Tag Archives: Yemen

Senate Votes in Favor of Resolution to End US Support for Saudi-Led War in Yemen, by Middle East Eye

Posted on November 29, 2018 | Leave a comment

Well what do you know? For once the Senate did the right thing. From Middle East Eye at theantimedia.org:

Despite pressure from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to maintain Washington’s steadfast support for the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen, the US Senate has voted in favour of advancing a resolution that would end US involvement in the devastating conflict.

US Senators voted 63-37 on Wednesday afternoon to move forward with a resolution to end Washington’s support for the Saudi-led coalition.

While procedural, the successful vote discharges the resolution from the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and clears the way for a Senate-wide debate on its contents, which is expected to take place next week.

US Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the resolution’s co-sponsors, said US lawmakers should send a message to the Saudi government “that [they] will not continue to support a catastrophic war led by a despotic regime that has a dangerous, destructive and irresponsible military policy”.

“No more. Enough death, enough killing, enough destruction,” Sanders said in the Senate ahead of the vote.

The result of the vote signals a deepening rift between US lawmakers and US President Donald Trump, who has pledged his administration’s unwavering support for Riyadh despite the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Fourteen Senators from the president’s political party voted in favour of the resolution. Among those includes Lindsey Graham, who has repeatedly voiced his outrage over Khashoggi’s murder.

Every member in the Democratic Party voted to adanced the resolution.

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With Reaffirmed US Support, Saudis Continue Assault on Yemen, Killing Civilians, by Randi Nord

Posted on November 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

Trump has given the green light for Saudi Arabia to continue its war in Yemen. From Randi Nord at theantimedia.org:

Washington has chosen to diverge from its European allies and continue support for the Saudi led-coalition against Yemen. Following a White House statement that reaffirms US commitment, the Saudi coalition has continued with its assault on Hodeidah port and civilians in Yemen.

  • Germany, the United Kingdom, and other European nations have recently put forth effort to stop the war against Yemen.
  • The White House has issued a statement doubling down on its seemingly unconditional support for Saudi Arabia — particularly its assault on Yemen.
  • Saudi Arabia has since continued its attacks on Yemen’s Hodeidah port and civilian areas.
  • Yemenis hold out hope for the European effort and UN envoy’s recent visit to Hodediah port.
Washington Diverges from European Allies, Doubles Down on Support for Gulf Monarchies

On November 20th, the White House issued (yet another) statement blaming Iran for the ongoing bloodshed in Yemen. It’s worth noting that Iran has no troops in Yemen. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia and the UN inspect all aid shipments entering Yemen for weapons and missile parts. There is absolutely no concrete evidence of Iran providing support to Ansarullah (aka. Houthis) in Yemen.

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Nothing In Any Conspiracy Theory Is As Bad As What’s Being Done Out In The Open, by Caitlin Johnstone

Posted on November 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

Before you wade through the weeds of the government’s many conspiracies, consider what it does in broad daylight. From Caitline Johnstone at medium.com:

Yesterday President Trump posted a statement on the White House website saying his administration will be standing with the House of Saud despite the CIA’s assertion that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman personally ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who was living and working in the United States.

The statement reads like a long form version of one of Trump’s tweets, replete with gratuitous exclamation points and slogans like “America First!” and the lie that Iran is “the world’s leading sponsor of terror”, which will never be trueno matter how many times this administration deliberately repeats it. The world’s leading sponsor of terrorism is of course Saudi Arabia, along with Israel and the United States.

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New Saudi Propaganda Blitz Targets Western Audience, by Tyler Durden

Posted on November 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

According to the new propaganda, everything is just hunky dory between the Saudis and the Yemenis, even though the Saudis are bombing them. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

Behold the absurd new heights of Saudi propaganda. A poster and series of new infographics created by the Saudi Foreign Ministry and now being promoted through official Saudi media accounts depicts Yemeni children and reads “we stand with the Yemeni people”

A series of propaganda graphics released by the ministry this week claim further that since its 2015 air campaign over Yemen, the Saudi coalition has been “careful in avoiding civilians, women and children, civilian objects and infrastructure from effects of the conflict.”

On Twitter the images of a smiling faces of children along with emblems of Saudi government agencies are accompanied with a ‘We Stand with Yemen’ hashtag.

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Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, Horseshit, Politics, War

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As US and Western Allies Suddenly Push Peace in Yemen, Can Their Endgame be Trusted? by Ahmed Abdulkareem

Posted on November 4, 2018 | Leave a comment

Is peace in Yemen on the horizon after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder? From Ahmed Abdulkareem at mintpressnews.com:

The U.S. has expressed a desire to rely in Yemen upon the often practiced and rarely successful strategy of breaking a nation into multiple enclaves based on ethnicity and political affiliation. The process, known as balkanization, has been implemented with disastrous results in Syria, Sudan and elsewhere.

SANA’A, YEMEN — Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Ansar Allah’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, welcomed U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ recent remarks urging an end to the three-year-long Saudi-led war in Yemen. In a tweet, Al-Houthi urged Mattis to announce an immediate end to the war, as well as to the Saudi coalition’s blockade that has triggered a famine in the world’s poorest nation.

Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthis) and its allies have been receptive to previous initiatives to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of civilians. Al-Houthi stressed on Wednesday that any initiative would be welcomed so long as it does not undermine Yemen’s independence and sovereignty.

Dr. Yaser al-Houri, Secretary of the Supreme Political Council, the highest political authority in Sana’a, told MintPress:

“We welcome any call for peace that will end the war and we will deal responsibly with any future peace talks under the umbrella of the United Nations.”

