RT Nick Szabo (@NickSzabo4)Why are littoral combat ships equipped with minesweeping packages being diverted to Malaysia?One of the possible, and perhaps most likely, reasons is highly problematic for the future of freedom of navigation.Minesweeping near Malaysia or Indonesia is not a useful part of deterring China from invading Taiwan. In a scenario where the U.S. is ramping up such deterrence, the most rational strategy would involve interdiction of Chinese commercial shipping, in which case we would be pr ...

Iran currently exercises military veto power over commercial shipping traffic near and at the Strait of Hormuz.Iran has rules that it has established for transit of Hormuz., rules that it believes it needs to fight its existential war. Follow Iran's rules, like China does, and your ships get through. Refuse to follow them and your ships are in danger from military enforcement of the rules, and in almost all cases the shipping company will simply refuse to risk the transit.U.S. attempts to remove Iran's veto ...

RT Nick Szabo (@NickSzabo4)Why are littoral combat ships equipped with minesweeping packages being diverted to Malaysia?One of the possible, and perhaps most likely, reasons is highly problematic for the future of freedom of navigation.Minesweeping near Malaysia or Indonesia is not a useful part of deterring China from invading Taiwan. In a scenario where the U.S. is ramping up such deterrence, the most rational strategy would involve interdiction of Chinese commercial shipping, in which case we would be pr ...