The US and UK have hinted they could take military action against Yemen's Houthi rebels, after they repelled the largest attack yet on Red Sea shipping.

Carrier-based jets and warships shot down 21 drones and missiles launched by the Iran-backed group on Tuesday night.

The allies warned of "consequences" for such attacks. Asked about potential strikes in Yemen, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: "Watch this space."

The Houthis said they targeted a US ship providing support to Israel.

The have repeatedly claimed - often falsely - that they are attacking merchant vessels linked to Israel in protest at Israeli actions during the war in Gaza.

Tuesday's attack was the 26th on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since 19 November.

The US military said Iranian-designed one-way attack drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen at around 21:15 local time (18:15 GMT).

Eighteen drones, two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile were shot down by F/A-18 warplanes from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower, which is deployed in the Red Sea, and by four destroyers, the USS Gravely, USS Laboon, USS Mason and HMS Diamond.

HMS Diamond shot down seven of the Houthi drones using its guns and Sea Viper missiles, each costing more than £1m ($1.3m), a defence source said.

No injuries or damage were reported.

Later, Houthi military spokesman Yahya al-Sarea confirmed its forces had carried out an operation involving "a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones".

"It targeted a US ship that was providing support for the Zionist entity [Israel]," he said.

"The operation came as an initial response to the treacherous assault on our naval forces by the US enemy forces," he added, referring to the sinking of three Houthi speed boats and killing of their crews by US Navy helicopters during an attempted attack on a container ship on 31 December.

He added that the rebels would "not hesitate to adequately deal with all hostile threats as part of the legitimate right to defend our country, people and nation".

Mr Sarea also reiterated that the Houthis would continue to "prevent Israeli ships or ships heading towards occupied Palestine from navigating in both the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until the [Israeli] aggression [on Gaza] has come to an end and the blockade has been lifted".

A spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "very concerned" because of the risks the situation posed to global trade, the environment and lives, as well as the "risk of the escalation of the broader conflict in the Middle East".

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution on Wednesday evening demanding the Houthis stop targeting maritime traffic in the Red Sea.

Something has to change in the Red Sea. The current situation is unsustainable, both economically and militarily. From a purely fiscal standpoint there is a massive mismatch between the cost of a Houthi drone (roughly £17,000) and a Royal Navy Sea Viper missile (£1m plus) used to destroy incoming missiles.

Different weapons are used by both sides, with the Houthis also deploying more expensive anti-ship ballistic missiles and uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), ie explosive boat drones. But thanks to Iranian help, the Houthis have a large supply of missiles and drones that they can use in a "swarm attack", hoping to overwhelm the air defences of Western warships.

A new report today by the UK defence think tank Rusi says the Houthis are likely being provided with intelligence by an Iranian surveillance ship in the Red Sea, the MV Behshad.

The pressure on the crews of warships now deployed on the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea is also immense. As former Royal Navy commanders have pointed out, there can be as little as 30 seconds' warning between the detection of an incoming supersonic missile and its impact.

These are all reasons why, if the Houthis persist in these attacks, then direct military action against them is possibly imminent.

Mr Shapps warned in a statement on Wednesday morning that the UK and its allies had "previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences".

"We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy," he added.

Later, the defence secretary said in a TV interview that Iran was "behind so much of the bad things happening in the region" and warned the Islamic Republic and the Houthis that there would be "consequences" if the attacks on shipping did not stop.

Asked if there could be Western military action against Houthi targets in Yemen, or even targets inside Iran, he replied: "I can't go into details but can say the joint statement we issued set out a very clear path that if this doesn't stop then action will be taken. So, I'm afraid the simplest thing to say [is] 'watch this space'."

He was referring to a statement put out a week ago by the UK, US, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore, who launched "Operation Prosperity Guardian" last month to protect Red Sea shipping.

They said the attacks posed "a direct threat to the freedom of navigation that serves as the bedrock of global trade in one of the world's most critical waterways".

It may not have had the bravado of Mr Shapps' "watch this space" warning, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also clear in his condemnation of the incident.

Speaking to reporters at an airport in Bahrain during a Middle East tour, he was pressed by BBC North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher about whether it was time that talk of consequences turned to US action.

Mr Blinken responded that he did not want to "telegraph" a US military move, but that he had spent the past four days in the region warning the Houthis to cease their aggression.

