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The lunatic Biden policy with regards to Yemen will obviously fail to reach any positive results. The White House and Biden know this and he has even publicly admitted so much.

Last night the U.S.and UK again bombed Yemen:

Monday night’s moves marked the eighth round of allied attacks on the Houthis since the first on Jan. 12. American and British forces said they hit eight targets, including an underground storage site and locations for launching missiles and carrying out air-surveillance.

I doubt that the U.S. or UK knows anything about Yemeni 'underground storage sites' or other missile locations.

It simply does not have such information:

A third senior official said on Monday that figure may have crept up to 30 to 40 percent after at least 25 to 30 precision-guided munitions successfully hit their targets on Monday. But other U.S. intelligence officials who have been briefed on the size and scope of the Houthis’ arsenal say analysts are not sure how much weaponry the group started with.

American and other Western intelligence agencies have not spent significant time or resources in recent years collecting data on the location of Houthi air defenses, command hubs, munitions depots and storage and production facilities for drones and missiles, the officials said.

The delusion in the White House is that 'doing something', like bombing random targets In Yemen, will change things continues. This question is still unanswered:

How to stop the Houthis – Politico, Jan 22, 2024

Cont. reading: To Hope That China Will Help With Yemen Is Delusional Bullshit

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Mainstream media propagandize their readers not only by what they report but also by not reporting on certain views and issues.

A prime example is a recent New York Times 'news analysis' of a White House position on U.S. troops in the Middle East.

The author is Peter Baker the Times chief White House correspondent.

The headline:

As U.S. and Militias Engage, White House Worries About a Tipping Point
The number of attacks on American troops in the Middle East increases the risk of deaths, a red line that could lead to a wider war.

Another day, another barrage of rockets and another spark that American officials fear could set off a wildfire of violence across the Middle East.

The latest attack on American troops in the region over the weekend resulted in no deaths, but President Biden and his advisers worry that it is only a matter of time. Whenever a report of a strike arrives at the White House Situation Room, officials wonder whether this will be the one that forces a more decisive retaliation and results in a broader regional war.

Baker fails to analyze the White House's assumption. He assumes that there is no alternative, TINA as the deceased British prime minister  Maggie Thatcher used to say.

The only response to a deadly attack would be a wider war without it being said how that war would be waged, against whom or for what purpose.

A hint comes only further down in the piece:

Cont. reading: U.S. Claims No Alternative To Larger Middle East War

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Only for news & views directly related to the war in Ukraine.

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Last week's post on Moon of Alabama:

Ukraine:

• January 15 – Former Presidential Spokesman Arestovich Speaks Of Peace And A Multinational Ukraine
• January 17 – Ukraine Copies Russia's 'Active Defense' Tactic
• January 18 – Ukraine – Iovi Snubs Bovi – Huffy Bovi Moos Back
  Related:
  – Robert Fico: the Strategy of the West to the Ukraine simply does not work (in Czech) – Pravda.sk
  – The War in Ukraine Has Become a Peripheral Concern for the West – Carnegie Endowment
  – Former Nato chief: ‘If Ukraine loses, our enemies will decide the world order’ – Telegraph
  – A Plea to End the War in Ukraine – Sonar 21

Middle East:

• January 16 – War On Gaza – Iran Demonstrates Its Means Of Self-defense
• January 18 – Mainstream Media Lies About U.S. Wars In Iraq Wear On
• January 19 – U.S. President Engages In Therapeutic Killing Of Yemeni Children
  Related:
  – Redesignating the Houthis a terrorist group is not a bad policy: it is no policy at all – Chatham House
  – How Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea threaten Israel’s economy – Washington Post
  – Saudi says escalating tensions amid Houthi attacks and US strikes are dangerous – Reuters
  – As Houthis vow to fight on, U.S. prepares for sustained campaign – Washington Post
  – How the US created the “Iran-backed Houthis” – Nonzero

  – EU’s top diplomat accuses Israel of funding Hamas – Politico.eu
  – Famine expert Alex de Waal on Israel’s starvation of Gaza – New Humanitarian
  – Israeli HQ ordered troops to shoot Israeli captives on 7 October – Electronic Intifada
  – Netanyahu’s Gamble: Is Israel preparing for another war? (video) – New Rules with Alastair Crooke

  – Divisions Emerging in Israel Over Gaza War – New York Times
  – Biden: Two-state solution still possible with Netanyahu in power – Politico
  – Israel's Netanyahu told US he opposes Palestinian state after Gaza war – AL Monitor

Source – bigger

—
Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2024-022

This morning Israel bombed a three story house in Damascus. The attack killed General Haj Sadegh Omidzadeh, deputy intelligence officer of IRGC's Quds Force, along with his deputy Haj Gholam (Muharram). This was most likely a revenge act for the killing of Israeli intelligence assets four days ago by an Iranian missile strike in Erbil, Iraq.

