Commanders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon's Hezbollah group are on the ground in Yemen helping to direct and oversee Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, four regional and two Iranian sources told Reuters.
Iran - which has armed, trained and funded the Houthis - stepped up its weapons supplies to the militia in the wake of the war in Gaza, which erupted after Iranian-backed militants Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the four regional sources said.
Tehran has provided advanced drones, anti-ship cruise missiles, precision-strike ballistic missiles and medium-range missiles to the Houthis, who started targeting commercial vessels in November in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the sources said.
IRGC commanders and advisers are also providing know-how, data and intelligence support to determine which of the dozens of vessels travelling through the Red Sea each day are destined for Israel and constitute Houthi targets, all the sources said.
Washington said last month that Iran was deeply involved in planning operations against shipping in the Red Sea and that its intelligence was critical to enable the Houthis to target ships.
In response to a request for comment for this story, the White House pointed to its previous public comments about how Iran has been supporting the Houthis.
In his weekly news conferences, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has repeatedly denied Tehran is involved in the Red Sea attacks by the Houthis. The IRGC public relations office did not respond to request for comment.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam denied any Iranian or Hezbollah involvement in helping to direct the Red Sea attacks. A Hezbollah spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Houthis, who emerged in the 1980s as an armed group in opposition to Saudi Arabia's Sunni religious influence in Yemen, say they are supporting Hamas by striking commercial ships they say are either linked to Israel or are heading to Israeli ports.
Ford will shut down one of two production shifts in April at the Dearborn, Michigan, factory that builds the F-150 Lightning electric pickup. The move is part of “matching F-150 Lightning production to customer demand,” the company said Friday.
General Motors recently made a similar announcement about its Chevrolet Silverado EV, announcing it would postpone adding production facilities for the truck, which went into production last spring for corporate customers.
Ford still projects an increase in Lightning sales this year after a 55% jump to 24,000 trucks last year.
About That 55 Percent Jump
The EV advocates like to stress surging 55 percent increase in demand. I like to look at other numbers.
Ford went from selling 15,000 trucks to selling 24,000 trucks. Ford sold 750,000 trucks last year. EVs accounted for 3.2 percent of them.
That’s roughly going from 2 percent to 3 percent. Hooray?
The price of a Lightning starts at about $50,000 and is eligible for $7,500 in federal EV tax credits. Even with the tax credits, the price remains higher than the $34,000 base price of the gas-powered truck.
In July, Ford slashed the price of a Lightning Pro, following earlier increases, to about $50,000. [And customers still don’t want the damn things. OK. OK. 3 percent do].
About 1,400 workers will be cut from the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where the Lightning is built. About half of those employees will move to the nearby Michigan Assembly Plant, where production will increase for the gasoline-powered Ford Bronco and Ranger models.
While Ford has said it is building factories in Tennessee and Kentucky where a next-generation EV truck will be built, the company recently announced it would scale back plans for an EV battery plant in Michigan.
Could it Be the Product?
Scaling back the EV Battery plant. Gee. Who couldda thunk?
The more sales there are the more chance defects show up. Have we hit the point where defect stories have impacted sales?
The Biden Administration keeps throwing around billions in subsidies for electric vehicles, and the press corps keeps hailing them, but consumers don’t seem to want them. The evidence is building that this green industrial policy is a bust.
Ford Motor said on Friday that it’s slashing production of its F-150 Lightning truck amid flagging demand. The F-150 Lightning drew oohs and aahs from the press when it was unveiled in May 2021. Yet the electric pickup has been plagued with defects that have required recalls. It sold a mere 24,165 Lightnings last year and lost roughly $36,000 on each EV in the third quarter. [Wait a second WSJ. Hold on. You are not allowed to say only 24,165. Shame shame. You need to stress 55 percent growth!!!!]
Or consider General Motors, which last month told its Chevrolet dealers to stop selling its electric Blazer SUV owing to software and other problems. Consumer complaints have piled up on social media about glitches including inoperable window switches and batteries that won’t charge.
A Consumer Reports survey in November found that new EVs have 79% more problems than internal-combustion cars. “This suggests that legacy auto makers need more time to work out the kinks under the hood of their EVs,” the report noted. “What matters most to consumers remains the same: finding safe, reliable cars,” Consumer Reports CEO Marta Tellado said. People want safe, reliable cars—who would have thought?