They have not only refused, but after this latest strike have claimed they are specifically targeting US ships.

While he may have declined to go into details, our correspondent says it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine that the "consequences" and the "response" Mr Blinken discussed in Bahrain will not translate into a use of military force.

Almost 15% of global seaborne trade passes through the Red Sea, which is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez canal and is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

The fear is that fuel prices will rise and supply chains will be damaged.

The International Chamber of Shipping says 20% of the world's container ships are now avoiding the Red Sea and using the much longer route around the southern tip of Africa instead.

The Houthis say they have been targeting Israeli-owned or Israel-bound vessels to show their support for the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas since the start of the war in Gaza in October.

Formally known as the Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the Houthis began as a movement that championed Yemen's Zaidi Shia Muslim minority.

In 2014, they took control of the capital, Sanaa, and seized large parts of western Yemen the following year, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in support of the international-recognised Yemeni government.

The ensuing war has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and left 21 million others in need of humanitarian assistance.

Saudi Arabia and the US have accused Iran of smuggling weapons, including drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, to the Houthis in violation of a UN arms embargo. Iran has denied the allegation.

Archived Washington Post

Obama and top level dems are spooked by how unserious Biden is in regards to a Trump victory.

Former president Barack Obama has raised questions about the structure of President Biden’s reelection campaign, discussing the matter directly with Biden and telling the president’s aides and allies the campaign needs to be empowered to make decisions without clearing them with the White House, according to three people familiar with the conversations.

Obama grew “animated” in discussing the 2024 election and former president Donald Trump’s potential return to power, one of the people said, and has suggested to Biden’s advisers that the campaign needs more top-level decision-makers at its headquarters in Wilmington, Del. — or it must empower the people already in place. Obama has not recommended specific individuals, but he has mentioned David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s 2008 race, as the type of senior strategist needed at the Biden campaign.

Obama’s conversation with Biden on the subject took place during a private lunch at the White House in recent months, one of the people said, a meeting that has not been previously reported. Biden, who has long used Obama as a sounding board, invited his former boss to lunch, and the two discussed a range of topics including the 2024 election.

During the lunch, Obama noted the success of his reelection campaign structure in 2012, when some of his top presidential aides, including David Axelrod and Jim Messina, left the White House to take charge of the reelection operation in Chicago. That is a sharp contrast from Biden’s approach of leaving his closest aides at the White House even though they are involved in all the key decisions made by the campaign.

Obama also recommended that Biden seek counsel from Obama’s own former campaign aides, which Biden officials say they have done, the people said. Obama has been even more explicit with people close to Biden, suggesting the campaign needs to move aggressively as Trump appears poised to quickly wrap up the Republican nomination. His concerns about the campaign structure were not tied to a specific moment, but rather his belief that campaigns need to be agile in competitive races, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations.

Spokespeople for Obama and the White House declined to comment.

Obama has long harbored worries about Trump’s political strength, telling Biden during a different private lunch last summer that Trump is a more formidable candidate than many Democrats realize. He cited Trump’s intensely loyal following, a Trump-friendly conservative media ecosystem and a polarized country as advantages for the former president in 2024.

Obama, who commands enormous loyalty and star power in the Democratic Party, is not alone in worrying about Biden’s weak poll numbers and his unorthodox bifurcated campaign structure.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, is based at the campaign headquarters in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, while the president’s top political advisers — Anita Dunn, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti — work more than 100 miles away at the White House. That means any important move by the campaign is run by the White House first, prompting concern among some Democrats as they head into a turbulent contest that is likely to require immediate responses to fast-moving developments.

Axelrod said Friday he could not speak to Obama’s discussions with Biden, but that each president approaches his reelection differently, and Biden’s campaign structure may yet evolve. “Jim and I started building the structure in Chicago in the spring of ’11. President Biden has chosen to keep many of his key political advisers in the White House,” Axelrod wrote in a text message. “But by necessity, I would expect several of them will move fairly soon to the campaign itself.”

But some Democrats running on the ticket with Biden are worried. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who is running for her state’s open Senate seat, has expressed concern to allies that she may not be able to win if Biden is at the top of the ticket, according to people familiar with the conversations. A spokesman for Slotkin’s campaign said she “looks forward to running with President Biden.”

