TrueValueMetrics ... Impact Accounting for the 21st Century

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YEMEN THE HOUTHIS CaspianReport: Why the US Navy can’t stop Houthi rebels PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_eCu_pW6-4 Peter Burgess COMMENTARY SECTION I During my working career I worked in the Horn of Africa and in Yemen on a variety of assignments. Mostly 'reading' and 'writing' are foundational for people engaged in management and decision making in most every organization ... especially between management and employee. This assumption tends to be less applicable when managers write in the English language and use Roman numerals for numbering and most of the employees do not! Over time, I became quite adept at communicating some essential performance goals and results in ways that could be understood by managers and workers who had no familiarity with anything 'english'. In the Middle East, both text and numbers needed conversion ... but in places like Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union the text needed conversion, but the numbers did not! Looking back, I am appalled at the low level of understanding that international decision makers had about most of the underlying organizations and their performance. It really is no wonder that so little progress was made in the early post colonial era ... say 1955 to 1975. For about a century before this, the old Colonial powers had country experts everywhere who were truly eperts inmost everything important for the local country. by about 1960 most of this amazing human resource was gone ... never to be replaced ... and the results have not been good! SECTION II Being old is not 'all bad'. The big advantage of age is that one has had time to see mistakes and make mistakes. In some cases. one might have actually learned something from the mistakes! So ... I am now 84 years old and my mental capacity is not severely compromised ... though maybe this to some extent is wishful thinking! During my working career I was mainly involved with performance analysis whether in the corporate world where profit was the goal or in the public sector and government where broader socio-economic progress was the goal. In my life 'post-work' I have done a lot of thinking and analysis of issues that seem to me to be important and where younger 'experts' seem to be getting it wrong! My lifetime experience has been somewhat unusual. My education was much 'broader' than normal embracing engineering at Cambridge University and then economics also at Cambridge. I got some industrial training in the heavy engineering industry in the UK before transitioning to training as a Chartered Accountant in London with Coopers Brothers & Co that was in the process of becoming Coopers and Lybrand (which is now PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC). I started my adult career in the UK, but migrated to North America in my mid/late 20s, initially into Canada and later the United States. I became a very young CFO in the corporate world with responsibility for 'corporate accounting', data based strategic planning not to mention enabling transitions from manual accounting to EDP supported accounting! After almost 20 years of corporate employment, I ventured into independent management consulting. My expectation was I would do work somewhat similar to the work I had been doing within a corporate organization, but this did not work out. Instead I found myself being recruited into the world of socio-economic development with organizations like the World Bank and IFC and humanitarian relief with organizations wihin the UN system. This kept me reasonably busy until most of the key staff who had recruited me over time became of retirement age and younger staff took their place. By this time, I might also have developed a reputation for being very 'independent' in my thinking ... something that should mostly be a positive 'value' but not always in big organizations where many other factors are in play. Though my consulting career ended more abruptly than I would have wished ... my interest in global socio-enviro-economic progress and performance has remained strong. This has been stimulated by a number of mega-trends that have emerged during recent decades and need to be addressed, but have been essentially on 'auto-pilot' as well as being in the wrong direction because much of global 'top-leadership' has the wrong goals. My work to develop TrueValueMetrics is a response to this matter ... maybe 'too little and too late' ... but perhaps, 'better late than never'! Peter Burgess
