Supporting Our Friends in Yemen

Once again we see bombs falling in the middle east; this time on the civilians in Sana the capital of Yemen by Saudi Arabia and their arab coalition friends, with the full support of the United States. Once more the mainstream media portrays these bombings as some fair and responsible response to evil aggressors. The reality could not be further from the truth. In reality we see the hereditary dictatorship in Saudi Arabia , which holds to extremist wahhabinist Sunni views, providing logistical support for its Al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen: the home of Al Qaeda, and the original home of the Bin Laden family. The Houthi separatist rebels that the Saudis and their friends are now attacking from the air are no angels themselves, but they in no way equate to the terrorists that the Saudis, and by proxy,the United States and its allies, are supporting in the Yemen. The Saudis and the Arab League have been touting the bombing campaign and the preparation for 40,000 Arab league troops to invade Yemen as the result of Iranian “meddling’ in Yemen to support their fellow Shi-ite brethren ( however the Houthi Zaidi Shi-ite sect is apparently more closely related to Sunni practice than it is to Iranian Shiites’). In reality there is currently no evidence but much speculation about Iranian involvement, with the Houthis themselves denying Iranian involvement.

Gareth Porter provides his usual convincing argument to demonstrate the tenuous Iranian arms link. However the spectre of Iranian hegemony is a very useful tool for both the Saudi and Israeli regimes. The reality again is somewhat different. It isSaudi wahhabi extremism and its grand goal of violently eliminating all other “heretical” Islamic sects, (including the Sunni Sufis who form a large proportion of the Yemen Sunni population) as well as Israeli fears of a rising major middle east power which (unlike the other Gulf states) cannot be bought by the United States, that is prompting this assault on Yemen.

The Houthis have been in danger of fully ousting Al Qaeda from Yemen and therefore had to be forcefully removed as a threat. Be assured that Western intelligence is fully informed of the implications of this invasion, but will not for some months recognise that this new adventure is in fact the beginning of the end of the extremist Saudi regime, with many of their military composed of Yemen nationals not so sympathetic to Wahhabi extremism and its hatred of Shiites and other Muslim sects. The removal of the wahhabist Saudi “monarchy” will remove one of the key drivers for any rationale for the supposed “war on terror” and as such, is something to be feared in Washington and their war industry.

Ironically Iran has proved itself adept in the many middle east wars initiated by the United States and its proxies, at using the confusion and anarchy so created to its advantage . The Saudis and their “allies” have undoubtedly already committed a multitude of war crimes in their bombings of Yemen infrastructure and civilian targets. Those crimes will not be forgotten .

Interestingly the Wall St Journal is clearly (and proudly?) stating that US Command is providing the intelligence and command for Saudi air-strikes in Yemen. Once again this implicates senior US Military and political figures in further war crimes in just another Middle East country.

The decision by the U.N Security Council on 14th April 2015, by 13 votes to Russia’s abstention, to condemn the Houthi invasion of Yemen, and impose sanctions on the Houthi leadership, is a sad indictment of international politics.

While support for sanctions by the US and UK for their Saudi arms and oil trading partner, was to be expected, most troubling was China’s willingness to support sanctions; this presumably indicates a shift in China’s alliances towards Saudi Arabia as a major oil producer which will then reflect badly on their developing relationship with Iran. This is a serious miscalculation of coming events by the Chinese.

ENDS