Outside of urging structural changes, Obama’s sense of urgency about the upcoming presidential race has been reflected in his push to raise money for Biden’s effort. He has helped the Biden campaign raise $4 million in small-dollar donations, including $2.6 million through a “Meet the Presidents” contest where donors have the chance to meet Obama and Biden, Biden campaign officials said.

In a statement this summer, Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to Obama, said the former president “looks forward to supporting Democrats up and down the ballot next fall, and no race has bigger stakes than President Biden’s reelection.”

“We place a huge emphasis on finding creative ways to reach new audiences, especially tools that can be directly tied to voter mobilization or volunteer activations,” Schultz said. “We are deliberate in picking our moments because our objective is to move the needle.”

On Thursday, the Biden campaign released a new fundraising video featuring the two leaders. “We need your help to ensure Joe’s leadership continues to guide us forward,” Obama says in the video. “We know the other side won’t rest, so we can’t either.” The relationship between Obama and the man who served as his vice president for eight years is a complex one. The two men developed a strong working relationship and their families bonded well, but aides to both men say the “bromance” depicted in some pop culture accounts was always an exaggeration. These days, Biden and Obama check in with each other periodically, and Obama remains close to many of his former staffers who now work in the White House.

Some Biden allies who have heard about Obama’s musings on their campaign structure are dismissive, still feeling burned by Obama’s decision to support Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election instead of Biden.

The mention of Plouffe in particular irritates some longtime Biden aides, because it was Plouffe whom Obama dispatched to warn Biden that he faced long odds if he decided to seek the presidency in 2016. “The president was not encouraging,” Biden wrote in his memoir, “Promise Me, Dad.”

The Biden aides note bitingly that Clinton, despite Obama’s support, lost to Trump in 2016, a defeat that remains traumatizing for many Democrats. Plouffe declined to comment but has told friends he is retired from active campaign work.

But even Biden is frustrated by his public standing, frequently complaining about his low poll numbers in private conversations with aides. In one meeting shortly before Thanksgiving, he demanded to know what his team and his campaign staff were doing about it. The low approval ratings have persisted despite a humming economy, as the country added 216,000 jobs in December.

Just before year’s end, Biden’s rating tied his record low, with 38 percent approving his performance and 58 percent disapproving, according to a Washington Post average of 17 polls in November and December. Voters, including a majority of Democrats, say they are particularly concerned about Biden’s age and consistently rank it as a bigger problem for the president, 81, than for Trump, 77.

Democrats are also concerned about Biden losing support among younger voters and communities of color because of his handling of the Israel-Gaza war. In December, a New York Times-Siena College poll found that 57 percent of voters disapproved of his handling of the conflict, while 33 percent approved.

Biden’s aides, however, say that if Trump becomes the Republican nominee as analysts on both sides expect, a clear majority of voters will find Biden preferable, given Trump’s chaotic style and anti-democratic tendencies. And in the Times-Siena poll, while all registered voters supported Trump over Biden, those likely to vote favored Biden.

On Friday, Biden held his first major official campaign event, traveling to Valley Forge, Pa., to give a speech blasting Trump as a threat to democracy on the eve of the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Biden launched his reelection campaign in April, but to date his political activity has largely been confined to fundraisers and a few appearances at political rallies hosted by outside groups.

:)

Airbus all the way for me from now on.

But then they get removed and the Democratic Party ghouls demand "four more years" of genocide.

Pretty cool to see such a massive coordinated action pulled off.

The ‘walking route’: How an underground industry is helping migrants flee China for the US

TL:DR a bunch of western brainwormed Chinese citizens choose to expatriate into the U.S by taking treacherous routes through Latin America.

San Diego, California

They come with backpacks carrying a few spare changes of clothes and whatever money and phones they weren’t robbed of by criminals or cartels along the way, arriving at the United States-Mexico border exhausted from the stress of the journey north.

Like the hundreds of thousands of people around them who have also trekked weeks to reach the US, they’re driven by a desperation to escape and make a new life, despite the uncertainty of what’s on the other side.

But these migrants are fleeing the world’s second largest economy and an emerging superpower.

On a recent winter day, dozens of Chinese nationals waited in different makeshift camps scattered outside San Diego, California, just north of the Mexican border.

It gets a little funnier in a bit

Bundled in hoodies and jackets, they huddled around fires as they, and others there, counted the time before US border control agents would take them away for processing – and what they hoped would be the start to their lives in America.