Why the US Navy can’t stop Houthi rebels CaspianReport Sep 13, 2024 1.57M subscribers ... 1,029,951 views ... 26K likes #Houthis #ad #Navy 👉 Register for ChatGPT & AI workshop for FREE: https://link.gs.ht/CAR 👉 100% Discount for first 1000 people 🔥 ✅ Join Top1% AI Community for regular AI updates: https://link.gs.ht/CARW The #US #Navy finds itself in the most intense naval engagement since World War II. Six months on, the #Houthis remained undeterred. Why is that? Support CaspianReport ✔ YouTube membership ► / @caspianreport ✔ Patreon ► / caspianreport ✔ PayPal ► https://www.paypal.me/caspianreport ✔ Merchandise ►https://teespring.com/stores/caspianr... Crypto endorsement ✔ Bitcoin ► 1MwRNXWWqzbmsHova7FMW11zPftVZVUfbU ✔ Ether ► 0xfE4c310ccb6f52f9D220F25Ce76Dec0493dF9aA0 ✔ Bitcoin Cash ► 1BKLti4Wq4EK9fsBnYWC91caK7NZfUhNw9 Join us on Facebook or Twitter ✔ Twitter ► / caspianreport ✔ Facebook ► / caspianreport ✔ My equipment and editing software ► https://www.amazon.com/shop/caspianre... Watch CaspianReport in other languages ✔ Spanish ► / historiageopol%c3%adtica ✔ Russian ► / thecuriouscat #ad #sponsored Transcript 0:00 smoke Rose above the yemeni port city of Hoda in Late July as the Israeli Air Force carried out a series of strikes on transportation and energy infrastructure the operation which marked Israel's First Direct involvement in the country came in response to houie strikes against Tel Aviv the week prior yet such strikes also occur in the context of the broader Red Sea crisis in October 202 3 in response to the Gaza conflict the houthis began a partial blockade of the bab al-mandab Strait by January 2024 traffic through the Red Sea had haved drawing the ire of the West the United States launched operation Prosperity Guardian deploying a carrier strike group alongside 20 Regional and international allies the Americans had planned to take the fight directly to the hou 1:00 whereas their European allies sought to provide escort missions through their own separate task named Operation as speedies 6 months on however the houis remained undeterred and more than 100 incidents have been reported with no end in sight on the contrary June saw a significant spike in attacks on shipping the sinking of the MV tutor the second major vessel sunk by the houthis since the start of the crisis drove insurance premiums Skyhigh not necessarily outgunned but certainly out maneuvered the US Navy finds itself in the most intense Naval engagement since the second world war Warfare is expensive and the operation costs are already amounting to close to $4 billion yet Washington has made little to no progress in the fight against the houthis but why is that why is the 2:00 world's Premier Naval power unable to overcome a ragtag band of rebels Perhaps it is true even Giants can fall hoi attacks have increased global trade issues and AI is now driving the race for control jobs are disappearing and without AI skills you risk getting behind today's sponsor can help you with that growth school is organizing the world's biggest 3-hour online AI Master Class covering more than 25 AI tools and I would like to invite you personally the best part is that it's usually a paid mini course but our first 1,000 viewers who join using the link below will get free access yes for free plus you'll get bonus resources worth $500 I and my team attended the master class we loved it and would rate it 5 out five it covers everything from job 3:01 hunting and salary negotiation to mastering Excel and content creation whether you're in sales marketing Tech or an entrepreneur this master class is for you growth school is the go-to platform to join the top 1% in an AI first world click the link below to register for free now despite its current prominence the houthi movement has humble Origins beginning its existence as a minor youth group in the early 1990s it rapidly Rose to prominence under the tutelage of its namesake Hussein al- Hui initially focused on zidi revivalism which is one of the major branches of Shia Islam the huis soon took on a more revolutionary character in response to the US invasion of Iraq before long the group was questioning the legitimacy of the yemeni 4:01 state in the 10 years that followed yemeni president Abdullah alale would attempt to crack down on the movement driving the houthis into the northern mountains squeezed between Yemen and Saudi Arabia the houis began to move closer to other Shia factions in the Middle East ultimately courting the support of Iran and its axis of resistance with the outbreak of the yemeni revolution in 2011 local hostilities evolved into a front in The Wider Iranian Saudi proxy war as the revolution collapsed into a Civil War the houthis skillfully navigated Yemen's internal Dynamics they partnered with the then deposed Sal to take the capital sah by February 2015 having seized power once more Sal turned on the houis by this stage however houthi agents had infiltrated Sal's forces 5:00 after a brief struggle the houthis deposed s and took over the Army overnight the ragtag rebel movement came into possession of the military and demographic wealth of North Yemen more importantly however the houthis had broken out of their confinement and gained a coastline consequently the group came to possess a valuable geopolitical position just across the bab Al mandab straight at about 30 km wide at its narrowest point the babal mandb is a vulnerable Gateway for shipping and an opportunity for pirates the ranks of which the houthis rushed to join access to the ocean allowed the houis to establish new supply lines and engage in the arms trade abroad