None of this is stopping the Biden Administration, as this week the Environmental Protection Agency sent its final rule on auto greenhouse emission standards to the White House for review. This back-door EV mandate will punish Ford and other auto makers if they respond to consumer demand by selling more gas-powered cars. It will also compel the companies to roll out EVs before technological and engineering kinks are worked out. This is a recipe for making EVs less popular, not more.
Amid the private jet-set at Davos this week, Biden climate czar John Kerry attributed consumer resistance to EVs to “disinformation.” That’s hilarious. The automobile press couldn’t be more in the tank for EVs.
What Should Ford Do?
That’s easy. Ford should move to 100 percent production of EVs. Then by losing $36,000 per vehicle it can quickly declare bankruptcy and readjust the union contract it just worked out. Then perhaps it can break even selling EVs.
Alternatively, Ford can tell Biden to go to hell, produce cars and trucks it wants and take the case to the Supreme Court if Biden presses the matter.
The county is just not prepared for vehicles that cost more, don’t get the mileage touted, won’t charge in the Winter, lack insufficient infrastructure, and have 79% more problems than internal-combustion cars.
Other than that, EVs are just great, especially for those who seldom drive, don’t go far when they do, and like reading books while waiting hours for their car to charge in the Winter.
$2 Billion in Subsidies, Only 2 EV Stations Opened
The jilted wife of DA Fani Willis' alleged lover and outside counsel Nathan Wade dropped receipts in a Friday court filing, revealing that Wade purchased plane tickets in Willis' name, with alleged travel to places such as Napa Valley, California, Florida and the Caribbean, according to the Daily Caller.
Four members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) serving in an advisory capacity were killed Saturday in the Syrian capital of Damascus when Israeli warplanes struck a residential building they were staying in. Iran confirmed the deaths of the Guard members.
Syrian state media reported that the attack was carried out against the Mazzeh neighborhood by planes operating in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel has yet to comment on the incident. Some reports say ten people in total were killed in the attack.
The slain reportedlyincluded a Quds force general, and the Revolutionary Guard identified the slain, but did not include their ranks or duties within Syria. Notably, the Guard’s names did not include the Quds force general, though it also did not deny he was killed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported five Iranians and an unidentified Syrian were amongst the slain.
Syrian state media identified the killed Iranians simply as advisers, and Iran followed up the incident with a statement condemning Israel for “organized terrorism,” and threatened retaliation at a time and place of their choosing.
A witness reported hearing at least five separate explosions during the attack, and saw bodies being taken away, including three surviving wounded. The media reports said the building was heavily guarded at the time.
Iran has had advisory forces in Syria since 2011, and played a big role in trying to help them organize the fight during the protracted civil war. Israel presented this as a threat along their border, and has regularly attacked Iranian targets within Syria when it has identified them.
Without knowing more about the victims, it is impossible to know how much of an impact this will have on the Iranian mission within Syria, though if history is any indicator, it will not mean any kind of ending to it.
With Israel escalating fighting in several border regions already and tensions soaring, Syria will no doubt hope for advice to continue apace.
A missile barrage has reportedly struck the Al-Asad Airbase — a U.S. military facility maintained in Iraq since 2003 — according to Reuters accompanied by videos on X alleging to show the missiles raining down:
The Al-Asad base is the same that suffered retaliatory strikes in January of 2020 after then-President Trump killed Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani.
US defense officials at the time said just 10 missiles managed to make contact with the base. It appears fewer than 20 missiles were fired in Saturday’s attack — with an unknown number intercepted by missile defense systems — though the story continues to develop.
US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraq’s security forces was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base on Saturday, a US official said, citing initial assessments, which are subject to change.
At least a dozen missiles were fired at a military base used by US-led coalition forces in western Iraq, a US defense source and Iraqi police told AFP.
Al-Asad was the second largest base constructed during George Bush’s "Operation Iraqi Freedom," — wherein ‘freedom’ in Neocon-speak of course refers to 300,000 dead Iraqi civilians — an operation which ostensibly ended in December of 2011.
The Iran Observer said to "expect US retaliatory strikes against Iraqi resistance forces."
