Apocalyptic Numbers: The Saudi-Trump War on Yemen

[HomerThompson]

C'mon, man , look beyond partizanship. This is more than only Trumps fault

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has targeted Yemen’s Shia Houthi militias and their allies, loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who two years ago seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa by force. Several months later, they drove the Saudi-backed President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. When Saudi King Salman announced the intervention in Yemen—an intervention the kingdom has painted as a proxy war with Iran, its regional foe—the White House immediately authorized a support package that included intelligence-sharing and logistical support for military operations. That package has seen the United States deliver more than 40 million pounds of fuel to Saudi jets over the past 18 months, according to U.S. Central Command. The Saudis would be crippled without direct U.S. military assistance, particularly aerial refueling, which continues unabated.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/09/yemen-saudi-arabia-obama-riyadh/501365/

I know it feels better to blame the other side ( that may or not have been worse). But in all honesty this is an American problem in more than just one party/president.

I simply made a factual statement. Trump is the President now, so it's his responsibility.

It's known that Trump has suckled right up to that Saudi teet. There is no comparison to Obama. Not to mention, this thread is about the conflict. My thread title is the title of the attached article.

I want to talk about the conflict, how barbaric it is, and what we can do to stop it.

Some are trying:

https://www.vox.com/world/2018/3/20/17144332/senate-yemen-saudi-arabia-sanders-lee-murphy

Tragically, they failed to get it done. Not surprising, but still nauseating.

Saudi Arabia needs a spanking. Not Iran, not even Russia in the same way. Maximum diplomatic and economic pressure should be applied by the entire world to end the war in Yemen. The U.S. has to find a way to do the right thing on this.

 

[Zankou]

Do you have any good articles you think are worth reading on the situation outside of the OP?

Good article that is detailed and not just shilling for one or the other side:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/how-the-us-is-making-the-war-in-yemen-worse

 

[HomerThompson]

Do you have any good articles you think are worth reading on the situation outside of the OP?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-.../the-last-hours-of-yemens-saleh-idUSKBN1E20YY

 

[HomerThompson]

Good article that is detailed and not just shilling for one or the other side:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/how-the-us-is-making-the-war-in-yemen-worse

Great article. Thanks man.

 

[Rod1]

Good article that is detailed and not just shilling for one or the other side:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/how-the-us-is-making-the-war-in-yemen-worse

On the night of the bombing, at around 2 a.m., he heard the thud of ordnance on the mountain. “We went to a corridor in my apartment that has no windows or doors, for fear of glass and shrapnel,” he told me. “We hid there. I was holding my granddaughter, and my wife was holding my daughter.”

Another blast followed. “Suddenly, the whole world turned upside down, the building was shaking beneath us, and shrapnel came to us,” Sabrah went on. It was as if some malevolent spirit had rushed through the room. “Nothing was left. My furniture, the cabinets—every wooden thing was broken.”

In the rubble outside, Sabrah saw what he described as “bits and parts” of human beings. “A woman used to live with her children in one floor of the building. They used to get up in the morning and sell boiled eggs,” Sabrah told me, his anger rising. “What danger did these children pose to the coalition? What danger did they pose by selling eggs in the street?”

When I asked Sabrah how he felt about U.S. involvement in the war, he replied, “America is the main sponsor of all that is happening to us.” He had reached this conclusion only recently. “The Gulf countries are merely tools in its hands.” ♦

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/how-the-us-is-making-the-war-in-yemen-worse

Yeah, im sure that war isnt making America any safer.

 

[K1levelgrappler]

lmao

 

[Bloodworth]

Let them bang....

 

[Deleted member 457759]

This must be some sort of meta-comment, where you ironically call attention to the fact that the 9-11 guys were all Saudis, our ‘allies’ who we are helping blast Yemen into dust for no good reason.

"It would be an understatement to say that the internal power politics at play in Yemen are among the oldest, most complex and most dynamic in the Middle East."

"Reminiscent of the "Great Game" played out in Afghanistan between Great Britain and Russia more than a hundred years ago, Saudi Arabia and Iran are engaged in their own decades-long strategic rivalry for power and influence in the Middle East, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf and Arabian Sea. It is built mostly along sectarian and ideological lines - Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Sunni Muslim world, and Iran as the leader of the Shia Muslim world. "

"In playing their Great Game, Saudi Arabia and Iran have engaged in a series of proxy wars to undermine each other, some hot and some cold, throughout the Middle East. In Lebanon, it's the Iran-backed Hezbollah. In Syria, it's the longtime Iran-backed Assad regime. In Iraq, it's an Iran-backed Shia government which was, prior to the US invasion in 2003, solidly in the Sunni camp. "

