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From wikipedia:

>The ship is estimated to contain about 1.14 million barrels of oil valued at up to US$80 million, which became a point of contention in negotiations between the Houthi rebels and Yemeni government, both of which asserted claims to the cargo and vessel.

Now, I'm no expert but let me venture a guess that the environmental costs of the spill and any subsequent cleanup will be significantly higher than $160M. Can we just pay both sides their $80M to let someone competent tow it out and safely dispose of the oil?

If no government is sufficiently smart to do that someone just start a kickstarter, I'll give you $20k.




Giving $80M to each side in a war is no lock on a smart solution. Such a move could easily worsen the war, destroy the tanker anyway, and anger from millions towards whoever's give that 'gift'. There is potential direct loss of life from such payments in addition to additional environmental impact.


But then youre giving terrorists $80 million, which admittedly the US is already doing with the Saudi air force. I don't think that means we have to make it worse though.


The Houthi are not currently considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. or, as far as I can tell[1], any other nation. (They were for about a month, but the decision was reversed by Biden.)

Not taking a position (as I know very little about them), but this would seem to contradict your argument. Unless you're using "terrorist" to indicate your opinion of the Houthi, as opposed to any official designation.

[1] I rigorously conducted my own research. It consisted of Wikipedia, and only Wikipedia. Your mileage may vary.


Putting the considerations of the State Department aside, the Houthis are a proxy for Iran which US isn't too happy to capitulate to.


During the Obama administration, the US was happy to capitulate to Iraqi militias that were proxies for Iran. And I don't intend that as a criticism, it might have been the least bad option at the time.

https://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/islamic-state-obama-m...


This assumes any cleanup will be done at all in this war torn coastal area.


This time, but it invites a next time. If we are going to do something it should be send our military (the world's - at least China, Russia, US, UK) take the ship: either from both, or from which ever side we agree to support. Otherwise we should let them fight it out and refuse to send any more oil to either Yemeni or the rebels if any oil escapes.


No thanks. I don't want US blood spilled over something that's not our concern. Let the countries closer to the tanker figure out a solution.

And any military action carries some risk of damaging the tanker, which could cause a leak or fire. Thus precipitating the disaster it was intended to avoid.




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