Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
March 26, 2016

The Wahhabis' War On Yemen One Year On - When Will Riyadh Fall?

One year ago the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, supported by the U.S., the Brits and several Gulf states, launched a war against Yemen:

Yesterday the Houthi led rebellion had kicked the Saudi/U.S. installed president Hadi out of the country and took control over most of its cities including the southern capital Aden. The Houthi are allied with the former president Saleh, himself a Houthi and replaced two years ago with his vice president Hadi after a U.S. induced light coup. Saleh and the Houthi are supported by significant parts of the Yemeni army.
...
There seems to be the idea that Saudi/U.S. selected president Hadi, out now, could be reintroduced through force. The U.S. claims that Hadi was "elected" but with a ballot like this any "election" is a mere joke. There is no way Hadi can be reintroduced by force.

A year later the Houthis are no longer in Aden. Saudi proxy troops, which include "western" mercenaries, "liberated" it. But Aden is now infested with Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants who launched several suicide attacks over the last days killing many more people than were recently killed in Belgium. It is known that at least Al Qaeda in Yemen has direct Saudi support and is fighting on its side.

But despite all its proxies, massive bombing and many announcements the Saudis did not get anywhere near the capital Sanaa. Instead Houthi forces attacked Saudi forces within Saudi Arabia and destroyed several hundred Saudi tanks and armored vehicles.

The Saudis and the U.S. and British military supporting them are guilty of war crimes willfully targeting hospitals, schools and civilian infrastructure as well as many people who were not involved in the war. Haykal Bafana talked to BBC Newshour today from Sanaa in Yemen about the war and the Saudi crimes.

Shortly before the war started Pat Lang wrote:

The Houthi descendants of my old acquaintances are not servants of Iran. They are not dangerous to Western interests. They are dangerous to AQAP. Get it? Salih will return. pl

That is as right today as it was a year back. Here are some pictures from Yemen today.

A pro-Saudi demonstration in Yemen as published by Saudi media:

Half of the anti-Saudi demonstration on Sabaeen Square in Sanaa (video) today. Saleh's GPC party had called for it. Former president Saleh attended and the crowd sang the national anthem. Saleh is baaaackk!:

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A separate anti-Saudi demonstration in Rawdah Sanaa. The Houthi had called for this one. Many women attended:

bigger

The Saudis managed to bomb the Yemenis back to Saleh! If the Saudis continue with their war on Yemen, Yemen will survive. But it will be Saudi Arabia that will at the end be destroyed. Riyadh, not Sanaa, will fall.

Posted by b on March 26, 2016 at 17:27 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Very good information. The idea that the Saudi will fall is an interesting one ... only when they are no longer of value to the Empire. Kinda like wishing for our war criminals to be tried ... it ain't gonna happen. Our oligarchs still need and want their oil ... and their clandestine support of ISIS et al.

Posted by: rg the lg | Mar 26 2016 17:56 utc | 1

Related to your Zika post a while back, this might be interesting:
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/doctors-groups-deny-microcephaly-zika-connection-blame-monsanto-linked-pesticide-birth-defects/

Posted by: jsn | Mar 26 2016 18:07 utc | 2

I actually do not see how "Riyad will fall". Perhaps they will have to remove the prince who is the favorite son of the current king and who "leads the war effort".

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 26 2016 18:26 utc | 3

Yemen has been the most successful trap the USA has set up to covertly undermine and weaken its 'ally' Saudi Arabia. After attempts to snub the USA and show off its "youthful" power in making wars in the region after the USA sealed the Iran nuclear deal, the Kingdom is now crawling in front the USA begging for help while Obama is openly treating them like dirt.
Saudi Arabia has never been so vulnerable and humiliated. It has had a series of shocks in the last year. The horrible accidents in Mecca where scores of pious Moslems, mostly Iranians, were killed, the fall of the oil price, the victory of Iran its religious and worst regional foe, the defeats of their allies in Syria, their failure in front of the Houthis in Yemen and now the regular media attacks on their ideology, the Wahhabism as the source of Al Qaeda and ISIS.
The Saudi-West honeymoon is over and its system is under severe siege
There is an urgency to get rid of the Kings's irresponsible son. Yet that can't happen without kicking out the King himself. That would shake the whole House of Saudi Cards..
That's why Saudi Arabia is now begging the USA and the UN to find a face saving exit in Yemen and in Syria before it is too late and more humiliating events happen.
The USA conditions for this support may tear apart the Kingdom. Does the USA has a replacement ready there to prevent the collapse of their supposed ally?

Posted by: virgile | Mar 26 2016 18:55 utc | 5

But it will be Saudi Arabia that will at the end be destroyed. Riyadh, not Sanaa, will fall.

Inch Allah!!!

Posted by: jeanv | Mar 26 2016 19:04 utc | 6

Russia is not playing a fools game. Apparently Israel believes that it will carry on business as usual ...