—

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The President of the United States endorses the therapeutic killing of Yemenis, including their children.

• Remarks by President Biden Before Marine One Departure – White House, Jan 18 2024

Q Are the airstrikes in Yemen working?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, when you say “working,” are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.

But why? What's the strategy?

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News & views (not related the wars in Ukraine and Palestine) …

Another blatant mainstream media lie:

• How Israel’s war in Gaza became a tangled crisis spanning the Middle East – Washington Post, Jan 17, 2024

> Roughly 2,500 U.S. personnel are based in Iraq, with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani saying that their presence is needed to help stop the Islamic State from regaining ground. <

Reality:

• Baghdad Seeking ‘Arrangements’ to End Deployment of Int’l Coalition – Asharq Al-Awsat, Dec 29, 2023
• Iraq: PM says government to start process of removing US-led forces – MEE, Jan 5, 2024
• Iraq decision to end US military presence ‘irreversible’: Sudani – ABNA, Jan 6, 2024
• Iraq preparing to end presence of US-led coalition, says PM Mohamed Shia al-Sudani – WION via MSN, Jan 10, 2024
• Exclusive-Iraq seeks quick exit of US forces but no deadline set, PM says – Reuters via AOL, Jan 10, 2024
• Iraq seeks quick exit of US forces: Sudani – ABNA, Jan 11, 2024
• Iraq discusses security cooperation with NATO – Iraqi News, Jan 17, 2024

> The meeting addressed the withdrawal of the international coalition forces in Iraq, which the government included in its agenda following the development achieved by the Iraqi forces.

The Iraqi Prime Minister also talked about the need to end the mission of the international coalition in Iraq through dialogue to ensure a smooth transition of its duties.

Al-Sudani explained that Iraq does not mind cooperating with the countries of the international coalition in fields of armament, training, and equipment within the framework of bilateral ties that unite Iraq and the coalition’s member countries. <

From hero to zero:

• China snubs Zelenskyy in Switzerland – Politico, Jan 17, 2024 – 13:45 UTC

DAVOS, Switzerland — Ukrainian leaders made no secret of wanting to meet with Chinese officials in Switzerland this week but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has headed home without the desired encounter in a blow to Kyiv.

China’s delegation in Switzerland had ample opportunity to sit across from their Ukrainian counterparts, whether in Bern or at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Any meeting would have satisfied a long-standing hope in Kyiv to hold frank, in-person discussions with senior officials from Beijing. Just before a multi-nation peace summit in the Swiss Alps, Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said it was imperative for China to join peace talks and hinted that Zelenskyy would have an opportunity to chat with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

In the end, Ukraine made no headway on getting China to commit to negotiations, and Zelenskyy and Li failed to speak.

• Chinese PM not on my level – Zelensky  -  RT, Jan 17 2024 – 18:46 UTC

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed on Wednesday that he had not actually sought to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos this week. The remarks come amid media reports that China’s top official shot down Zelensky’s request for a meeting at the event.

The Premier is not the person calling the shots in China, Zelensky asserted, suggesting Li was not a high enough official to be worth meeting altogether.

“There is a Chinese Premier – then our prime minister will meet with him. I would love to meet with the leader of China. As far as I know, [in China] Xi Jinping makes decisions, and in Ukraine, I make decisions. I don’t need just any dialogues; I need important decisions from the leaders who make these decisions,” Zelensky stated.

The snub from Zelensky comes amid media reports suggesting the Ukrainian president actually wanted to meet Li at the forum, but the request was shot down by the Chinese side. Thus far, Beijing has not commented on the prospect of any high-profile meetings with the Ukrainian leadership or responded to Zelensky’s remarks.

The shameful (for Zelenski) episode is only a part of the bigger picture:

Cont. reading: Ukraine – Iovi Snubs Bovi – Huffy Bovi Moos Back

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Since September 2023 the Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and President Vladimir Putin have multiple times commented on the operation of Russian forces in Ukraine. They described the disposition of Russian troops in Ukraine as 'active defense'.