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Western Media Make One Death A Tragedy, Millions A Statistic, by Finian Cunningham

Posted on November 1, 2018 | Leave a comment

Western media’s hyperventilation about the death of one journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, while it mostly ignores the deaths of tens of thousands of women and children as Saudi Arabia, the US, and Great Britain make war on Yemen is one more maker of it’s supine corruption and laziness. From Finian Cunningham at strategic-culture.org:

The Western media coverage devoted to the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi proves the cynical adage that one person’s death is a tragedy, while millions of deaths are a mere statistic.

During the past four weeks since Khashoggi went missing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the case has been constantly in the news cycle. Contrast that with the sparse coverage in Western news media of the horrific Saudi war in Yemen during the past four years.

The United Nations has again recently warned that 16 million in Yemen were facing death from starvation as a result of the war waged on that country by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab partners, with the crucial military support of the US, Britain and France. That imminent death toll hardly registered a response from Western media or governments.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Crime, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, Media, Politics

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US Pressuring Saudis To Heal Qatar Rift, Ease Sanctions, As Riyadh’s Isolation Grows, by Tyler Durden

Posted on October 31, 2018 | Leave a comment

The US will probably exact some concessions from Saudi Arabia as its price for looking the other way concerning Jamal Khashoggi’s murder and Mohammad bin Salman’s part in it. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

In the latest fallout over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the United States is demanding that Saudi Arabia make nice with Qatar, according to sources quoted in Bloomberg.

Three officials with knowledge of the issue have described to Bloomberg that the US is “raising pressure” on the kingdom to “wind down” its ongoing “political and economic isolation of Qatar” at a moment that Riyadh is potentially facing its own such isolation as international outrage has grown since the October 2nd slaying of Khashoggi inside the Istanbul consulate.

One U.S. official further says the Saudis are being asked to “take steps” to wind down its over three-year long bombing campaign in Yemen, or at least to greatly mitigate the factors causing a massive humanitarian crisis in famine — an ironic and contradictory request given the Pentagon’s own lead role as part of the Saudi coalition.

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The Limits of Power – The Myth of the Magical American Soldier, by Maj. Danny Sjursen

Posted on October 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

By now the belief that the US can solve problems in foreign lands just be sending over the troops should be dead, but it’s not. From Maj. Danny Sjursen, who admits he’s not a miracle worker, at antiwar.com:

Americans worship their fighting men and women; but it is dangerous to believe the mere presence of U.S. troops will achieve the miraculous in the Greater Middle East – it won’t

We aren’t miracle workers. We’re just soldiers after all – kids barely out of their teens and officers in their mid-20s do most of the fighting. Still, policymakers in Washington, and citizens on Main Street both seem convinced that the mere presence of a few hundred or thousand American troops can alter societies, vanquish the wicked, and remake the world.

A colleague of mine refers to this as the myth of the magic soldier: sprinkle US troops in some horrific mess of a country and voilà – problem solved!

It sounds great, but this sort of delusional thinking has led the United States into one failed quagmire after another, killing some 7,000 US troops and close to one million locals. After 17 years of fruitless, indecisive war, its quite incredible that a bipartisan coalition of mainstream Republicans (neocons, mostly) and Democrats (neo-liberal relics) still cling to the idea that American soldiers wield magic powers. It’s long past time to review the record of our over-adulated troopers and reframe the actual – limited – capabilities of military force.

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Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Military, Politics, War

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10 Embarrassing Questions for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, by Middle East Monitor

Posted on October 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

These questions would certainly put good old MbS on the spot. From Middle East Monitor at theantimedia.org:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked ten questions to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, all of them related to the human rights situation in the Kingdom and Riyadh’s violations against neighbouring countries.

This came in a statement issued by the organisation demanding Bin Salman provide answers to questions related to the war in Yemen, the detention of activists and academics, the arrest of princes and businessmen, forced disappearances, the oppression of women and non-Muslims in the Kingdom. It also demanded Riyadh explain its campaign against oppositionists abroad, the most recent victim of which was journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

HRW’s statement pointed out that the Kingdom’s admission that government representatives killed Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul has provoked an extensive, albeit belated, review of the country’s record of human rights violations. Human Rights Watch also called on foreign government officials to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for this record.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Crime, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Investigations, Law, Politics

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Nation Transfixed In Horror By Toy Bombs While Destroying Lives With Real Ones, by Caitlin Johnstone

Posted on October 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

One of the better headlines we’ve seen recently. From Caitlin Johnstone at medium.com:

Media headlines have been dominated for the last two days by the news that pipe bombs are being sent to Democratic Party elites and their allies, a list of whom as of this writing consists of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, George Soros, Maxine Waters, Eric Holder, Robert De Niro, and the CNN office (addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan who actually works for NBC). As of this writing nobody has been killed or injured in any way by any of these many explosive devices, and there is as of this writing no publicly available evidence that they were designed to. As of this writing there is no evidence that the devices were intended to do anything other than what they have done: stir up fear and grab headlines.

And of course it is a good thing that nobody has been hurt by these devices. Obviously targeting anyone with packages containing explosive materials is terrible, even if those devices were not rigged with the intention of detonating and harming anyone, and it is a good thing that not a single one of them has done so. It is a good thing that none of America’s political elites were targeted by the sort of explosive device that America drops on people in other countries every single day. You know, the kind that actually explode.

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