"Iran's long-term strategic interest in Yemen is simple. Located on the southwestern tip of the Gulf peninsula, Yemen is a poorly governed, fractious country straddling Saudi Arabia's southern border, which can be likened to a sieve in terms of ancient smuggling routes still used by those wanting to covertly enter the kingdom. And with a population that is 35 percent Shia, Yemen could serve as a potentially friendly base of operations in Iran's rivalry against Saudi Arabia. For Iran, easier access to Yemen means easier access to Saudi Arabia. But is that really Iran's intent? "

"In a March 2012 article, The New York Times cited claims by unnamed US military and intelligence officials that the Quds Force, an elite arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) was smuggling significant quantities of AK-47, rocket propelled grenades, and other arms to Houthi rebels in Yemen. And in January 2013, a cache of weapons seized from a ship off the coast of Yemen was reported by CNN to have Iranian markings. It included surface-to-air missiles, C-4 explosives, and other weapons, all allegedly destined for the Houthis. "

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/o...ia-iran-great-game-ye-201492984846324440.html

 

[Rod1]

"It would be an understatement to say that the internal power politics at play in Yemen are among the oldest, most complex and most dynamic in the Middle East."

"Reminiscent of the "Great Game" played out in Afghanistan between Great Britain and Russia more than a hundred years ago, Saudi Arabia and Iran are engaged in their own decades-long strategic rivalry for power and influence in the Middle East, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf and Arabian Sea. It is built mostly along sectarian and ideological lines - Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Sunni Muslim world, and Iran as the leader of the Shia Muslim world. "

"In playing their Great Game, Saudi Arabia and Iran have engaged in a series of proxy wars to undermine each other, some hot and some cold, throughout the Middle East. In Lebanon, it's the Iran-backed Hezbollah. In Syria, it's the longtime Iran-backed Assad regime. In Iraq, it's an Iran-backed Shia government which was, prior to the US invasion in 2003, solidly in the Sunni camp. "

"Iran's long-term strategic interest in Yemen is simple. Located on the southwestern tip of the Gulf peninsula, Yemen is a poorly governed, fractious country straddling Saudi Arabia's southern border, which can be likened to a sieve in terms of ancient smuggling routes still used by those wanting to covertly enter the kingdom. And with a population that is 35 percent Shia, Yemen could serve as a potentially friendly base of operations in Iran's rivalry against Saudi Arabia. For Iran, easier access to Yemen means easier access to Saudi Arabia. But is that really Iran's intent? "

"In a March 2012 article, The New York Times cited claims by unnamed US military and intelligence officials that the Quds Force, an elite arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) was smuggling significant quantities of AK-47, rocket propelled grenades, and other arms to Houthi rebels in Yemen. And in January 2013, a cache of weapons seized from a ship off the coast of Yemen was reported by CNN to have Iranian markings. It included surface-to-air missiles, C-4 explosives, and other weapons, all allegedly destined for the Houthis. "

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/o...ia-iran-great-game-ye-201492984846324440.html

You talk as if the Houthis didnt had real grievances and this was all planned and executed by Iran.

Iran has a pan-muslim regime, they dont like fighting other muslims, but they sure as hell wont sit on their hands when other muslims attack their faith.

You talk as if the Houthis uprising was all Iran's while ignoring the real grievances that these groups have.

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

Trump bowed to receive a medal, Obama bowed to show deference.

This bow crap was and is a silly deflection right up there with spicy mustard and a tan suit , look at the facts , Obama stood up to them and Trump is now their bitch

They were clever enough to know that with Trump flattery will get you everywhere

 

[Rod1]

This bow crap was and is a silly deflection right up there with spicy mustard and a tan suit , look at the facts , Obama stood up to them and Trump is now their bitch

They were clever enough to know that with Trump flattery will get you everywhere

Not to mention the spending thousands at Trump's hotels.

 

[Islam Imamate]

But who was President three years ago when this started? And did President Tough Guy put his foot down with those dastardly Saudis or just bow to them? And what role has Iran played in this conflict?

Obama did chill our relationship with them at least. Part of the reason the Saudis are getting so aggressive is that they no longer feel they can count on the US to back them because of Obama so they want to assert themselves on their own. Its a similar deal with Israel. Trump may be sympathetic now but they're taking matters into their own hands because they can never know when the next Obama comes around to give them the cold shoulder.

To be fair though Obama did intervene in Yemen with the drone program.

 

[luckyshot]

So many horrible people with too much power.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely...

In truth, it is the pursuit of power that corrupts, because it first screens out all candidates who would be great rulers but lack throat cutting ambition, then rewards the most effective throat cutters.

The US is just an awful, evil nation when it comes to the Middle East.

I dont know why. People bitch about Trump congratulating Putin for its sham elections but Obama was congratulating El-Sisi who butchered 600 peaceful protestors over his sham election.

It really is like the final horcrux is hidden over the. Oh, wait. It’s just oil.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Three years ago this month, the then 29-year-old Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia (now its crown prince) launched a ruinous war on Yemen.

