Speaker 1: Since January, there have already been four large scale US
Speaker 1: and British joint air strikes on Houthie targets in Yemen,
Speaker 1: including one hundred and fifty missiles and launchers, which appear
Speaker 1: to have done little to slow down the Houthis. The
Speaker 1: Houti missile attacks aimed at commercial vessels and US Navy
Speaker 1: ships have happened.
Speaker 2: Almost daily, almost daily since our retaliation, and despite the
Speaker 2: President saying don't Also, as Martha Raddits reported on ABC News, yesterday,
Speaker 2: was the first time a Hoothy attack has killed anybody
Speaker 2: on those ships. Three crew members on a Liberian ship dead.
Speaker 2: The US is headed there with more help. I guess
Speaker 2: I don't know what we're going to do to slow
Speaker 2: this down. One of the most important shipping lanes in
Speaker 2: the entire.
Speaker 3: World, A troubling number of hotspots around the globe, including
Speaker 3: that one Jack just mentioned. Let's talk about it with
Speaker 3: CNN military analyst Mike Lyons.
Speaker 2: Mike, it's always a pleasure.
Speaker 4: How are you taking one of you guys? Great to
Speaker 4: be back.
Speaker 2: Well, so far our deterrence has not deterred anything.
Speaker 4: What now, No, it's not really even deterrence. I know
Speaker 4: we're going after some of the targets there, and we've
Speaker 4: taken away a significant amount of their military capability, but
Speaker 4: they still seem to have enough to leak through. We
Speaker 4: saw the incident happening yesterday where three were killed, and
Speaker 4: we see the Indian Navy getting involved also in rescuing
Speaker 4: some of the members here. But for all practical purposes,
Speaker 4: that that pathways blocked, supply chains continue to be disrupted,
Speaker 4: costs continue to climb. Other countries around the region remain affected,
Speaker 4: and until perhaps maybe other countries we'll put more pressure
Speaker 4: on them. But the hoot, these are wildcards, and they
Speaker 4: have this military capacity, and it's going to take us
Speaker 4: completely degrading its and our allies completely degrading it in
Speaker 4: order for us to, let's say, the Red Sea gets
Speaker 4: open again.
Speaker 3: It sounds kind of old timey to be talking about this,
Speaker 3: but the free navigation of the ocean's waters has been
Speaker 3: one of the prime movers in history, and it seems
Speaker 3: like the global economy is not going to put up
Speaker 3: with this sort of interference with that forever. What would
Speaker 3: a serious response look.
Speaker 4: Like, Well, I think that the way it's going. First
Speaker 4: of all, we saw a ship hit and we saw
Speaker 4: an oil leak, and we saw that that take place.
Speaker 4: But it's going it's likely taking impacting China, impacting uh
Speaker 4: other other economies. You know, this is not who these
Speaker 4: are claiming. This is against the United States and Israel.
Speaker 4: But you saw the nationalities on board of that ship
Speaker 4: that they attacked. It's Vietnamese, Sria, Lanka and philipp Filipino
Speaker 4: and uh more of you know kind of of the
Speaker 4: you know Eastern you know, Asian countries there. What's that
Speaker 4: going to take It's it's likely you know more more
Speaker 4: or less these other these other third world countries deciding
Speaker 4: that they need they need to help from the US
Speaker 4: and and and real just leadership. You know, there's not
Speaker 4: a coalition really in there that's deciding to go after
Speaker 4: on a consistent basis every six hours, launching sorties in
Speaker 4: the air to destroy and go hunt down these ballistic
Speaker 4: musle capability that the Houthis have. And because the downside
Speaker 4: is that they're hurting that country themselves. That Yemen is
Speaker 4: one of the most impoverished countries there as this as well.
Speaker 4: So there's just no upside to any of the situation
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 2: Well, broadening out from just the Houthies. I don't know
Speaker 2: if you saw Tom Friedman's call them in the New
Speaker 2: York Times. He is over in the Middle East for
Speaker 2: about a week reporting and and all these different groups
Speaker 2: that are backed by Iran and him specifically saying backed
Speaker 2: by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and Tom Friedman stated that
Speaker 2: we might say we're not at war with them, but
Speaker 2: the Revolutionary Guard feels like they're at war with us.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no question, And we saw we've seen some of
Speaker 4: the attacks on the land based forces inside of Iraq
Speaker 4: and Syria diminish. But what I'd like to see us do.
Speaker 4: There's there's an Iranian navigation ship that's in the area
Speaker 4: there that's likely what the Hoothies are using for intel
Speaker 4: collection and spotting and the like, and they're they're aligned
Speaker 4: with them in order to be successful with their missions.
Speaker 4: So we warn the Iranians once again, if that doesn't stop,
Speaker 4: we're going to put that ship to the bottom of
Speaker 4: the sea. And we've done that in the past when
Speaker 4: all Reagan did that in the nineteen eighties. But again,
Speaker 4: this administration just does not want to admit any kind
Speaker 4: of conflict with Iran. I know what we're holding out
Speaker 4: for because they continue to push nuclear capability down the road,
Speaker 4: and that's the future conflict. That's what's getting kicked. That's
Speaker 4: the can getting kicked down the road. Here is this
Speaker 4: conflict between ITSUD and Iran, and when once the Ranians
Speaker 4: have that nuclear capability.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't want to get into a shot after
Speaker 3: shot at the lack of leadership from the Biden administration.
