« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: When a nation’s warships avoid the Red Sea because of the Houthis, that nation looks bad  (Read 368 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline rangerrebew

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 176,911
When a nation’s warships avoid the Red Sea because of the Houthis, that nation looks bad
« on: November 01, 2024, 07:36:41 am »
 
When a nation’s warships avoid the Red Sea because of the Houthis, that nation looks bad
Story by Tom Sharpe • 19h


On Monday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius decided that a German Navy task group (of two ships) returning to Europe from the Indo-Pacific would not run the Houthi missile gauntlet in the southern Red Sea. They will instead go south around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa.
 
There are many reasons for this decision, some sensible, some questionable, but let’s start with one unavoidable truth – the optics are horrible. A Nato and EU naval task group is unwilling to pass by a terrorist militia: unwilling to confront the risk that unarmed merchant mariners face in those waters every day when they are ordered to go through by their owners. I guarantee the German sailors will be livid about this – they’ll know how it looks, and how easily it could be avoided.

I won’t dwell on the politics of this decision but the Germans have been part of the EU naval task group countering Houthi aggression and reassuring shipping through the Bab-el-Mandeb chokepoint at the southern end of the Red Sea before. Suffice it to say, this decision to avoid the area is not a pro/anti-Israel thing. It will still have been decided at the political level.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/when-a-nation-s-warships-avoid-the-red-sea-because-of-the-houthis-that-nation-looks-bad/ar-AA1th5hm?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=2e847fee6da340eaa3733d94556ad095&ei=114
Logged
The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.  George Washington - Farewell Address

Offline rangerrebew

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 176,911
Re: When a nation’s warships avoid the Red Sea because of the Houthis, that nation looks bad
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2024, 07:37:28 am »
So, this is one of our heroic allies, huh? *****rollingeyes*****

Logged
The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.  George Washington - Farewell Address

Offline rustynail

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,755
Re: When a nation’s warships avoid the Red Sea because of the Houthis, that nation looks bad
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2024, 08:37:40 am »
They remember the Bismarck.
Logged

Offline Smokin Joe

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 61,101
  • I was a "conspiracy theorist". Now I'm just right.
Re: When a nation’s warships avoid the Red Sea because of the Houthis, that nation looks bad
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2024, 08:55:25 am »
They have a 65 ship navy, of which 11 frigates and 5 corvettes make up the bulk of the offensive compliment. The rest are subs, minesweepers, replenishment ships or auxiliary vessels.
No Bismarck nor the modern equivalent there. They'd risk 1/8 of their effective offensive navy. :shrug:
Logged
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Online Wingnut

  • The problem with everything is they try and make it better without realizing the old way is fine.
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21,315
  • Gender: Male
Re: When a nation’s warships avoid the Red Sea because of the Houthis, that nation looks bad
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2024, 08:55:28 am »
Quote from: rustynail on November 01, 2024, 08:37:40 am
They remember the Bismarck.

I remember sinking a Bismarck or two in my yute.
Logged
You don’t become cooler with age but you do care progressively less about being cool, which is the only true way to actually be cool.
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »