Since the end of 2023, the Houthis (officially known as Ansarallah), the Shia militia that effectively controls most of Yemen, have launched a massive attack on civilian shipping in the Red Sea.
Having chosen a narrow section of the Red Sea, the Houthis threaten to cut off an important trade route through which 15 to 20% of the world’s trade flows, about a third of the world’s container transportation.
Four of the world’s five largest shipping companies and several oil giants (such as British Petroleum) have already suspended shipping through the Red Sea, causing a sharp rise in prices and supply disruptions. Using a detour around Africa could lead to global increases in transportation costs and fuel inflation in the world.
Although the direct goal of the Houthis is to induce an end to Israel’s aggression against Gaza and inflict economic losses on its allies, these actions are part of Russia’s strategy to increase global chaos in the world by opening “fronts” against the West wherever possible.
At the same time, the situation in the South China Sea is intensifying, where after the victory in Taiwan of the candidate, supporting independence from China, a representative of the “Democratic Progressive Party”, Lai Ching-te, who is predicted to increase the tools of pressure on the rebellious island.
Any military conflict in the South China Sea threatens a global recession and global economic crisis because 40% of world trade passes there. Currently, China is not going on a military adventure, because it can bring huge economic losses and military-political risks to it.
Therefore, Russia uses its allies – Iran and North Korea and their proxies, such as the Yemeni Houthis, to destabilize the situation in the world as much as possible. Obviously, in the case of the Houthis, the necessary weapons are provided by Iran. But Iran, a country that has been under severe economic sanctions for many years, is not able to pay for this feast on its own, so without Russia’s help, neither the escalation of the arms race nor active support of its own proxies is possible.
After a change in policy regarding the possibility of supplying arms and ammunition to Ukraine through allies South Korea and Japan, North Korea is pursuing an increasingly aggressive policy, whose dictator has declared the need to accelerate preparations for war. Last fall, North Korea unilaterally terminated a five-year agreement with South Korea on reducing military tensions, and at the beginning of January, it demonstratively shelled the buffer zone on the border with South Korea. In December, North Korea launched long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan.
Of course, in this case too, it could not happen without Russia, which is critically dependent on the supply of North Korean ammunition and missiles.
Russia continues to destabilize the situation in Africa, in particular in Mali and Niger, by initiating rebellions and military coups.
It pushes Venezuela to occupy part of Guyana.
It is trying to set fire to the important European security region of the Balkans, due to its influence on the elections in Serbia and special operations in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Russia, which is rapidly moving towards socio-economic, infrastructural and technological collapse and has no chance of recovery due to long-term sanctions, is trying to undermine the economic capacity of the West, intimidate Ukraine’s allies and overload the security system by opening as many fronts as possible.
Currently, all of this is to some extent possible due to the partial circumvention of sanctions and the accumulation of funds for war and aggression against global security.
While Russia is trying to attack the world through the Houthis and North Korea, spending crazy amounts on secret operations, the social infrastructure in Putin’s dictatorship is on the verge of collapse. And since Putin is not going to allocate funds for the welfare of Russians in any case, the world’s response must be adequate. For example, how the US and Britain responded to the Yemeni Houthis by launching massive precision strikes on military targets in Yemen as part of Operation Welfare Guardian. At least the funds of the country sponsoring terrorism should be frozen and confiscated for the benefit of the countries affected by its aggression, primarily Ukraine. It seems that only a military defeat of Russia can restore stability and order in the world.
Yuriy Syrotyuk
