the media is suggesting that the backwards, barbarian houthis have somehow managed to drag themselves out of the caves for long enough to launch some kind of substantive offensive in the south of yemen. there does appear to be something afoot but the narrative's not being accurately reported.

- the saudis shot down a plane with some houthi dignitaries on their way back from iran. this appears to have been an entirely unprovoked attack. it's something israel might do, but israel is capable. what's relly being exposed here is that the saudis are utterly useless as allies and more of a liability than an asset in terms of military partners.

- the houthis reacted.

- the saudis contacted the pentagon and said "we can handle this" and launched an offensive.

- to the great embarrassment of the saudi forces, they were defeated by a group of cave-dwelling barbarians, despite having modern us-built equipment. analysts have been saying for years that the saudis don't know how to use us weapons. exactly.

- so, the saudis contacted the americans and asked for backup, who said "well, you picked a fight with somebody a tenth of your size, and you couldn't finish it. why would we come to our rescue? next time don't pick a fight.". they also offered them intelligence....which is what they give the israelis and all the israelis need, because the israelis are competent.

so, what should the yankees do, here?

step one is acknowledging that the saudis are a major problem. trump is a stubborn old man and he's going to dig in, and it's probably not the right answer, but he's nonetheless basically right. trump will try to sell them more military hardware and tell them to deal with their own problems themselves. 

however, the saudis need to get trained in how to use this hardware or the hardware needs to be taken away from them. it's a major liability to have all of this expensive hardware sitting in the desert, with nobody that knows how to use it. if you thought losing bagram in afghanistan was a catastrophe, the fall of riyadh - which would be a good thing for the region in the long run - would be potentially far worse. worse, the days of the americans being at their beck and call are over, but the culture in the region is going to give the saudis difficulty in understanding that. the saudis are hierarchically superior. they pay people to do what they want. they don't work for things themselves. that might cause them to lose weight! trump may be an anomaly in the long run in terms of telling them to fuck off when they start barking orders, but there needs to be an exit strategy. the saudis are not good allies. that's the takeaway.

but somebody is going to have to step in. these half-evolved primates need to be obliterated. they can't sit there and keep lobbing missiles.

i'm going to call on the turks to deal with this, if the british and french won't. they have a history in the area as well as naval forces in it and they benefit from keeping the straight open.