Skip to main content

The Observer view on Yemen: airstrikes may have begun an unwinnable war | Observer editorial

By their military intervention, Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden have started something they may not be able to finish

There are, broadly, three ways of looking at last week’s US and British military strikes on Houthi bases in Yemen: necessary, futile, dangerous. Yet, however the world views this action, taken in response to repeated, unprovoked attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, the possible consequences are all the more alarming because they are unknowable and unpredictable. Joe Biden, the US president, and Rishi Sunak have started something they may find difficult to finish.

The US-British bombardment of dozens of targets, Succeeded by a limited “follow-on” attack a day later, was necessary in the sense that the Houthi leaders had rejected numerous pleas, public and private, to end their Red Sea mayhem. Ships and crews were at risk. There was real fear that anti-ship missiles could hit an oil tanker, causing an environmental disaster. The global economy faced supply disruption and spiking oil prices.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/CP4FMQv

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How Rico Lewis helped harden up Manchester City’s treble challenge | Jamie Jackson

Guardiola believes advent of the teenage talent sowed seeds of change that turned his side into champions again Mid-January, the Etihad Campus. Before Tottenham’s visit a discontented Pep Guardiola is addressing a Manchester City team meeting that includes Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Ederson. The champions are in second place, eight points behind Arsenal, each having played 18 games. Performances have dipped and so has the attitude of his players. The final match before the World Cup was a 2-1 home defeat by Brentford . Since the tournament, City have beaten Leeds and Chelsea, drawn with Everton and lost their previous outing , 2-1 at Manchester United. Seven points from 15 is not championship-defending form and, when being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Southampton is factored in, Guardiola can see City’s campaign derailing. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/h8WjbMX

England's secondaries given funding to run summer schools

Critics say measures to help children catch up on learning lost due to Covid do not go far enough Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Secondary schools in England are to be funded to run summer schools for pupils worst affected by the pandemic, the government has announced, as part of its latest education recovery plans to help children catch up on lost learning. The new measures includes £200m to expand the government’s national tutoring programme, plus an additional £300m “recovery premium” which will go direct to schools to support the most disadvantaged children. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3bCapwu

Wandsworth escape accused says it was ‘foolish’ to jail him with his ‘skill set’

Daniel Khalife, 23, says he absconded because he was ‘terrified’ of being locked up with dangerous offenders A former British soldier has told a jury he did not hand himself in after he escaped from prison because he was “finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was” to imprison someone with his “skill set”. Daniel Khalife, 23, told the court he absconded from Wandsworth prison while on remand because he was “terrified” of being locked up with “serious sex offenders” and “terrorists” who wanted to kill him, and that he did not think his imprisonment would be in the public interest. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vRZHkaw