Author: Daniel Larison

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

The Associated Press reports on the Saudi coalition’s cooperation with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen:

A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States has cut secret deals with al-Qaida fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns the militants had seized across Yemen and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself.

It isnot news that the Saudi coalition has sometimes worked with and fought alongside AQAP, but it is good to see more coverage of this important aspect of the war. The AP previously covered this in May 2017. The coalition’s war has wrecked Yemen and empowered AQAP, and the two have been on the same side in the war. Because the U.S. has backed the coalition from the start, that puts our government in the absurd position of supporting the governments and proxies working with AQAP at the same time that it is combating AQAP. The report states:

The AP found that coalition-funded militia commanders actively recruit al-Qaida militants – considered to be exceptional fighters – or fighters who until very recently were members of the group.

Continue reading “How the War on Yemen Helps al-Qaeda”

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

Jason Rezaian describes what renewed U.S. sanctions will do to the Iranian people:

Although sanctions won’t target food and medicine directly, Iran will be cut from the international financial system, so imports for many items will be affected, causing delays in delivery. People needing certain lifesaving drugs will have to cross borders to buy their medicine – if they can afford it – on the black market. People who might otherwise live normal lives with the aid of their medications will needlessly die.

The Trump administration is engaging in collective punishment of all Iranians in a vain attempt to force changes in regime behavior and ultimately to force a change in the regime itself. It isn’t likely to work, but it is an unacceptable tactic to use in any case. Strangling a country’s economy in a bid to pressure its government to do what Washington wants is cruel, aggressive, and excessive. Punishing the population for the wrongdoing of a government that they don’t control is both wrong and foolish. It isn’t going to weaken the regime in any case, and it will inflict needless suffering on people that have done nothing to us.

Continue reading “The Cruel Collective Punishment of Sanctions”

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

Matt Taibbi comments on the widespread ignorance and lack of coverage of the war on Yemen and the world’s worst humanitarian crisis:

Yemen features the wrong kinds of victims, lacks a useful partisan angle and, frankly, is nobody’s idea of clickbait in the Trump age. Until it becomes a political football for some influential person or party, this disaster will probably stay near the back of the line.

There are many reasons for the international neglect of Yemen’s plight. The Saudi coalition has done its best to make it very difficult to enter Yemen to report on the conflict. The U.S. government has studiously ignored anything that might reflect poorly on the coalition, and it has kept its own role in enabling the role as invisible as possible. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that Yemenis have no one speaking on their behalf and no one in a position to influence the way that the conflict is perceived in Washington and other Western capitals. Yemeni views of the war occasionally come through in a few news reports, but for the most part they aren’t the ones being cited in reports about the war destroying their country. When the war does receive some coverage, it is frequently misrepresented as a regional “proxy” war because that is the only framing that seems to get anyone’s attention in the West.

Continue reading “Yemen Is the Most Important and Most Ignored Story in the World”

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

The Washington Post reports on the aftermath of the April 23 wedding massacre Alex Potter reported on last month:

The 22 fatalities included 12 of the dancers, four musicians and six villagers, including one who played the lute. Most of the children killed were in the dance troupe.

The dancers all belonged to the Muhamasheen, Yemen’s most marginalized ethnic group. Performing at weddings was among the few jobs they could find.

For 10 of them, only pieces of their bodies were found, so they are buried in two mass graves. “It’s all my family,” said Ahmed Rifaei, 37, a dancer who survived.

The living, too, are in bad shape.

Some of Raqah’s residents have lost their hearing. Children have lost limbs, while others carry shrapnel from the missile inside their bodies. The nearest hospital is in the provincial capital, and most villagers cannot afford the three-hour journey.

The attack on this wedding party is just one of the thousands of strikes that have hit civilian targets over the last three years. There is no possible justification for what the Saudi coalition did to this village. It was a wanton slaughter of innocent people that showed the coalition’s complete disregard for civilian lives. There have been many similar attacks on other weddings, funerals, schools, markets, and homes, and they have all been similarly outrageous and indefensible. The Saudis and their allies have been able to carry out all these attacks with impunity because none of their Western patrons will ever hold them accountable for what they have done.

Continue reading “The Aftermath of a Saudi Coalition Wedding Massacre in Yemen”

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

UNICEF reports on the latest Saudi coalition attack on a water system in Saada. This is the third time that the same site has been bombed:

UNICEF deplores in the strongest terms yet another attack on vital and lifesaving water systems in Yemen.

A large water facility in Sa’ada, northwest of the country, came under attack this week. This is the third such attack on the same facility. More than half of the project is now damaged, cutting off 10,500 people from safe drinking water.

Continuous attacks on water systems in Yemen are cutting off children and their families from water; increasing the likelihood of water-borne diseases spreading in the war-torn country.

The Saudi coalition deliberately attacks civilian targets in Yemen. Just as they struck the MSF-run cholera treatment center once and then blew it upagain after it had been rebuilt, they have repeatedly attacked this vital infrastructure needed to provide clean drinking water to Yemeni civilians in Saada. This is the second time the coalition has struck this site this year. I wrote about the previous attack back in April:

Continue reading “The US Enables Deliberate Saudi Attacks on Civilian Targets in Yemen”

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

Jon Wolfsthal makes the case that the Helsinki summit is the right time to begin talks with Russia on extending New START:

The July 16 summit in Helsinki between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin presents a unique opportunity to reverse the dangerous nuclear competition between the United States and Russia and should be welcomed, despite its inherent risks. The opportunity to stabilize U.S.-Russian nuclear relations by extending New START, a key nuclear treaty that is set to expire in 2021, is paramount and worth the issues that come with any meeting between Trump and Putin.

Extending New START is in the best interests of both countries. The treaty is a continuation of the first strategic arms reduction treaty negotiated between the U.S. and USSR, and it was ratified in late 2010. It places important limits on the arsenals the world’s two largest nuclear weapons states, and its verification measures ensure a degree of stability and certainty in our relationship with Moscow. Allowing the treaty to lapse without a replacement would be a major error that could lead to a new arms race and further deterioration in U.S.-Russian relations. Extending the treaty is particularly important now that relations with Russia have reached one of their lowest points in decades. There is no good reason to let the treaty expire. As Wolfsthal notes, both the U.S. and Russia are in compliance with the treaty’s requirements. The treaty has done exactly what it was designed to do. It is in the national security interests of both states to make sure that the treaty remains in force.

Continue reading “New START and the Helsinki Summit”