The label of 'proxy' is only a half-truth. While the Houthis cooperate with Iran on strategy and technology, they possess a distinct and fierce local agency. If defeating them were as simple as cutting a puppet’s strings, the Saudi-US-Israeli coalition would have succeeded years ago. Instead, there is a justified fear of what a 'headless' regime in Yemen can do to the Suez Canal. When you compound the instability of the Red Sea with a blocked Strait of Hormuz, the global economy isn't just facing a dip—it’s facing a severe, unprecedented systemic shock. We are in that eerie moment of a tsunami where the tide has pulled back and everything looks deceptively calm on the surface. But tell that to the desperate fuel-hunters in Asia where the wave has already hit. It cannot be repeated enough: this was entirely avoidable. Israel’s pursuit of this war has invited this catastrophe, and the blame lies squarely at their door.
