Seven years into the Saudi-led invasion of Yemen, the White House has made an assessment on ceasefire efforts, saying the lack of progress is totally not Saudi Arabia’s fault. Instead, the US is blaming the Houthis.
The White House’s Brett McGurk argues it “takes two to get to a ceasefire,” and that the Saudis have been supporting UN initiatives, saying its up to the Houthis to go along.
Praising the primary belligerent, a US ally who is buying billions of dollars in US arms for this specific war, while blaming the other side, is somewhat a predictable reaction. Doing so with the Biden Administration insisting they want out of the Yemen War, however, raises a few questions about where the US is actually going.
The specific US case is also strongly misleading. The talk of UN initiatives is assumed to imply peace initiatives, but in practice the Saudis embraced pre-war UN statements rejecting the Houthis, and used those as the pretext for invasion. That they’ve stuck to UN pronouncements that President Hadi is still the rightful ruler, despite his term in office ending 8 years ago, does not speak to the Saudis being willing to compromise out of this war.
The Houthis have been open to peace talks too, but as the side under attack, they have less flexibility to make it happen. The main Houthi conditions to get into the process were an end to the Saudi naval blockade, which is preventing food and medical aid from efficiently entering the country. Time and again, the Saudis have refused.
If both sides would take mutual steps toward that end, a deal could be found to end a conflict which is benefiting no one, and which no one can hope to win. Getting there would be easier if the Saudis were more willing to make compromises, and if the US would stop serving as the international apologist for years of failed intervention.
It’s about securing the entrance to the Red Sea/Suez Canal against all the mid-East states still refusing submission to the Anglo-Zionist Empire.
“Amid this violence, Brett McGurk, the National Security Council’s coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said the Houthis are unwilling to engage in the process of negotiating a ceasefire and have repeatedly targeted civilians with missile attacks.”
Whereas the Saudi’s only target military installations? And never mind about the starvation. I guess those 400,000 that were supposed to die LAST year must not be considered civilians to McGurk.
More McGurk: “We are committed fundamentally to helping Saudi Arabia defend its sovereign territory and its sovereign space. The defense of Saudi Arabia is a fundamental very important interest of ours, [and] something we’re working on every day,” said McGurk
And the reason why one of the most oppressive countries on the planet who had 15 of the 19 hijackers in our official version of 9/11 is a “fundamental very important interest of ours” should be explained in full to the American people.
Well, let’s see … one side is a local group fighting for self determination; the other side are strangers trying to determine who must rule their neighbor. Oh yes, and the Saudis also have all the modern weapons and employ Al Q on their side.
And who does the US support here?
US index finger should be cut to stop pointing the blame on others…!
They use the middle finger, and the Eastern European mafia don’t do the Japanese Yakuza thing of cutting off fingers.