New Zealand will deploy six Defence Force personnel to the Middle East, where they will help target US missile strikes against Houthi forces in Yemen and the Red Sea.
The Houthi are an Islamic militia which seized parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and some of its Red Sea coastline, during a 2014 revolution.
Houthi forces, which are supported by the Iranian Government, have been attacking shipping vessels in the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel’s war in Gaza.
While they claim to be only targeting ships associated with Israel, the attacks have been relatively indiscriminate with vessels from many different countries damaged.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced on Tuesday NZ will deploy a “six-member Defence Force team” to the region to “uphold maritime security in the Red Sea”.
“Houthi attacks against commercial and naval shipping are illegal, unacceptable and profoundly destabilising,” he said in a statement.
The Red Sea and the Suez Canal in Egypt is a critical trade route for goods being transported between Asia and Europe. Usually, almost 15% of global trade travels past Yemen.
But many vessels are now being diverted around the south of Africa to avoid the attacks, adding roughly 10 days to the journey and pushing up shipping costs.
Inflation risk
In a note, Kiwibank economists said the Houthis attacks were causing shipping rates to spike and adding pressure to inflation.
Freight disruptions were a big driver of inflation following the pandemic and the normalization of shipping routes has helped slow the speed of price increases.
“We are unlikely to see the same sort of spike caused by the Covid crisis. But any spike in costs is unwelcome,” the economists said.
The Shanghai Shipping Containerized Freight Index has jumped from $1,000 in December to $2,200 now, but prices are still well below the near $5000 levels seen during late 2021.
Luxon said about 10% of NZ’s exports and about 20% of its imports travel through the Red Sea on their way to the UK, Europe, and North Africa.
“So, it will have an impact on New Zealand, and we've all gone through a COVID experience and seen what disruption to supply chains can do,” he told reporters.
International law
While inflation is an important domestic concern, the NZ Defence Force deployment aims to protect the much larger principle of freedom of navigation which underpins global trade.
NZ already has 12 service people deployed to a combined naval force, based in Bahrain, which protects international shipping routes from smugglers and pirates.
Luxon said secure shipping lanes were “integral to our national interests” and Defence Minister Judith Collins said NZ’s remote location made stability “even more important”.
Collins said the team of six being deployed to the Middle East would not enter Yemen but would be involved in targeting US airstrikes based on intelligence information.
The American Government asked New Zealand to contribute to a joint-effort to counter the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Canada, Australia, and the UK are also involved.
Green Party co-leaders, James Shaw and Marama Davidson, said they were “deeply disturbed” by the deployment to the Red Sea.
“Right now, what we are witnessing in the Middle East is a regional power play between different state and non-state groups. This decision is only likely to inflame tensions”.
The party said it will seek a Parliamentary debate on the issue, push ministers to focus on de-escalating the conflict, and continue to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
47 Comments
I'm not so sure this is 'taking sides with Israel'. The militias were attacking shipping (of different nations) even before the Gaza war started. To me it looks like they're using Palestine as a fig-leaf for what they wanted to do anyway. Good way for a bunch of pirates to give themselves a veneer of legitimacy.
Inevitable as it was predictable. The globe is being divided into factions, the West and the East, Muslims and others for example. Ever since the outbreak of covid, China’s role and remorseless, secretive stance on that, the resultant pull back of industry & trade, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine there has been a hardening reverting to the lines established during the cold war. New Zealand thus opts to stand with our traditional and trusted allies, there is hardly any alternative.
