Closure of strait of Hormuz puts pressure on region’s economies amid growing resentment about conflict started by US and Israel

An eerie quiet hangs over Ras Al Khaimah’s industrial port. Usually a thriving maritime hub of the United Arab Emirates, now ships stand docked and silent. Not far out along the hazy horizon, a backlog of hundreds of tankers have lined up in recent days, halted along a waterway flooded with danger.

Any vessel heading past Ras Al Khaimah out to the Arabian Sea must traverse the world’s most treacherous strip of water for shipping today: the strait of Hormuz. Just over 20 nautical miles from Ras Al Khaimah, two oil tankers heading for the strait were attacked by Iranian missiles this week, one catching fire.

It is one of the many consequences facing Gulf states as they are pulled deeper into a war that they did not start and had diplomatically tried to prevent.

For decades, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman have allowed US military bases, infrastructure or access on their soil, and have been among the largest buyers of American weapons and technology. In return, the US has stood as the Gulf’s closest and most significant military partner and protector.

But now, Gulf states have growing concerns over the relationship, analysts say, after Donald Trump was seen to wilfully torpedo peaceful diplomatic negotiations in favour of starting a war in the Middle East.

  • I Cast Fist@programming.devEnglish
    21·
    5 hours ago

    Not only that but if it wasnt for the US military then Russia would control Ukraine and would be advancing into Europe.

    Ah yes, tell us more about the USA soldiers fighting in Ukraine. Oh wait, there are none. Not a soldier, not a plane, not a ship. Well, not anything manned by any 'murican, but lots of USA arms sold to them, as well as lots of European arms.

    Or China would have already invaded Taiwan.

    The current war against Iran can give China a golden opportunity to invade, since USA can get bogged down significantly in the Middle East again. Go USA!

    Not to mention that Taiwan is strategically important to a lot of other countries due to its “silicon shield”, being the single largest manufacturer of processors in the world. For a number of years now, an invasion could trigger an actual global conflict, even if, for all intents and purposes, such invasion came as another step in a “civil war”.

    Or North Korea would control South Korea.

    Nah, they may have a larger standing army and can definitely destroy Seoul within minutes due to the capital being less than 40km away from the DMZ, but they know that, without big help on their side, they can’t actually “win”. I doubt China would help them, since South Korea is an important market for them.

    The problem here isn’t the US military. It’s the leadership.

    Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nicaragua, Colombia, Philippines, Iran and other countries would like a word with the “leadership”.

    But the foreign bots brigading lemmy want the US military weaker so those nations can advance their geopolitical goals.

    Oh no, why would people dislike the evil empire that has done a lot of evil and see it crumble? Clearly it must be bots working for the other countries!