This is deeply alarming, but the coverage risks treating the Red Sea crisis as only a geopolitical chess move between distant powers. Yes, the Houthis’ seizure of Perim and threats to shipping are dangerous and must be opposed — attacks on civilians or commerce are unacceptable — but we also have to name the wider context: Yemen has been devastated for more than a decade by foreign intervention, blockades and air campaigns that have produced mass suffering, famine and destroyed infrastructure. Reducing the Houthis to a mere “Iran proxy” erases their local grievances and the role of Saudi- and UAE-led interventions that helped create this chaos. A progressive response should prioritize an urgent ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access. The international community — led by the UN and regional stakeholders, not unilateral military strikes — needs to broker immediate talks that include all Yemeni voices, lift blockades that punish civilians, and establish safe corridors for aid. At the same time, countries supplying weapons to either side must stop enabling further bloodshed; arms exports and military support need to be conditioned on concrete human-rights protections and ceasefire commitments. We can’t let strategic chokepoints be used to blackmail global commerce, but the answer isn’t more bombing. Multilateral maritime security under a UN mandate, coupled with diplomacy, sanctions targeted at those who commit war crimes, and long-term investment in Yemeni reconstruction and governance, is the responsible path. Finally, this crisis is a reminder that reliance on fossil-fuel chokepoints gives huge leverage to violent actors — accelerating a just global transition away from those fuels would reduce these geopolitical pressures and benefit people everywhere.