A time for looking ahead and casting our eyes to a future which none of us can predict, and which will undoubtedly disappear just as quickly as it descended on 1 January.

Although predictions tend to be useless and foolhardy, there are some things which everyone can see coming down the line and inevitably, strange things start happening in anticipation of them. Take elections.

This year, there will be a general election in the UK, either in May or October, depending on when Rishi Sunak finally accepts the inevitable that his rotten, useless, and talentless party will be getting booted out of office whenever the election is held.

The likely beneficiaries of the Tories defeat will be a Labour party which in recent years has become nothing more than a beige shadow of the Tories.

In November, the USA will hold its election to determine who will be the next president. The likely candidates in the final run-off will be a deluded, megalomaniac criminal, and an 81 year old man who finds it hard to navigate a set of stairs never mind the geopolitical shitstorm currently raging across the globe.

The criminal is currently favourite to gain office. And what usually happens when incumbent political parties are facing electoral oblivion? That’s right, they start dropping bombs all over the place. Well, actually, only in places which suit their twisted narratives.

In November 2023, Yemeni Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran, began to attack and disrupt shipping traffic in the Red Sea.

Their targets were ships which were either Israeli-owned, or heading to Israeli ports. Their stated motivation for these attacks was in retaliation for the Israeli government’s indiscriminate response to the Hamas attack in northern Israel in October last year. The Israeli government is currently facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice which have been brought by South Africa.

The majority of Houthi attacks have been focussed on commercial shipping. The Red Sea is a conduit for at least one-tenth of the world’s seaborne trade. So far, the Houthi attacks on shipping have not resulted in any deaths, that is if you exclude the number of Houthis who have been killed in retaliatory bombings by the governments of the UK and the US amongst others.

What is galling about all of this is that both the UK and US governments have stood side by side with Israel despite the entire world watching a genocide unfold in Gaza in which tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children have been slaughtered in what is nauseatingly described as an act of self-defence.

But as soon as anyone seeks to stand side by side with the Palestinian people, they are viewed as terrorists and therefore must be dealt with accordingly. Heaven forbid that a few tankers carrying valuable commodities are hijacked in defiance of a genocide. We have to bomb those responsible immediately.

However when, according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, over 10,000 infants and children have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, the UK and the US continue to support the perpetrators stating that they have the right to “defend themselves”. It is beyond gross.

I’m not for one minute saying that the Houthi rebels attacks should be ignored or not dealt with, but who gets to decide when one attack is an act of terror and another, altogether more murderous attack is politically justified?

Are we really more concerned with a ship full of grain disappearing than we are about an entire generation of innocent children being wiped out? Right now, it seems that we are.

And what better way for ailing governments to show that they’re not finished yet than to get planes in the sky and start dropping bombs all over the middle east? It’s worked before, hasn’t it? No it hasn’t. It never works. And it won’t work this time.

The Houthi rebels have already vowed to continue attacking ships in the Red Sea only hours after the UK and US carried out strikes targeting the group in Yemen. President Biden has stated that he will not hesitate to direct further, what he calls, “measures” in order to - and listen up here - “protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.” There you have it - commerce trumps innocent children.

You don’t need a crystal ball to see what’s going to happen here. The allied bombing campaign may create a temporary hiatus in the Houthi shipping attacks, but there will be further attacks carried out across the middle east and perhaps even beyond, as long as Israel and its allies continue their rampage in Gaza.

The conflict has already spread to Lebanon, and with tensions increasing by the day, it won’t be long before Iraq, Iran and Syria could become embroiled in what will be a much wider war.

Time for cool heads then?

No. Send for Top Gun…

There’s an election around the
corner. ■

Are we more concerned with a ship of grain disappearing than a generation of innocent children?