This follows an Iranian strike on what they deemed foreign "espionage centers" and "anti-Iranian terrorist gatherings in parts of the region" with ballistic missiles, killing four though no Americans.
One regional correspondent, Joyce Karam, pointed out that last Monday was an exceptional day in terms of the number of hugely escalatory events close in time.
She wrote that the "Middle East is imploding, in one day"...which has included the following:
After being a globe-trotter for over a year, shaming the world's nations to support Ukraine or else, President Zelensky of Ukraine arrived this week in Davos, Switzerland, to talk peace.
"We need peace in the world," he said. "Peace in Ukraine means peace in Europe. It means peace in the world."
It was a remarkable turnaround for a leader who, just in December, was pressuring the White House and reluctant Members of Congress to pass a $61 billion weapons package. That request has stalled as the GOP House Speaker has refused to take the proposal up unless it is paired with securing America’s southern border, which the Biden administration is loath to do.
With former President Trump routing his rivals in Iowa, winning 98 out of 99 counties and earning a majority of the caucus vote, Ukraine's chances of eliciting further American support to fight a proxy war are perilous. Trump has consistently opposed getting involved in the conflict. With Vivek Ramaswamy, the fourth-place finisher in Iowa, joining hands with Trump, the ‘America First’ voice only got louder. Florida Gov. DeSantis also opposes funding Ukraine, with Nikki Haley the lone holdout.
The war started on February 24, 2022, when Russia attacked Ukraine. At that time, Russia controlled about 16,217 sq miles of Ukraine from prior incursions going back to Moscow’s Crimean invasion in 2014, amounting to 7.1% of Ukraine's territory, according to the CIA Factbook. Ukraine has not reclaimed any of this land to date.
By early March 2022, Russian aggression went seamlessly to within striking distance of Kyiv when the brave Ukrainians fought back with whatever weapons they had. The Russian attack force was paltry, and it quickly withdrew, giving Ukraine hope that if armed and trained, Ukraine could prevail.
However, arms were delayed as a focused international strategy was not in place. America led the effort with Europe in tow, but by the time all the nations had a plan, it was already summer. By August 9, 2022, Russia had taken nearly 54,000 square miles of Ukrainian territory in the East. The French-based AFP released a fascinating YouTube video animating the land area exchanged between the two fighting nations from Russia's initial advance to July 3, 2023, roughly 500 days later.
Ukraine began to take significant swathes of territory back in the fall of 2022, but in the winter and spring of 2023, Russian forces dug in with multi-layered defenses using mines and other World War II battle techniques. The famed counter-offensive from Ukraine started in June 2023 but sputtered. By August, it was clear that Ukraine could not break Russia's land bridge by advancing to the Sea of Azov. With another winter approaching, the fighting returned to a stalemate, where it is today.
The average American's support for Ukraine was high during Russia's initial invasion. But they grew skeptical as the Biden administration's goalposts moved with an "as-long-as-it-takes" war. Biden never asked for Congressional approval. No one defined what victory meant: ousting Russia from territory it has acquired since February 24, 2022? Regime change in Russia? Testing out American weapons on the battlefield in preparation for a future war with China? Building up the American Military Industrial Complex? Creating well-paying jobs in American states?
According to the Harvard Kennedy School's Russia-Ukraine War Report Card of December 2023, Russia currently occupies 25,000 square miles, about 20% of Ukraine, nearly 9,000 square miles more than before the Feb 2022 invasion. [At the war's peak, Russia had occupied almost 54,000 square miles, but Ukraine won 29,000 square miles back]. American taxpayers have sent $110 billion in weapons and logistical support to help Ukraine - yet the report card shows that Ukraine has lost nearly 13% more territory than it had when Russia first invaded. The hard truth is that Russia prevailed, and Ukraine and the West lost.
Most reasonable people would conclude that this conflict was also a huge loss for America's international prestige as gauged by our Standing In The World Index. America led Europe and the G7 nations by employing every resource at its disposal, including applying intense diplomatic pressure that even caused rifts with the countries of the Global South and passing more than 2,500 financial sanctions on Russia, many of which were routinely violated.