These arrivals are part of a staggering new trend. In the first 11 months of 2023, more than 31,000 Chinese citizens were picked up by law enforcement crossing illegally into the US from Mexico, government data shows – compared with an average of roughly 1,500 per year over the preceding decade.

This whole propaganda article is only about a few thousand people while making it seem like it's millions. Talk about making mountains out of ant hills

Their numbers are still dwarfed by those from regional neighbors like Mexico, Venezuela, and Guatemala, and they are not alone in coming from other parts of the world. But the influx of people from China making that crossing spotlights the urgency many now feel to leave their native country, even in the midst of what leader Xi Jinping has claimed is a “national rejuvenation.”

As China squeaks ever so slightly closer towards socialism, more yankee-brained liberals, small business tyrants, religious cranks and few desperate disillusioned youths that think the grass is greener on the other side will flee to America and other western states.

Many who left point to a struggle to survive.

Three years of Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions left people across China out of work – and disillusioned with the ruling Communist Party’s increasingly tight grip on all aspects of life under Xi. Now, hope that business would fully rebound once restrictions ended a year ago has vanished, with China’s once envious economic growth stuttering.

Blah blah blah China's gonna collapse any day now

Others nod to restrictions on personal life in China, where Xi has overseen a sweeping crackdown on free speech, civil society and religion in the country of 1.4 billion.

“We are Christians,” one neatly dressed middle-aged man said simply when asked what had led him there – a bare encampment thousands of miles from home.

I wonder what kind

These Chinese nationals join migrants from around the world whose numbers have overwhelmed the southwestern US border with illegal crossings in recent months. Most are seeking asylum after they cross – a pathway that may narrow in the coming weeks as Congress is expected to move to stem that flow amid a fierce debate over immigration.

As if it already wasn't narrow as is.

For now, people from China are on track to be the fastest growing group making those crossings, according to a CNN analysis of the latest law enforcement data on border encounters.

Give it a few months and we'll see the talking heads moan about the Argentinan migrant crisis

And as the numbers making their escape have grown, so too has a network of businesses and social media accounts catering to Chinese migrants, who must often take a circuitous route across continents, before beginning the arduous, overland journey north.

The gateway

For many, that overland route begins in Quito, Ecuador – a city of roughly 2.5 million high in the Andean foothills that has become a gateway for those escaping China.

Lots of dangerous land to travel between Ecuador and southern U.S territories.

In 2022, Ecuador documented around 13,000 Chinese nationals entering. In the first 11 months of 2023, that number rose to more than 45,000. The country doesn’t require visas for Chinese passport holders

A cottage industry of businesses caters to the border-bound, starting with airport pickups to arranging stays at Chinese-run hostels and organizing the journey north – often for a hefty fee, CNN reporting has found.

Grifter networks abound

Evidence of the growing trend appears across Quito, if one knows where to look.

At one bus station, a ticket agent has a sign for “the Colombian border” printed in Chinese, ready to flash to potential customers. At a local hospital offering vaccinations – recommended for a treacherous jungle crossing – the Spanish-speaking nurse keeps a Chinese translation of the intake form on her desk.

Hella sketch. I'd fly back to China at this point.

Along the fringes of the city’s central business district are a growing number of businesses linked to the trend, travel agent Long Quanwei, who immigrated to Quito from China five years ago, told CNN last month.

At one of these hostels, where a night’s stay with meals costs about $20, printed Chinese-language maps and instructions pasted to a wall detail each leg of the trip. The owner, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of online backlash, estimates there are 100 such small businesses like hers that cater to Chinese travelers, including those preparing to head north.

“Many people come here and don’t speak English or Spanish, so they look for me,” she said.

You can read the rest if you're bored. It goes on about one of the more sympathetic stories of a rural worker who's had a real rough run of it in China and hates being exploited by his corporate overlords but thinks his life in America will be better. I don't think so, but best of luck dude. After that it's more propaganda bullshit. Save your braincells.

Good at least as far as Palestine is concerned. And he’s still a lib. Toed the line as much as he could. Still got fired. Goes to shows liberalism is literally a dead end.

Link to the post.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah says one of its commanders has been killed in a strike in southern Lebanon believed to have been carried out by Israel.

Wissam Tawil was reportedly a member of the group's elite Radwan Force, and one of the most prominent Hezbollah figures to be killed in the current violence.