• Shoigu says Russians engaged in ‘active defense’ in Ukraine: No option but to win – Al Arabia, Sept 13 2023
• "They are facing our active defense": Shoigu announced the improvement of the tactical position of the Russian Armed Forces in the NVO zone – Tellerreport, Oct 17 2023
• Ukraine updates: Russia making frontline gains, Putin claims – DW, Oct 15, 2023
  Putin called Russia's Ukraine offensive "an active defense."

The U.S. Defense Department defines active defense as:

The employment of limited offensive action and counterattacks to deny a contested area or position to the enemy. See also passive defense.

I would add that the elimination of enemy salients and the general straightening of local defense lines is part of an active defense.

Russia has used this from of combat all over the frontline. Attacks have been small to gain limited ground, better positions or heights. Most of the time an active defense force will concentrate on the elimination of any local enemy offense and general enemy capabilities.

Russia has done well with this tactic because it allowed to destroy a huge number of Ukrainian forces who attempted to attack Russian positions again and again. In December, months after Putin and Shoigu had spoken about active defense, the neoconservative Institute for the Study of War declared that it was subterfuge:

Cont. reading: Ukraine Copies Russia’s ‘Active Defense’ Tactic

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During the one hundred days of war by Israel on all people in Gaza the members of the 'resistance axis' responded to the onslaught.

Hamas in Gaza successfully attacked invading Israeli forces. Even yesterday it still launched missiles from north Gaza towards Israel. Hizbullah in Lebanon attacked Israel on its border. Iraqi resistance groups attacked U.S. bases in Syria and Iraq. The Houthi in Yemen attacked ships related to Israel.

The U.S./Israel axis escalated from there. Israel killed Hamas officials who openly lived in Beirut. It also killed an IRGC official in Syria and a Hizbullah official in Lebanon. The U.S. bombed the Houthi as well as resistance groups in Iraq and Syria. An ISIS attack, likely instigated by the U.S., killed some 100 people in Kerman, Iran.

After the U.S. attacked Iraqi resistance groups in Syria and Iraq these intensified their attacks on U.S. bases. Hizbullah slowly increased the reach of its responses to Israeli attacks on Lebanon. After the U.S. bombing in Yemen the Houthi responded by adding U.S. and UK related ships to their target list. Yesterday a U.S. owned ship was hit by a Houthi missile.

The resistance axis is a collection of groups loosely connected to Iran. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp has trained these groups. But it did much more than the usual U.S. military training would do. The IRGC encouraged the groups to contact each other and to exchange knowledge. They now cooperate on all levels. Iran brought in new technologies and weapons and taught each group on how to make their own copies. Today Hizbullah intelligence people teach Houthi how to systematically interpret U.S. actions. Houthi and Iraqis exchange missile and drone building plans.

The axis of resistance has become an assembly of quite autonomous entities who no longer depend on deliveries or orders from Iran. But they all follow the same anti-colonial ideology.

The U.S. tried to interrupt the resistance development by, in 2020, killing Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the IRGC and founder of the resistance axis. It was in vain. The resistance was already too developed. It continued to grew on its own despite U.S. attempts of interference. After Soleimani's death Iranian support for its resistance partners increased:

Cont. reading: War On Gaza – Iran Demonstrates Its Means Of Self-defense

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Unherd has an interesting interview with Aleksey Arestovich (video version), the former spokesperson of the presidential office of Ukraine. Arestovich has fled from Ukraine to the U.S. after two political prosecutions were opened against him.

He confirms, as a dozen other former and current officials have done, that peace talks held between Russia and Ukraine in March 2022 in Istanbul were very successful:

Q: Do you think that bilateral negotiations between Ukraine and Russia could have worked earlier in the process? There has been a lot of discussion around those early months, March, April, May 2020, there were negotiations in Istanbul.

A: Yeah, I was a member of the Istanbul process, and it was the most profitable agreement we could have done. They concluded there two previous agreements that were extremely dangerous for Ukraine: Minsk one and Minsk two. This agreement even contained the question of Crimea. It took 10 years of discussion, 15 years of discussion on the status of Crimea, and it meant security for the Black Sea. But now — I don’t know. Because mid-agreement in Istanbul we came to Kiev and after Bucha we heard from the President that we had stopped the negotiations. The next meeting was to be on the ninth of April and on the second of April it was declined.

Ukraine rejected the 'most profitable agreement' that it could have had. The question is why. Arestovich makes it seem that the false flag atrocities in Bucha played a decisive role:

Cont. reading: Former Presidential Spokesman Arestovich Speaks Of Peace And A Multinational Ukraine

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