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| Arabia |
| Hadi: a Hollow President Whose Masters in Riyadh are Killing Us |
| 2015-04-15 |
| [ALMANAR.LB] Hossain al-Bokheiti - Middle East Eye Yemen: Saudi-led war on YemenMy country, Yemen, is under attack by an autocratic monarchy whose campaign of ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... with the aim of restoring Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi as president are headed by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , an oil-rich kingdom that lashes activists for tweeting and imprisons women for driving. The Reading the op-ed published in the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... on Monday by Hadi, it is hard to tell if he is talking about the same country. Perhaps this is because he abandoned Yemen last month and fled to Saudi Arabia. His masters in Riyadh command Yemen's skies but have no grasp of what is happening on the ground. The column speaks to his desperate lack of leadership: with Yemen facing its most grave crisis in decades Hadi did not address his own people, he wrote to America. Accusing the Houthis of being "backed by Iran" and of "committing acts of aggression", Hadi made several references to the people of Yemen. But who are the Yemeni people Hadi is talking about? If they are behind him, as he says, would he be fleeing from one place to another like a criminal? And where is this Iran Hadi speaks of? Here in Yemen we only see American drones and now foreign war planes destroying our country. Has Iran ever attacked Yemen? Sent troops? Bombed Yemeni factories? Ask a Yemeni what Hadi achieved during his two years in office and the answer will invariably be the same: nothing. Instead of building institutions, Hadi allowed the government to rot, the old regime to resurface, and his allies to loot what remained of the country's resources. A hollow president, Hadi has called on foreign powers to do his fighting for him, destroying Yemen's infrastructure and army in the process. In 1994, when civil war broke out between north and south Yemen, Hadi betrayed his fellow southerners and fought alongside former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... in the north. On 25 March 2015 when he fled to Riyadh, Hadi betrayed the entire country. In contrast to Hadi, the Houthis, a politically ambitious movement from north Yemen, have decided to fulfill the goals of the 2011 revolution and deliver on their promises: removing and bringing corrupt criminals to justice, stopping US drone strikes and forming a new government. At the same time they have continued fighting Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP), a violent group that flourished under the rule of Saleh. As a movement led by Abdulmalik al-Houthi, a man in his early thirties, the Houthis have gained popular support among young people. In al-Houthi's calls for a new Yemen, people see a way to turn the failed 2011 revolution into a successful example for change. Looking at the failed "Arab spring" in Syria and Libya, the Houthis succeeded in providing public services and security in areas they controlled. Most Yemeni cities, including the capital Sanaa, have barely any electricity. People have to buy water privately and use generators to provide their business and home with electricity. In Houthi-controlled areas, electricity is provided by generators which are funded and built by the people. According to the Ministry of Interior, the Houthis' stronghold of Sadaa has the lowest crime rates and some of the highest tax revenues in Yemen. With wars raging in Libya, Iraq and Syria and terrorist groups declaring their own states, Yemen has been a different story with AQAP losing control of the towns of al-Jowf, Arhab, Ibb, Radaa as well as Bayda city. Many people in Yemen believe the US is at least partly to blame for the failure of the Arab spring. Especially in Syria and Libya, America's allies - Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... and Saudi Arabia - have funded terrorist groups with the aim of destroying armies and infrastructure and crushing hope for change. The Houthis are here to turn this counter-revolution around so that the demands of 2011 can finally be realised. Hossain al-Bokheiti is a Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews... activist based in Yemen |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 In the difficult contest for most detestable ally surely saudi is worse than iran. Why would the us support Mordor unseating a houthi government in yemen i am not quite sure i follow the logic |
| Posted by: Anon1 2015-04-15 19:07 |
| #1 A welcome change of policy, from the passing of the old King. Here's hoping we will see something of the same in 2016. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2015-04-15 17:04 |