Houthi aggression threatens global commerce and highlights Joe Biden's fecklessness

When pressed to identify a major accomplishment of Joe Biden, his apologists are likely to cite his efforts to “revive” NATO and rally it behind the cause of aiding Ukraine’s heroic struggle against Russian aggression. How ironic, then, that with Ukraine running out of ammunition, Biden has been unable to rally Congress behind the cause of providing more aid.

The fault isn’t solely Biden’s. House Republicans, still under the spell of Donald Trump, seem okay with a Russian conquest of Ukraine.

Nonetheless, House Republicans are willing to continue aiding Ukraine in exchange for meaningful measures to combat illegal immigration to the U.S. Unfortunately, Biden, still under the spell of left-wing Democrats, has failed so far to exercise the leadership necessary to consummate this deal.

Meanwhile, Biden is failing another test involving NATO nations and other U.S. allies. He has failed so far to form a coalition to restore safe passage for shipping through the Red Sea.

The need to restore safe passage is obvious (the need for a coalition is not — see below). Andrew Stuttaford, citing CNN, points out that 10 to 15 percent of global trade, including 30 percent of container trade, passes through these lanes. But the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen have attacked ships using these lanes, making them unsafe and causing some shipping companies to halt operations in the Red Sea.

Indeed, Bloomberg reported today:

Half of the container-ship fleet that regularly transits the Red Sea and Suez Canal is avoiding the route now because of the threat of attacks, according to new industry data.

The tally compiled by Flexport Inc. shows 299 vessels with a combined capacity to carry 4.3 million 20-foot containers have either changed course or plan to. That’s about double the number from a week ago and equates to about 18% of global capacity.

The diverted journeys around Africa can take as much as 25% longer than using the Suez Canal shortcut between Asia and Europe, according to Flexport. Those trips are more costly and may lead to higher prices for consumers on everything from sneakers to food to oil if the longer sailings persist.

Biden has responded by announcing the formation of a coalition project called Operation Prosperity Guardian. The coalition is supposed to launch a new maritime force that will restore safe passage.

However, according to Reuters, “two of America’s European allies who were listed as contributors to Operation Prosperity Guardian — Italy and Spain — issued statements appearing to distance themselves from the maritime force.” Moreover, “nearly half of [the] countries [that supposedly are part of the coalition] have so far not come forward to acknowledge their contributions or allowed the U.S. to do so.”

Again, the fault isn’t solely Biden’s. As Stuttaford observes, would-be coalition partners “are worried about the extent of the ‘pro-Palestinian’ protests seen in their cities.” Furthermore, some countries not formally joining the Red Sea maritime task force could still coordinate patrols with the U.S. Navy pursuant to other joint arrangements with the U.S.

Even so, America shouldn’t have this much trouble putting together a coalition for joint action to protect international commerce from the Houthis. After all, the Houthis are not Palestinian.

In fact, it’s not clear to me that the U.S. should even need joint action here. The problem in the Red Sea isn’t really the Houthis; it’s the Iranian regime that controls them. In that sense, the Houthis are like the militants in Iraq who routinely bombard U.S. forces, occasionally wounding our troops. Both forms of aggression should be viewed as part of the same offensive by Iran, and our failure to respond effectively to one encourages more of the other.

Yet, Biden persists in using “narrowly tailored, proportionate” responses to Iranian-backed aggression in Iraq. So the attacks continue, both in Iraq and the Red Sea.

What’s needed is a response sufficient to deter all Iranian backed aggression, including that emanating from Sudan. If this means strikes in Iran itself — and it might — then this option should receive serious consideration. In any case, our response should be neither “narrowly tailored” nor “proportionate.”

Biden would prefer, of course, to work with allies. That’s okay as a preference, but not as a prerequisite.

Our actions don’t need to pass what John Kerry called a “global test.” They just have serve America’s interest.

Joe Biden’s unwillingness to accept this basic principle renders his foreign policy feckless and dangerous.