Satellite Relief Map of the Middle East by Merikanto, this file is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Iran
Reported on May 11 by CNN: US Coast Guard ship fired around 30 warning shots at Iranian fast boats in latest tense encounter
This occurred in the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It also happens to be off the coast of Iran. Not the coast of the United States. So what were US Coast Guard ships doing in the Strait of Hormuz? Definitely not guarding the US coast. It turns out that about 20% of the world’s oil supply travels through the Strait of Hormuz. It also happens that the US Coast Guard ships involved in this incident were “escorting a guided missile submarine, the USS Georgia.” This is about oil - not about defending the US coast. I am reminded by Smedley Butler’s statement in War is a Racket on limiting the US military:
The ships of our navy, it can be seen, should be specifically limited, by law, to within 200 miles of our coastline. Had that been the law in 1898 the Maine would never have gone to Havana Harbor. She never would have been blown up. There would have been no war with Spain with its attendant loss of life. Two hundred miles is ample, in the opinion of experts, for defense purposes. Our nation cannot start an offensive war if its ships can't go further than 200 miles from the coastline. Planes might be permitted to go as far as 500 miles from the coast for purposes of reconnaissance. And the army should never leave the territorial limits of our nation.”
It also worth noting that this is the second time US Coast Guard ships have fired “warning shots” in the last several weeks, as ABC news reported on April 27.
Iran remains a volatile situation. The Biden administration refuses to lift the sanctions that Trump imposed, though they have agreed to ease them. This refusal jeopardizes any return to the Iran nuclear deal and goes back on Biden’s promise to restore the Iran nuclear deal. This means that Biden’s policy on Iran differs very little from Trump’s. Republicans have called for an end to all talks due to the recent events in Israel (see above) but Secretary of State Antony Blinken claims there is no plan to cease negotiations. Meanwhile Israel is pushing against a return to the nuclear deal in an move that could escalate towards war with Iran. The Biden administration seems unable to choose whether it really wants the nuclear deal or whether to continue hawkish policies toward Iran.
Israel
There’s so much going on in Israel that I ended up writing an article about it - What’s Happening With Israel?
Don’t forget about Yemen
The Biden administration wants us to forget about Biden’s promises on ending US support for the war there. As the Intercept reported on April 7, “More than two months after President Joe Biden announced that he would end ‘all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales,’ his administration has yet to detail what forms of support the U.S. has cut off.” We do know that arms sales have not stopped. The U.S. is selling arms to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. These sales include “$23.3 billion arms sale to the UAE, as well as with deals to sell modified UH-60M Blackhawk helos and THAAD batteries to Saudi Arabia.” Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been implicated in war crimes in Yemen. The Biden administration, just like those before it, is now complicit in the continuation of these war crimes.
What about Afghanistan?
In an agreement made in February 2020 with the Taliban, Trump had planned to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by May 1st. Biden did not meet that deadline, breaking the promise made by the Trump administration, and extended the withdrawal date to September 11, 2021. The Taliban has increased attacks since May 1 in response to the United States’ failure to abide to their agreement to withdraw. While the draw down process has started, it is noteworthy that according to General Mark Milley, “The SECDEF has directed six additional B-52 long-range strike bombers and a package of 12 fighter bombers, F-18s postured to offer contingency support.” It would appear that the war in Afghanistan is far from over.
Syria
It seems the last we heard anything about Syria, Joe Biden was bombing it. Although no further airstrikes have occurred that we know of, the US still remains heavily involved in Syria. On May 14, a US Convoy entered Kurdish-held Syrian province of Hasakah and were turned back by Russian military police. Syria remains a proxy war in the ongoing cold war between Russia and the United States. Both Russia and the United States accuse the other side of escalating the war with their presence there. The United States maintains sanctions against the government of Syria.
Iraq
On April 7, Iraq and the US came to an agreement for the withdrawal of all US troops but no timetable has been set for this. Around 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq. There is no guarantee that this withdrawal will be carried out or last.