On Wednesday, President Trump issued a statement instructing his government to immediately communicate calls to Saudi Arabia to end the blockade on Yemeni ports, particularly the northern port of Hodeidah, for humanitarian reasons.
On Friday, the White House issued a subsequent statement calling on the Saudis to immediately end the blockade. This followed Thursday comments from the UN suggesting they’ve seen no signs of change or any indication that the many aid ships are to be allowed ito port.
Saudi Arabia has yet to publicly acknowledge the calls, which is likely why the White House felt the need to reiterate the call. The US had previously participated in the Saudi blockade, though as the number of civilians being killed grows, the US has tried to distance itself from the warcrimes.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cited problems with not only the Saudi actions in Yemen, but the Saudi blockade of Qatar and their increasingly threats against Lebanon, saying the Saudis need to be “a bit more thoughtful” about their actions across the Arab world. While that’s putting it mildly, that’s an almost unprecedented amount of US criticism with respect to the Saudis.
Saudi Arabia may not be the most critical lynchpin of petrodollar recycling but its doubtful that the U.S. wants to test that.
In theory the U.S./West could win a financial war with the Saudis/GCC, in defense of the petrodollar, but the level of uncorrupted unity required doesn’t exist.
armdkny pointed out in another thread that SA has never won a war against Yemen. On backchecking, it seems RT’s Rob Edwards wrote an article on just that subject on Oct. 2, 2017 “No one has ever won a war in Yemen,’ ex-defense attaché to Saudi tells RT.”
As in no-one – not just Saudi Arabia; there’s even a lost Roman legion out there. The Warrior Prince seems to have chosen a helluva way to put his name in military history. First to beat Yeman, or, um, that not-winning thing what happened to the other guys.
Time for SA to declare victory and go home like all great powers of this day.