Watching the end of the debate last night Harris’ responses just didn’t resonate with my idea of how a person of character would frame their beliefs when seeking the highest position in a Constitutional based government.
I started thinking about how Biden started dismantling everything Trump did to improve the United States almost from the moment he was sworn in and Ansarallah came to mind.
You probably know them as the Houthi’s; they started up in Yemen back when Obama held Office.
Before we get into particulars about the democrats and Houthi’s there has developed a preferred, ‘civilized’ way of dealing with the bad attitudes emerging from the third world. I’m not sure but I’d bet it’s a method devised inside the UN. The State Department is it’s port of deployment and the Office of Foreign Assets Control is, I gather, its main battleship. That’s what it appears to be to me.
We can start here.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control administers and enforces economic sanctions programs primarily against countries and groups of individuals, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers. The sanctions can be either comprehensive or selective, using the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals.
https://ofac.treasury.gov/additional-ofac-resources/ofac-information-for-industry-groups
Under Guidance and Fact sheets the last link leads to https://ofac.treasury.gov/media/922136/download?inline dated April 13, 2022 (Biden/Harris) with an opening paragraph that states:<P>
The United States is the largest single provider of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and is committed to continuing to support the Afghan people. The Treasury Department seeks to ensure that humanitarian assistance and other support to the Afghan people (including COVID19 related assistance) can continue to flow directly to Afghanistan through legitimate and transparent channels, including the U.S. government, organizations (IOs), and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and that such entities can continue to engage in humanitarian assistance and certain other activities that support the Afghan people. In addition, Treasury seeks to enable Afghan-Americans and Afghans in the United States and around the world to continue to support their families in Afghanistan through personal remittances…
There is much more including the E.O. that Obama added but is not mentioned in the Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 112 / Monday, June 10, 2024 / Rules and Regulations which itself is a challenge for the not so interested.
I prefer absorbing the related diplomacy through examples; enough of these links contain explanations that help to explain the information above.
Trump’s Endgame: Weighing a Houthi FTO Designation – Sana’a Center For Strategic Studies
https://sanaacenter.org/publications/analysis/12075
is a good starting point. It provides five different viewpoints from people with skin in the game. The first commentary gets right to the point…
As US President Donald Trump’s administration winds down, reports have emerged that Washington is once again considering the idea of designating the armed Houthi movement, Ansar Allah, as a foreign terrorist organization. Such a move would criminalize most interactions with the Houthi movement conducted without US government waivers…
and Trump acts a month before he leaves office.
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2021/01/11/trump-administration-moves-to-brand-houthis-in
The Trump administration says it will designate Yemen’s Houthi movement a terrorist organization, in a move that has elicited consternation from international aid organizations and authorities.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the U.S. wants to “deter further malign activity by the Iranian regime” that backs the Houthis.
The designation is set to take effect on Jan. 19 — the day before Trump leaves office and President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in…
..…The Trump administration has routinely backed Saudi Arabia, which it considers a close ally, and has sought to counter Iran. The administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and has repeatedly sanctioned the country’s leaders since then — including a new round of sanctions issued last fall.
Like kicking a killer bee’s hive. Three weeks later…
Wednesday, January 20, 2021 Biden inauguration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events/2021_February_16
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Yemeni Civil War
- Ma’rib Campaign
- Houthi forces continue to advance on the city of Maʼrib, capturing the village of al-Zor and reaching the Marib Dam. Yemeni government officials say that dozens of people have been killed in the past 24 hours as government forces counter the Houthi offensive. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock condemns the Houthi assault, warning of “unimaginable humanitarian consequences”. (Al Jazeera)
- Ma’rib Campaign
…The Houthis, embarking from Yemen, were attempting to seize MV Maersk Hangzhou and approached the container ship in four small boats.
“The small boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, fired crew served and small arms weapons at the MAERSK HANGZHOU, getting to within 20 meters of the vessel, and attempted to board the vessel,” reads the statement.
Helicopters from destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) and aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) responded to a distress call from the Singapore-flagged merchant ship and came under fire from the Houthi attackers, reads the statement from CENTCOM.
The helicopter crews returned fire and sunk three of the four boats killing their crews. The fourth boat broke off and left the area, according to the statement…
WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, today called out the Biden Administration for emboldening the Houthis by removing them from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in a hearing. Hagerty also highlighted the Administration’s repeated failure to guarantee that American taxpayer dollars are not inadvertently funding terrorism in the Middle East that threatens American lives and contributes to inflation at home.
“Shortly after the Biden Administration took office, they delisted the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. We saw what’s happened in the time in between. There have been attacks on our allies at [United Arab Emirates], attacks on our allies at the Saudis, we’ve seen attacks on U.S. personnel, and our facilities in the Middle East, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of unrest since that time,” Hagerty said.
“Was the Trump Administration wrong in designating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization?” Hagerty asked Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking.
Lenderking tried to justify removing the Houthis from the FTO list claiming “that effort has borne fruit in terms of the peace process.”
Hagerty pressed Lenderking by asking, “What do the Houthis have to do to be declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization? Do they have to kill Americans?”
Lenderking claimed that the Biden Administration was doing enough by “[cutting] off financial networks, their ability to fundraise. It will put some hurt [on the Houthis].”
Hagerty asked if Lenderking could guarantee that American taxpayer dollars have not aided the Houthis, directly or indirectly, in carrying out the recent terrorist attacks that are disrupting supply chains and raising prices for U.S. taxpayers. Lenderking could not guarantee it.
“Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken could not answer me either when I asked him about the foreign aid that’s going into Gaza and that’s being diverted by Hamas. Please, please address this,” Hagerty concluded.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68595451 18March2024 Navy aircraft carrier faces relentless battle against Houthi attacks
https://www.state.gov/terrorist-designation-of-the-houthis/Biden/Harris 2024
The Department of State today is announcing the designation of Ansarallah, commonly referred to as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, effective 30 days from today.
Since November, the Houthis have launched unprecedented attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as military forces positioned in the area to defend the safety and security of commercial shipping. These attacks against international shipping have endangered mariners, disrupted the free flow of commerce, and interfered with navigational rights and freedoms. This designation seeks to promote accountability for the group’s terrorist activities. If the Houthis cease their attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the United States will reevaluate this designation…
In its announcement, the State explained that the designation is in response to attacks by Ansarallah against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The announcement indicated that the designation will be reevaluated if the attacks cease.
Ansarallah was previously designated by the Trump Administration in January 2021 in two ways, i.e., as a SDGT and also as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (“FTO“). Shortly thereafter, in February 2021, the Biden Administration removed both designations due to concerns that the measures could be an obstacle to humanitarian assistance reaching the Yemeni people. There has been increasing pressure to re-designate Anasarallah in light of the recent maritime attacks.
and around we go…
Trump’s Endgame: Weighing a Houthi FTO Designation – Sana’a Center For Strategic Studies
https://sanaacenter.org/publications/analysis/12075
Obfuscation. It’s the democrat way.