A most striking event of 2023

The saga unfolding in the seas off the coast of Yemen reveals a new facet of asymmetric warfare in today's world

The year 2023 had its fair share of surprises, mostly pleasant. The conflict in Ukraine did not widen into a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato. The US economy did not go into a recession. Global economic growth did not slow down as much as feared. The Indian economy fared much better than forecast.

For your columnist, one event in distant Africa stood out. It was the ability of the Houthi militia in Yemen to strike a big blow to global trade by disrupting the flow of cargo traffic in the Red Sea. The Houthis’ action was a response to