Like the Knicks outlasting the Celtics in two gritty, defense-first playoff wins in Boston, no one expected the Houthis to prevail in a protracted fight against the US Navy. But now that President Donald Trump has embraced a ceasefire, the US, like to the defending NBA champions, needs to come to terms with its self-defeating tendency to underestimate its ostensibly overmatched opponents.
Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that the US would cease bombing the Houthis, not even two months after he foolishly escalated the cynical sea-and-air assault he inherited from the Biden administration, came as a surprise, particularly while Sanaa International Airport lay smoking on Monday from Israeli warplanes. But the year-long US campaign, from the start, lacked any theory of victory. ….more