Israel's military did not comment, but it did say it had hit Hezbollah targets in response to cross-border attacks.

The clashes have raised fears of a wider regional conflict.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed group that wields considerable military and political power in Lebanon. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and other Western powers.

Its fighters have exchanged fire with Israeli forces almost every day along the border since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip on 7 October.

Israel's prime minister told soldiers stationed on the border with Lebanon on Monday that he was determined to "do everything necessary to restore security to the north".

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that two people - whom it did not name - were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a car in the al-Dabsha area of Khirbet Selim at around 10:15 (08:15 GMT) on Monday.

The strike caused the vehicle to veer off the road and catch fire, it added.

Pictures from the scene showed the burned-out wreck of a car on a roadside.

Lebanese security sources said one of those killed in the strike was Wissam Tawil and that the other was also a Hezbollah fighter.

Three sources told Reuters news agency that Tawil was the deputy head of a unit within Hezbollah's Radwan Force, whose well-trained members are considered the group's special forces.

AFP news agency meanwhile cited another source as saying that Tawil "had a leading role in managing Hezbollah's operations in the south" of Lebanon.

Later, Hezbollah issued a statement announcing Tawil's death and describing him as a "commander". It did not confirm that he was killed in a strike, saying only that he "rose as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem".

The statement provided no details about Tawil's role in Hezbollah, but the group published photos showing him shaking hands with its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and sitting next the late Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.

The group also announced that its fighters had fired at Israeli forces in the Shtoula area of northern Israel and in the disputed Shebaa Farms/Mount Dov area in the occupied Golan Heights.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it would not comment on foreign media reports about Tawil's death.

However, not long after the incident in Khirbet Selim it put out a statement saying that it "struck a number of areas in Lebanese territory" after an anti-tank missile was launched towards the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.

"Additionally, [Israeli Air Force] fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon, including military sites in which Hezbollah terrorists operated," it added.

On Monday afternoon, the IDF said a jet carried out another series of strikes after an aerial defence array intercepted a "suspicious aerial target" that crossed from Lebanon, triggering sirens in the Kfar Blum area.

An Israeli soldier was also lightly injured by an anti-tank missile that was fired towards Mount Dov, it added.

Over the weekend, the IDF's chief spokesman said it had targeted significant military assets of Hezbollah and carried out "damaging" strikes on the Radwan Force in an effort to drive them away from the border. It came after a rocket and missile barrage launched from Lebanon damaged an air traffic control base on Mount Meron.

The cross-border violence over the past three months has already killed dozens of Hezbollah fighters, as well as several Israeli soldiers and Israeli and Lebanese civilians. But so far, Hezbollah has calibrated its actions to prevent a full-scale war with Israel.

Last week, reacting to a suspected Israeli strike that killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and six other people in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut, Hassan Nasrallah warned Israeli authorities against starting a conflict. "Whoever thinks of war with us... he will regret it," he said.

However, crucially, there was no threat from Hezbollah's leader to escalate its actions.

Many in Lebanon still remember the destruction caused by the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and, with Lebanon suffering a massive economic crisis, there is no public support for any military confrontation. Miscalculation, however, is always a risk.

And, in Israel, some senior figures have touted a potential larger offensive against Hezbollah to reduce the threat posed by the group and allow the return of thousands of residents who have been evacuated because of constant attacks.

"We'll create a completely different reality [in the north], or we'll get to another war," IDF chief of staff Lt Gen Herzl Halevi said on Sunday.

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told soldiers at a base in Kiryat Shmona that he wanted to "send a message to Hezbollah".

"Hezbollah made a big mistake with us in 2006 and it is also doing so now. It thought that we were like 'spider's cobwebs'. Suddenly, it sees what kind of 'spider'. It sees great force here, the unity of the people, the determination to do everything necessary to restore security to the north," he said.

"Of course, we prefer that this be done without a wide-ranging campaign, but that will not stop us," he added.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who has been meeting Arab leaders on his latest regional tour, has been trying to de-escalate tensions.

He is also expected to call for Israel to reduce the intensity of its fighting in Gaza amid reports of dozens of Palestinians killed in the latest air strikes.

Police also launched an investigation on Monday morning into piles of dung that were dumped outside constituency offices of Germany’s main coalition parties, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-Left SDP party.

Petit and small bougie continue to be animating class of 21st century