Where she goes, we go, where she stands, we stand, we are only a small and young nation but we march with a union of heart and soul. Savage times back then weren’t they and not all that much dust to be blown off the disc for a replay either. Wager today though, any PM of any hue would be hard pressed to be as definitive
When one side imprisons women with no justification, denies women education, beats them for going out in public, has capital punishment for being LGBTQI+ and for having any political freedom, has an actual constitution calling for genocide of an indigenous racial group count me old fashioned but I will be on the side that will not murder most my friends and family for being born thanks. None of us are jewish but most of my family is female and LGBTQI+. Many would be killed now on ideological grounds if they were in the area. So yeah nah, take your colonizer invader support and rebranding and go think how your family would survive such a governing organization of mob and far right rule. To survive is to accept severe harm to human rights and that was before the war. The utter complete tragedy is the two sides are the closest genetic relatives to each other because the land was semitic. It is unfortunate but it is and was the choice of one side to deny the rights of indigenous population the restoration of their traditional lands and even go so far as to massacre and forcibly convert their people multiple times in the last 500years then start hate and terrorism campaigns calling for genocide of an entire race. If anything the war has been one that is over 1000 years long and will likely be going on for as long as religion holds more sway then the value of human rights. Until religion can openly incorporate the value of all human life no matter the others religious, sexual, gender and racial differences then there will always be religious terrorism, religious war and religious harm & discrimination. It occurs in all countries now and across all religions. There is no west vs east, us vs them, left vs right. There is those who want to respect human life and those who will seek any justification for any side to deny the rights of others so long as their image and prospects are good, typically the role that religion has held and supports today. The grey exists because there is possibility for any person to be both given certain positions. It would not surprise me if one day we end up in a expanse style, screamers style or raised by wolves style dividing lines. With very little actual utopian future star trek type world governance because at no time were we ever the human race.
Until religion can openly incorporate the value of all human life no matter the others religious, sexual, gender and racial differences then there will always be religious terrorism, religious war and religious harm & discrimination. It occurs in all countries now and across all religions.
Human nature is fickle at times and history will show you that we are always doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past as the past is too soon forgotten.
Well Russia has plenty of the planet already I would have thought - and even more opening up as the Arctic warms up . Maybe be a little more discerning about who exactly are the pillagers here ? As for the Palestinians - The IDF is going a little too far in my own opinion but one could also reasonably argue that Hamas brought this on themselves entirely - carrying out such an Attack under the "watch" of an ultra right wing criminal Prime Minister .
Maybe you could go wave some silly flags in support of terrorists that rape pregnant woman and slice their babies out while they are still alive. There’s a good chap. Of course we will support our allies. You live with the freedom provided by the dead soldiers that fought for that exact freedom. You should remember that.
They are not protecting our interests. The Red Sea considerably more blocked since these operations began than before. NZ companies would have just had to agree to "boycott" Israel (only 10M people with a currently restricted economy) and we would have full access to Europe in a month or two once things have stabilised.
Now, the US has gone in without a plan to finish this and turned the area into a war zone, where all US and UK ships are now targeted. Yemen has been bombed by US weapons for years they knew they were going to be attacked and are prepared. The US will run out of Tomahawks long before Ansar Allah runs out of missiles.
"not just hiding behind the coattails of your betters " In this context, what kind of disgusting imperialist attitude is this?
It's not 2003 any more. The cost of tech and weapons to defend and strike back against US aggression is a fraction of what is was. (Think about why the US is using a very limited supply Tomahawks here) But, ill leave it there I am not going to try argue against your jingoism.
Go find the Ansar Allah speeches they are making at the moment. They are mocking the US for these attacks at the moment. The US has "glassed" places for far less provocation.
You are right about one thing, it is not 2003 any more.
The US now have laser cannons and so instead of firing missiles to down incoming terrorist missiles, the use the laser cannon. It costs 10 bucks instead of a million.
So they can focus on delivering more powerful missiles to land based targets and cut the cost of shooting down incoming terrorist ones (that still cost loads of money).
I do find it amusing that a bunch of terrorists are mocking the US. The US has pounded them effortlessly, when and where they feel fit, with no losses. In comparison these idiots could not hit the side of a barn. I seems they can make a good speech though. How nice for them.
They have them already. They are already deployed.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a42435948/navy-laser-…
Somewhere in that link it says this:
That is the Navy’s hope, at least. Defense contractors have recently tested lower-powered lasers[emphasis mine]—one even shot down a [test] drone earlier this year—but a reliable laser with enough power to stymie hypersonic missiles is years away.
It's not even proof of concept vs a missile.