thus even as the houis later lost the port city of Aiden revenues from Maritime related activities and piracy remained High surpassing one $ 1.5 billion by 6:02 2020 the viability of the houthis provoked fear in Riyad and in 2015 Saudi Arabia led a direct intervention in the conflict under the fog of war the houthi Insurgency sustained itself and even Advanced owing to the inflow of Aid and materials from sponsors in tran and Beirut years of the Saudi Le air campaign had taught the houthis the value view of force dispersal and asymmetric Warfare through capturing several of Yemen's ports the houthis came into possession of the defunct yemeni Navy anti-ship missiles and Limpet mines but with Iranian assistance such Technologies were reverse engineered into viable and deadly weapons by 2022 the growing Fleet of explosive boats was complemented by the delivery of a host of anti-ip Rockets 7:00 from Iran these include the 120 km ranged no and the 200 km ranged cader anti-ship missiles as well as the 300 km ranged College fars anti-ship ballistic missile loitering Munitions such as the Samad 3 drone and the Tolan 3 Blowfish have likewise gradually found their way into the houthi Arsenal the deployment of these weapons is believed to be coordinated by the Iranian intelligence cell on board the MV bashad which is a commercial cargo vessel that is used covertly for reconnaissance and intelligence operations in the Arabian Sea as such over time fighting the houthis became expensive too expensive by 2021 the Saudis signaled their intention to withdraw the houthis that emerged from the years of war were unrecognizable from the organization that had marched on saana in 8:01 2015 as a truce was negotiated with Saudi Arabia the houthis sought to shore up their domestic and international standing the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Gaza provided that opportunity by attaching its actions to a wider political narrative the houthis were able to re-engage in piracy politically costree War had made the houthis and now the houthis were Poise to make [Applause] war in July of 2002 the US Navy conducted a war game known as the Millennium challenge focused on a hypothetical war between the United States and Iran the war game was notable in that it demonstrated the topheavy US Navy unpreparedness to defend against an asymmetrical threat throughout the war game the team representing Iran dispersed their forces and utilized 9:02 analog Technologies such as motorcycle Messengers and light signals to avoid detection in combating the US Navy the Iranian team employed fleets of waterborne improvised explosive devices simultaneously with massive salvos of cruise missiles the Strategies employed by the Iranian team resulted in the deaths of an estimated 20,000 Sailors and the destruction of 16 War ships one aircraft carrier 10 Cruisers and five amphibious ships two decades later and the US Navy is confronted by a similar threat profile whilst the houthis Do Not possess the same capabilities of a besieged Iranian State the US Navy is similarly restricted due to wider geopolitical considerations with tensions increasing in the South China Sea Washington cannot afford to relocate its Force westwards 10:00 resources are scarce such considerations also limit other aspects of American engagement between the ongoing Ukrainian War and the evolving hotspots in South America and the Middle East American diplomatic and intelligence assets are stretched thinly where force can be applied it is limited by the costs of deployment which is not always measured in dollars since America is the chief global Naval power the US Navy must maintain a presence worldwide political disruptions Force Washington to redeploy its forces away from one region to the next yet in doing so it downgrades its threat response in the affected region in the case of Yemen Washington has already had to make such concessions deciding to pull the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier out of the South China Sea during a serious escalation of tensions between China and the 11:01 Philippines by deploying the carrier to the West Washington incurs the Strategic cost of one less carrier in the East another problem with modern warships is that they're pricey and designed for combating other conventional warships they're not made for asymmetric Warfare and so no one wants to risk damaging their assets to an unsophisticated attack it doesn't look good for the Ergo warships are like poker chips you don't use them unless you're willing to lose them for instance each Arley Burke class destroyer deployed by the United States costs $2 billion to build and another $7 million to operate monthly as for repair costs these can be in the hundreds of millions even if the damage is quite low take the case of the USS coal bombing in the year 20 2000 12:00 Al-Qaeda built an explosive boat that cost less than $1 million yet it was able to cause $240 Million worth of damage and take the lives of 17 Sailors this economic logic also functions in the inverse each missile launched by the US Navy has caused taxpayers