Americans think that the nation has lost its standing in the world under Biden's leadershipJake Sullivan, the National Security Adviser to President Biden, leads the White House's strategy for the Russia-Ukraine war. Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
Zelensky's visionless peace plan still doesn't offer any concessions, something one would expect a losing party to include. According to the New York Times, the plan calls for a complete Russian withdrawal from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, payment of reparations, prosecution of war crimes, and stepped-up sanctions against Russia. Since when has the losing party been entitled to ask for everything back and more from the victor?
It is another example of Zelensky's arrogant leadership, which caused the world to endure a needless conflict, brought us perilously close to nuclear armageddon, and failed to pursue peace early on, like in March 2022, when he was in a far better position to negotiate. Credit the Biden and Britain’s Boris Johnson administration for misleading Zelensky and grossly miscalculating President Putin’s tenacity.
Americans see Biden’s "as-long-as-it-takes" approach as not a strategy. Most think Biden has not done enough to end the war, with 48% dissatisfied with Biden’s efforts to find a settlement. That includes 20% of Democrats, 75% of Republicans, and 65% of independents.
On his report card, nearly half (45%) give him a D or F for handling the war. Only 28% see Biden in a positive light on this issue. Dissatisfaction runs high among Republicans (74%) and independents (50%), while 54% of Democrats are satisfied.
We know that Russia will not agree to any of Zelensky's proposals - and Russian approval, as the other warring party, is crucial. If anything, Russia would ask for security guarantees that Ukraine would remain neutral and not be aligned with NATO. If Russia's demand sounds familiar, it is. The West's failure to address this Russian grievance resulted in Russia's invasion in Feb 2022. In short, peace is nowhere on the horizon.
Even if a cease-fire agreement is reached, rebuilding Ukraine will remain costly, possibly requiring nearly $1 trillion. With America already in debt to the tune of $34 trillion, there will be little appetite for that. Credit the Biden administration and Washington NeoCons again for bringing us this totally avoidable mess.
Forget the COVID-19 pandemic. A scourge different from the one that struck fear of death into populations across the globe four years ago this month is now raging across the United States: drug overdoses.
While those who take dangerous drugs have themselves to blame for the outcome, President Biden shares responsibility for enabling millions to select this option in the first place. His refusal to secure the nation’s borders allows the relentless influx of lethal opioids that kill Americans by the hundreds each day.
In August, the administration claimed it had made headway in efforts to curtail the rise in mortality. “After years of tragic and rapid increases in the overdose death rate, we are encouraged to see progress in flattening this trend,” Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there were 110,468 such deaths last year, meaning baby steps aren’t enough. The majority of these lives were claimed by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid smuggled from Mexico across Mr. Biden’s open border.
Even as the Department of Homeland Security made record seizures of fentanyl shipments at the southern border, the problem persists. That’s because the president’s policy of granting de facto asylum to millions lets furtive drug trafficking conduits continue to bring in this poison. More than 43,000 pounds of the potent opioid were stopped in fiscal 2023 — more than enough to provide a fatal dose to every American. Thousands of pounds more get through.
This diminishes our national security. The Pentagon found fentanyl deaths in the armed services had doubled to 330 between 2017 and 2021, and nonfatal overdoses hit 15,000, according to Military.com. Alarmed by the trend, Congress included a provision in the Defense Department budget in December a directive to track overdoses within the ranks and make lifesaving antidotes available.
To be fair, the administration has tried various strategies to quell the carnage, including expansion of access to overdose-reversal medication such as over-the-counter naloxone, the launch of a global coalition to fight synthetic drug threats, regulation of precursor chemicals used in making deadly fentanyl and sanctioning members of the Sinaloa Cartel involved in illicit drug trafficking. The death count has hardly budged.
Americans are disgusted with the Biden-era surge in illegal immigration and the deleterious effects it has on their communities, with drug deaths the most appalling. Republican caucusgoers in Iowa this past week cited immigration as the most important issue confronting the nation, according to AP VoteCast, even though the Hawkeye State is a thousand miles from Mexico.
To succumb to the scourge of a drug-addled existence is a waste of human life. It is not President Biden’s fault that too many Americans make choices that take them down a dark path. But it is beyond dispute that many more will perish as long as there is no presidential will to safeguard the homeland.