Speaker 3: But I was about to turn to the increasing belligerence
Speaker 3: of China, especially Visa VI the Philippines ramming their boats
Speaker 3: and blasting their sailors with water cannons, and we are
Speaker 3: bound to defend the Philippines if they are attacked. You
Speaker 3: would think you would want to nip this in the bud.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this administration history is going to show that it
Speaker 4: just doesn't have any priority. And they'll try to claim
Speaker 4: that everything is a priority, but we all know when
Speaker 4: that's the case and nothing is a priority. I don't
Speaker 4: really know what it is. It's the whip sawing of
Speaker 4: the Israeli government. For example, we tell them they're over
Speaker 4: the top, and then we don't necessarily pride them the
Speaker 4: military assets to get some of that humanitarian aid. Same
Speaker 4: thing that's happening in China. We've kind of drawn this
Speaker 4: line there of not defending our allies in the region.
Speaker 4: I think they're really concerned about that. And then everything's
Speaker 4: a half measure when it comes to all these other
Speaker 4: acts of deterrence, and what's happening still in Ukraine remains
Speaker 4: a situation there that you know, I think ninety two
Speaker 4: hundred and twenty days, as they run out of artillery ammunition,
Speaker 4: they're firing it in a faster rate that we can
Speaker 4: resupply and the rest of the world can. So if
Speaker 4: the United States doesn't get and show leadership internally and
Speaker 4: get that situation resolved, I think you know that that's
Speaker 4: going to go downhill very quickly too. So there's just
Speaker 4: no priority from this administration. We won't We'll hear us
Speaker 4: say of the Union tonight. We'll find out maybe something,
Speaker 4: But everything's a half measure, and the whip sawing going
Speaker 4: back and forth. I think that's what history is going
Speaker 4: to show us administration.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Ukraine, a Russian missile hits one hundred yards
Speaker 2: away from Zelensky yesterday. You think they were targeting him
Speaker 2: specifically or just a coincidence.
Speaker 4: No, I think coincidence, But still that target and Odessa.
Speaker 4: There is the next you know, kind of strategic you know,
Speaker 4: a targeting at Russia. But we'll make right now, as
Speaker 4: they're going to continue as they've seen gains now on
Speaker 4: the land going to the north and to the east,
Speaker 4: what they'll try to do is spread their influence along
Speaker 4: that coastline. And no Deasa is that last city, that's
Speaker 4: the only one really the Ukraine, it's kind of held on.
Speaker 4: It's the only way they will have any commerce when
Speaker 4: this is over. And so Russia now attacking that. I
Speaker 4: think it's more coincidence. But again, let's say, you know,
Speaker 4: the Greek prime minister is killed and something like this,
Speaker 4: then what happens then? Then what happens to the rest
Speaker 4: of the world. As we go here, you're seeing more
Speaker 4: anger from Europe. You saw the French president potentially talking
Speaker 4: about NATO countries going and individual countries going on. I'm
Speaker 4: not sure where what that was all about. But but
Speaker 4: nobody really puts their money with their mouth. That's just yet,
Speaker 4: and a lot of it this doesn't have a lot
Speaker 4: of a lot of it is about capability. Only one
Speaker 4: country that can really save the day here, and that's
Speaker 4: a sixty billion dollar backstop from the United States. That
Speaker 4: doesn't send money to Ukraine. But what it does is
Speaker 4: it allows Ukraine to buy from the US arsenal and
Speaker 4: helps American jobs. So there's a win win in that
Speaker 4: environment toomped the bottom.
Speaker 3: I think it's notable and worth mentioning that if you
Speaker 3: were to ask the European countries will putin emboldened to
Speaker 3: go further. They're unanimously a guess, but there seems to
Speaker 3: be a lot of skepticism in the States.
Speaker 4: Jack.
Speaker 3: You have more on Ukraine with Mike CNN military analyst
Speaker 3: Mike Lyons on the line. Mike, I wanted to segue
Speaker 3: to Israel real quickly and putting aside morality or how
Speaker 3: palatable any of this is. Just from a historians perspective,
Speaker 3: this looks like when you combine what's going on with
Speaker 3: Gaza to the Israeli settlements are expanding in the West Bank,
Speaker 3: just the nature of the way the war is being conducted.
Speaker 3: This is one civilization saying we can no longer live
Speaker 3: within us, another one at least with any power right
Speaker 3: next door to us. This is something like total warfare.
Speaker 4: I think so, and we're both sides talking past each other,
Speaker 4: and when the US continues to talk about rules based
Speaker 4: orders and two state solutions. I mean those that's gone.
Speaker 4: That's not happening, and it's real. It's not stopping until
Speaker 4: they find an Hamas leader or somebody that stands up
Speaker 4: and says, we surrender, and these are the conditions, and
Speaker 4: this is how it's going to go forward. There. They're
Speaker 4: not going to put up with anything less than that,
Speaker 4: as we're seeing, and until other Arab nations decide to
Speaker 4: get involved. And they don't care if the conflict spreads
Speaker 4: and goes a little further, if it's going to take
Speaker 4: every last Palestinian, that's what their that's what their mentality is,
Speaker 4: and so it is. It is total war from their perspective,
Speaker 4: and they're going to They're doing what they can in
Speaker 4: order to keep civilian casualties at a minimum. But as
Speaker 4: long as the mosqu keeps hiding behind civilians and hiding
Speaker 4: things in hospitals, I don't see them. They're not stopping
Speaker 4: again until they get some kind of surrender.
Speaker 3: Military analyst Mike lines, Mike, thanks a Milian for the time.
Speaker 3: Really interesting. We appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Thanks guy, Thanks for me.
Speaker 3: Armstrong and Getty