between one and $4.3 million when these types of missiles are used to take out budget drones worth $2,000 it is the cost equivalent of using a bazooka to kill a fly in such cases it is hard to ascertain who killed who not surprisingly the total cost of operation Prosperity Guardian according to Al jazer has amounted to$ 1.8 and4 billion these are not rookie numbers and American taxpayers will consider such expenses as they go to the polls in November 13:00 the legacy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has left the American electorate with little appetite for Foreign Wars particularly not Wars that necessitate deep commitments such as Israel's war in Gaza and its Associated spillover the nature of this conflict has also deprived Washington of relying on its traditional strategy of Coalition building due to the intense controversy in Gaza none of the Middle Eastern powers are willing to get directly involved that leaves only the European powers which are not much of help the European task force operation aspides has totally different rules of engagement for one its mandate discourages direct strikes on yemeni soil and instead limits European involvement to escorting operations yet in deploying a naval Mission apart from the US the European navies face a dual 14:01 crisis of capability and confidence simply put the European Fleet lacks the number of ships necessary to defend against the houthis because it doesn't have the proper mission to start with even where such ships can be gathered the absence of a unified EU command structure as well as the lack of communication with the American British Mission has been disastrous faced with such difficulties it is no surprise that both operations have proven to be ineffective the ineptitude of the US Navy has emboldened the houis who have scaled up their attacks in recent months for comparison between January 2017 and June 2021 the houthis performed 24 Maritime drone attacks on average one every 70 days days however 15:00 from November 2023 to July 2024 they have performed 77 on average one every 3 days such Havoc has not been lost on insurers who have increased premiums substantially costs are extrapolated along the supply chain with each diversion around the Cape of Good Hope increasing the duration of shipping by 10 days in global trade everyday added is accounted for in costs associated with fuel crew salaries and insurance premiums so Logistics get expensive really fast lacking a military solution Washington is increasingly forced to pursue a just as unpalatable diplomatic solution but this disengaged policy only bolsters The Prestige of the houthis still even in an unpalatable situation there are choices between bad and worse a few strategies are worth considering 16:02 on the one hand Washington could resort to strengthening the official yeny government in Aiden which is unpopular underfunded and considered as illegitimate as the houthis given its reputation for incompetence corruption and infighting a clear alternative to the houi Insurgency must be shown to the yemeni public so that they can decide what kind of country they want for themselves America can count on Decades of experience from Afghanistan in what works and doesn't including the appropriate levels of funding foreign involvement political processes and autonomous organic growth on the other hand a concerted un effort will be necessary to enact change Russia and China can sometimes act as spoilers in the security Council but this does not mean that they are immune to the hou's actions in addition to direct and 17:00 indirect economic costs both are sensitive to Saudi Arabia's needs and may be persuaded to pressure Iran and the houthis to subtly back down America would likely need to make geopolitical concessions elsewhere to get the Russians and Chinese talking however saving the Red Sea might not justify sacrificing Ukraine and Taiwan which is what Russia and China would undoubtedly bring up so backchannel diplomacy would probably not work lastly if America is to stop the houthis it could try to bring about a reasonable end to the hostilities in Gaza robbing the houthis of this justification for their actions in the Red Sea would be a powerful incentive to make them sit down at the negotiating table and abandon behavior that they have hither to benefited from admittedly settling any deal that that crosses Israel's interests would result 18:01 in political backlash for the executive office so this might not work either by all accounts Washington has inadvertently become a hostage to contemporary international relations there is no immediate resolution in sight that is both practical and politically redeemable it is unable to stop the houthis by military means just as it is unable to stop them by diplomatic means meanwhile for the destitute houthis now is their window of opportunity every time they open fire they are ringing The Dinner Bell so they might as well make it count I've been your host chivon from caspan report thank you for your time and S [Music] [Music]

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