think that his national security team led by 61-year-old Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and 47-year-old National Security Adiser Jake Sullivan know that Iran presents a clear-and-present danger to international shipping, funding the Shiite Houthi rebels to recklessly attack international shipping in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Biden has failed his national security mandate.
Announcing today that it would delay Tesla production in Berlin is a blow to U.S. credibility in the Horn of Africa and Mideast. Biden finds himself mired in a reckless Ukraine War, pouring billions of U.S. tax dollars into the bankrupt Kiev government, pretending that it defends European security. How can a war on the European Continent protect European security? It does just the opposite, but, more importantly, it dilutes the U.S. foreign policy and Pentagon capacity to manage the open seas. Tesla is the first multinational company to admit its output has been disrupted by Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatolah Ali Khemene is taking full advantage of Biden’s age and inability to manage U.S. diplomacy to contain overseas crises. Without the Kremlin as a global partner, Biden has put U.S. foreign policy out on a dangerous limb.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said, on more than one occasion, that he’s amenable to peace talks with Ukraine. But Biden and Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky are only interested in more war. Ukraine has had its head under Zelensky’s leadership handed to it, losing over 20% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Every objective military analysis, except coming from Kiev’s spin machine, says the conflict is frozen, not just because of the winter but because Zelensky has managed the war poorly. So, when it comes to Biden putting Pentagon resources where is belongs, he continues a senseless war, usurping vital national security assets to fight the Kremlin in a futile effort to degrade the Russian military. Instead of wasting Pentagon resources on Ukraine, Biden should move the conflict to peace talks to resume normal U.S.-Russian relations.
If the U.S. had normal relations with the Kremlin, both countries could resolve shipping problems in the Red Sea or anywhere else. Instead of more sanctions against Moscow, Biden should be restoring normal diplomatic relations by ending his proxy war against the Kremlin. Whatever Ukraine has to give up to secure a lasting peace with Russia, it’s worth it, especially with the U.S. no longer having Moscow as a strategic partner but a mortal enemy. Consequences of the Ukraine War are now felt in supply chains needed to keep the Berlin Tesla assembly line rolling. Biden’s reckless proxy war against the Kremlin has driven it into a dangerous partnership with Communist China, where Chinese President Xi Jimping sees Biden, much like Putin, as threat to Beijing’s national security. Truth be told, Biden isn’t capable of any global diplomacy because of his hearing and cognitive issues.
Biden’s proxy war against the Kremlin has come back to bite U.S. foreign policy and national security. Now global shipping disruptions have happened in the Red Sea, a major shipping lane heading to Europe. “The armed conflict in the Red Sea and the associated shifts in transport routes between Europe and Asia via the Cape of Good Hope are also having an impact on production in Gruenhede,” Tesla said. What a failure of global diplomacy that Biden persists in fighting the Kremlin rather than telling Zelensk to go to the peace table and negotiate an end to the conflict for global security. All the claptrap about Putin trying to take over Europe is utter rubbish, doing nothing for U.S. foreign policy. Biden simply isn’t equipped at age 81 to handle global diplomacy.
Sending ships away from the Suez Canal and through the Cape of Good Hope costs about $1 million in added fuel expenses, not to mention more diesel pollution. “The considerably longer transportation time are creating a gap in supply chains,” said Tesla. With the Ayatollah sponsoring terrorism around the Horn and in the Mideast, the White House must take action to curtain now recognized disruptions to the global supply chain. Red Sea shipping accounts for 12% of maritime traffic. Major shipping companies Maersk and Happag-Lloyd have been sending traffic around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid attacks of tankers and freighters. Biden can no longer ignore Iran’s role supplying arms-and-cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels to disrupt international commerce. Foreign governments know the U.S. isn’t what it used to be in guaranteeing freedom of commerce and navigation.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlneColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
