Sometimes good articles have silly headlines. One such example is a September 25, 2024 piece on Long War Journal titled The Houthis have challenged the Rules-Based International System and must be defeated. I agree that the Houthis, an Islamist Iranian proxy currently in control of much of Yemen, must be defeated. But I do not think they must be defeated because they are challenging some abstract rules-based international system. My concerns are more prudential. They should be defeated because they are currently using Iranian missiles to do remarkable damage to international shipping, occasionally firing them at Israel, and have within the last few years hit Saudi Arabian oil facilities. As a general matter, defeating violent Islamist Iranian proxies is a good thing without appealing to end of history speak. Of course, the article itself largely agrees, notwithstanding the vague headline.