Yemen had been in Saudi Arabia’s back pocket in the 1990s and 2000s, and was a major recipient of Saudi aid, which went into the pockets of dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemen’s people remained desperately poor, and the Saudis then tried to spread their intolerant form of Wahhabism even among Zaydi Shiites, producing a backlash in the form of the Houthis.

In 2011-2012 Saleh was overthrown and Yemen began working on a new constitution and new parliamentary elections.

That process was interrupted by a 2014-2015 Houthi coup in covert alliance with the deposed Saleh. In turn that coup provoked the then 29 year old defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman, to launch an air war on the Houthi guerrilla movement, a war he was most unlikely to win.

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/apocalyptic-numbers-the-saudi-trump-war-on-yemen/


I want to put some eyes on the disgusting war being perpetrated in Yemen by Saudi Arabia with the full backing of the U.S. and UK. Really brutal and unacceptable tactics here. I don't think they'll be stopping anytime soon either.

Fantastic article provided by @Zankou:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/how-the-us-is-making-the-war-in-yemen-worse

I implore everyone to read it.

Did you make a thread like this when Obama was in office?

 

[HomerThompson]

Did you make a thread like this when Obama was in office?

No, because I stopped posting in the War Room in summer of 2010, and didn't come back until the summer of '16.

But your, "But Obama!", is noted.

 

[MiniCraque]

On the night of the bombing, at around 2 a.m., he heard the thud of ordnance on the mountain. “We went to a corridor in my apartment that has no windows or doors, for fear of glass and shrapnel,” he told me. “We hid there. I was holding my granddaughter, and my wife was holding my daughter.”

Another blast followed. “Suddenly, the whole world turned upside down, the building was shaking beneath us, and shrapnel came to us,” Sabrah went on. It was as if some malevolent spirit had rushed through the room. “Nothing was left. My furniture, the cabinets—every wooden thing was broken.”

In the rubble outside, Sabrah saw what he described as “bits and parts” of human beings. “A woman used to live with her children in one floor of the building. They used to get up in the morning and sell boiled eggs,” Sabrah told me, his anger rising. “What danger did these children pose to the coalition? What danger did they pose by selling eggs in the street?”

When I asked Sabrah how he felt about U.S. involvement in the war, he replied, “America is the main sponsor of all that is happening to us.” He had reached this conclusion only recently. “The Gulf countries are merely tools in its hands.” ♦

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/how-the-us-is-making-the-war-in-yemen-worse

Yeah, im sure that war isnt making America any safer.

On the night before the funeral, Hilal’s son Hussein called his father and asked him to urge the Ruwayshan family to consider postponing the event. Since the beginning of the war, the Saudi coalition’s air strikes have hit large civilian gatherings. Hilal replied that the Saudi Air Force would not bomb the funeral. “Even war has morals,” he said.

Chilling stuff. The next generation of suicide bombers is being developed as we speak.

 

[JamesRussler]

Three years ago this month, the then 29-year-old Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia (now its crown prince) launched a ruinous war on Yemen.

Yemen had been in Saudi Arabia’s back pocket in the 1990s and 2000s, and was a major recipient of Saudi aid, which went into the pockets of dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemen’s people remained desperately poor, and the Saudis then tried to spread their intolerant form of Wahhabism even among Zaydi Shiites, producing a backlash in the form of the Houthis.

In 2011-2012 Saleh was overthrown and Yemen began working on a new constitution and new parliamentary elections.

That process was interrupted by a 2014-2015 Houthi coup in covert alliance with the deposed Saleh. In turn that coup provoked the then 29 year old defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman, to launch an air war on the Houthi guerrilla movement, a war he was most unlikely to win.

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/apocalyptic-numbers-the-saudi-trump-war-on-yemen/


I want to put some eyes on the disgusting war being perpetrated in Yemen by Saudi Arabia with the full backing of the U.S. and UK. Really brutal and unacceptable tactics here. I don't think they'll be stopping anytime soon either.

Fantastic article provided by @Zankou:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/how-the-us-is-making-the-war-in-yemen-worse

I implore everyone to read it.

Upon thoughtful reconsideration, I renounce my prior position and acknowledge your correctness. This is an outrage. We must do something to rectify the wrongs we have perpetrated upon the Yemenese people.

 

[trolldum]

Yemen’s people remained desperately poor, and the Saudis then tried to spread their intolerant form of Wahhabism even among Zaydi Shiites, producing a backlash in the form of the Houthis.

You are making it sound like they are some freedom fighters against intolerance and Saudi invasion. Meanwhile, their motto is: Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam! That's what is written on their flag.

 

[cincymma79]

You are making it sound like they are some freedom fighters against intolerance and Saudi invasion. Meanwhile, their motto is: Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam! That's what is written on their flag.

pointing out they're racist as fuck is racist and islamophobic

 

[Clippy]

Am I still the prime Minister of office supplies