"Russian Fighter Jets Destroyed 146 Israeli ISIS Targets In Syria Over The Past Two Days ~ Spells Doom For ISIS."

source - http://politicalvelcraft.org/2016/03/26/russian-fighter-jets-destroyed-146-israeli-isis-targets-in-syria-over-the-past-two-days-spells-doom-for-isis/

Posted by: ALberto | Mar 26 2016 19:16 utc | 7

@5 I don't know how it serves USA's interests. Saudi Arabia has been a dream ally for DC's interests

Posted by: aaaa | Mar 26 2016 19:44 utc | 8

If we observe all the popular uprisings over the last decade how many have failed ?
Way more failures then success, but we're supposed to believe that it'll succeed Saudi Arabia ?
Desperate wishful thinking

Posted by: tom | Mar 26 2016 19:53 utc | 9

Wahhabism was created and financed by British intelligence to break up the Ottoman Empire. Now it is used to break up nations for their Global ----- Agenda

http://www.sunna.info/antiwahabies/wahhabies/htm/spy1.htm

Posted by: That Hideous Strength | Mar 26 2016 20:02 utc | 10

ALberto @7

Israel has got itself into an interesting position.

It has been a benficiary of the ISIS oil scam along with Turkey. It may have even suggested the idea, which would be of of several reasons why the US Treasury Department specifically tasked with interdicting terrorist finances has totally ignored the oil sales. That means Turkey and Israel are tied together in it. I am sure Russia knows this as it is clear theat a lot of time was spent investigating ISIS financing etc before the Russians accepted Syria's request for aid. I wonder how many Israelis are on the infamous list of 40 people involved.

On the other hand, Israel wants to destabilise Turkey as punishent for its temerity in supporting Palestinians of the Mavi Marmari incident. Bad things seem to happen to countries that offend Israel:

Malaysia - found Israel guilty of criminality over Gaza -> MH-370 / MH-17
Turkey - Mavi Marmara -> sole fallguy for ISIS
Syria - enabled Hezbollah/Iran -> Syrian 'civil' war
Europe - BDS and treating Israel West Bank settlements as illegal -> Migrant crisis

Iran too should be on the list, but has had a narrow escape with the aid of the Russians (and others).

So we have the bizarre episodes of Turkish FM making unannounced urgent visits to Israel, Israel keeping quiet about deaths of Israelis in Turkey (no wailing od anti-semitism) and Israel FM making urgent unannounced visits to Moscow. Israel, as you say, is trying to show to Russia it is a 'good guy' (TM), and the Russians must be enjoying every minute of it.

Posted by: Yonatan | Mar 26 2016 20:09 utc | 11

Yonatan @11

The level of USA>ISR>GB>etc., hubris is nothing short of astounding. Kerry, KissAssinger, Netanyahoo all go to Russia to talk. The Russians have a very measured dry sense of humor. Nonetheless they must be laughing their collective A$$es off every single day. Also I notice that Israel has ceased its little Syrian bombing missions, and seems to have backed off on Lebanon Hezbollah attacks.

Bad idea F*#king with the Bear.

Posted by: ALberto | Mar 26 2016 20:27 utc | 12

That Riyadh seems poised for collapse does not seem to me to be a stretch at all. What might come next is not so apparent. Frantic scrambling by all the 'players' concerned. Certainly the resulting vortex in Saudi Arabia would refocus peoples' attention from other points in the ME. Makes Russia's move 'out of Syria' that much more prescient and interesting, doesn't it?

The poor Yeminis, the poor Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds, the poor Palestinians. They are all forgotten by the 'players' of the 'great games'. A Pox on all the gamers.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 26 2016 21:09 utc | 13

@2 jsn

Thanks for the link ... “REPORT from Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Villages regarding Dengue-Zika, microcephaly, and mass-spraying with chemical poisons” (pdf)

Posted by: jfl | Mar 26 2016 21:15 utc | 14

And b, thanks for the links at the top to MoA. You are a great, stoic resource and have been for well-over a decade.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 26 2016 21:18 utc | 15

Yonatan @11--

Iran lost several of its top nuclear scientists to Zionist assassins, so it hasn't been immune.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 26 2016 21:18 utc | 16

b - thank you.. this story is completely left off the msm. thank you for focusing on it.

@5 virgile.. i am not convinced of the usa's desire to destroy saudi arabia.. either way, the usa is guilty of war crimes.. nothing new there... just more of the same from the exceptional nation.

@ 11 yonatan... good post.. thanks.

Posted by: james | Mar 26 2016 21:20 utc | 17

@2 jsn... monsanto - another arm of the ugly exceptional empire..

Posted by: james | Mar 26 2016 21:21 utc | 18

I've just been watching the YouTube of the ITV tele programme Saudi Arabia Uncovered. A bit simplistic in its analysis (no way near "Bitter Lake"), but the videos included are great. I would have liked more on the different sources of opposition. Shi'a and women are mentioned, but the Yemenis and near-Yemenis of the southwest don't get a mention.

Posted by: Laguerre | Mar 26 2016 21:42 utc | 19

I would have given you a link to the War Nerd's story of the Holiday Inn insurrection in Najran in 2000 or so, but I'm being barred. Perhaps others will have better luck.

https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/holiday-inn-surrection/

Posted by: Laguerre | Mar 26 2016 21:57 utc | 20

Thank you b for another stellar job of journalism.