The part of the article I quoted just said their best achievement was shooting down a single drone with their test rig, in what I assume was a controlled test. That link is propaganda.
I'm stopping replying here. No one else needs to have scroll past this waste of time.
take your colonizer invader support and rebranding and go think how your family would survive such a governing organization of mob and far right rule. To survive is to accept severe harm to human rights and that was before the war. The utter complete tragedy is the two sides are the closest genetic relatives to each other because the land was semitic. It is unfortunate but it is and was the choice of one side to deny the rights of indigenous population the restoration of their traditional lands and even go so far as to massacre and forcibly convert their people multiple times in the last 500years then start hate and terrorism campaigns calling for genocide of an entire race. If anything the war has been one that is over 1000 years long and will likely be going on for as long as religion holds more sway then the value of human rights. Until religion can openly incorporate the value of all human life no matter the others religious, sexual, gender, racial and ability differences then there will always be religious terrorism, religious war and religious harm & discrimination. Religious harm against human rights is in all countries even our own right now. Have you ever given one thought to the genocide happening at your own backdoor? Or is genocide suddenly ok when you are the one doing it?
Multiple NZ govts called for a ceasefire. An action so useless all those protesters for a ceasefire should have been spending their time and money actually providing wellbeing support and resource funding to those in need both locally and remotely instead. But no lets call for a ceasefire some more. After all we have time to waste and it seems the local community is doing just fine with reduced mental health services funding, limited communications etc. Why not just say we stand for peace while doing absolutely nothing to fund support for local healthcare as well. Just to drive the sickening proselytizing and branding exercise home. Don't kid yourselves folks. Those protesting are doing equally as little as those not protesting. It is all an exercise to look good and not any action to do good. Those who truly are doing good are currently those in the health sector supporting those most in need who are suffering. Want to take a guess that if they are not even adequately getting funds for local support from so called protestors & supporting parties (including MPs in privileged positions to get front of the line premium private services) what the chances are that we can provide additional services elsewhere. After all who really cares if all they seem to do is as effective as p*ing in the rain.
They dont want to be bought out - nor does Iran - nor does Putin - its always about power (just as religion is always about power and control which many use as a weapon)
but yes education and raising living standards is always a plus -hard to see how this is implemented effectively though given the control exercised by those who are happy to keep their subjects subjugated
Agree , you won't "buy" the real radicals.
but thier supporters , food suppliers , other means of support , yes , you could .
But most importantly , you could stop potential recruits , partly by not killing their families and blowing up their homes , but also making their lives better.
Slogan of the Houthi movement (for those who don't know, this is their flag)
God is the Greatest
Death to America
Death to Israel
A Curse Upon the Jews
Victory to Islam
How much do you think it would take to buy these guys out? Lets not forget the US was part of collation that starved Yemen and is responsible for their current standard of living.
6 personnel...how pathetic.
The shocking state of NZ armed forces is a national disgrace. We spend taxes on BS like the abandoned Income Insurance Scheme, the moronic gun buyback, billions on maoris, Pike River, the failed TVNZ/RNZ merger, the non-existent harbour bridge cycleway, bike lanes, 3 Waters, hundreds of millions on the light rail fail and 14,000 extra bureaucrats....but armed forces and our collective security....no!
Whenuapai Airfield...has anyone actually seen an aircraft take-off or land? They may as well use it for civilian flights. The RNZAF.....a real misnomer...the airforce couldn't force anyone to do anything....lots of personnel, but no flying. Apart from training pilots and engineers for the airlines.
Certainly going to be interesting to watch, because the Egyptian economy's in bad shape, and relies on revenues from the Canal.
You've got it.
If anything bad ever happens to us in this country, I have comfort in the fact that the flag waving idiots and the greens will aggressively flag wave and moan so much that the invaders will simply leave. Since we are providing such fantastic support currently to our Allies I fully expect the USA to return the favor send 6 non-combat personnel to Australia to monitor the situation. Us sending 6 people is a better contribution than dressing up in terrorist attire and furiously finger waggling and waving flags when we support our allies.
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