Those in power are paying half of the ME to kill the other half and spare Israel.

If you control the world of private finance you can afford anything, even stupid mistakes like Yemen........maybe.

I see a pause in the music of the game of finance chairs and wonder who might not get a seat this round? The families behind private finance have been in power a lot longer than the house of Saud. And I expect they intend on keeping it that way.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 26 2016 22:41 utc | 21

Under immense pressure as oil reserves decline. Saudis are out of favor. So what is next for them?

Breaking worldwide by Reuters citing NYTimes. Trump would consider halting U.S. oil purchases from Saudis:

There is an ”Unless”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-idUSKCN0WS0NG

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump told the New York Times he would consider stopping U.S. oil purchases from Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government provide troops to fight Islamic State.

Trump's comment on Friday was included in a lengthy foreign policy interview published by the newspaper on Saturday and came in response to a question about whether, if elected president, he would halt oil purchases from U.S. allies unless they provided on-the-ground forces against Islamic State.

"The answer is, probably yes," Trump said, according to a transcript.

Trump has said the United States should be reimbursed by the countries it provides protection, even those with vast resources such as Saudi Arabia, a top oil exporter.

Saudis war in Yemen is it all about Yemeni undeveloped oil resources?

Posted by: likklemore | Mar 26 2016 22:45 utc | 22

Saudi and US do not want to fight IS. They use IS to balkanize MENA to fulfill the Yinon and PNAC Plans for Greater ISrael from the Nile to the Euphrates.

Posted by: fast freddy | Mar 26 2016 23:25 utc | 23

Love the ending of your article b
"The Saudis managed to bomb the Yemenis back to Saleh! If the Saudis continue with their war on Yemen, Yemen will survive. But it will be Saudi Arabia that will at the end be destroyed. Riyadh, not Sanaa, will fall."

It reminds me how all these wars wagged by the imperialist powers and their allies many time result in the opposite effect of what they are after.They wanna divide but they end up unifying.The artificial state of Saudi Arabia should be more concern about its self-existence than what is happening in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is like the famous fable by Jean De La Fontaine of The Frog Who Would Be as Big as an Ox...At the end Saudi Arabia will burst for inflating itself too much.This is soon to arrive.

Posted by: lebretteurfredonnant | Mar 26 2016 23:41 utc | 24

re 22

"Breaking worldwide by Reuters citing NYTimes. Trump would consider halting U.S. oil purchases from Saudis:"

Fatuous. Oil is a world-wide market. You buy at the best price available, no matter where it comes from. Unless you believe in the the unicorns of US fracking.

Posted by: Laguerre | Mar 27 2016 0:16 utc | 25

@22

Looks like Reuters had the headline in mind and then crafted the questions. Trump is selling 'no more Daddywarbucks' - an easy sell to Americans - and the various corporate media are spinning it as 'Trump to drop NATO' and 'Trump to end Saudi oil imports'. The TNCs are pretty happy with the way things are right now, although they'd always like some more, please. They don't want any sort of change ... well, only those sorts that have originated with themselves.

NATO is a captive market for the US death-dealers, and so is Saudi Arabia. And both are growing markets.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 27 2016 1:08 utc | 26

@james | 17

The USA does not want to destroy Saudi Arabia, it wants to weaken it, to oblige it to accept that Iran is here to stay and to force it to crack down on its Islamist Wahhabi propagandists that have created a havock in the world. By doing so, the USA will make Saudi Arabia weaker and even more dependent on the USA. The Kingdom if it survives will buy more US weapons
Saudi Arabia is now considering Israel as an ally. That is a USA victory that resulted from the same strategy
Until now the USA had accepted that the 9/11 terrorists were in majority Saudis, that Saudi Arabia has a dreadful human right record, that it has been is creating problems in Pakistan, India, Syria, Lebanon.
It is now time to stop that. Obama was courageous enough to criticize openly the Gulf countries.
The Yemen war failure will make Saudi Arabia even more obedient to the USA and more ready to buy more weapons...

Posted by: virgile | Mar 27 2016 1:22 utc | 27

@27 Maybe so, but I think USA considers an emergent shi'a establishment to be the biggest threat. Yemen is a clear victory for the Shi'a, who can consolidate Iran's sphere of influence over time.

Ultimately USA isn't really hurt either way, unless the oil fields get taken offline, which could be catastrophic to the global economy. Of course, a case could be made that crashing the world economy would result in new opportunities to further corporatize the world, and further deny indigenous rights to their own land and resources

Posted by: aaaa | Mar 27 2016 1:30 utc | 28

Laguerre @25.

“Fatuous. Oil is a world wide market. You buy at the best price no matter where it comes from.”

Two observations if I have comprehended your comment.

First, in the article Trump made a proviso – no more purchase of Saudi oil Unless they provide troops to fight ISIS.

Second, there is the Agreement with Saudis that created the petro-dollar - oil priced in U$D by the world's leading producer essentially made the U$D the world reserve currency. Of grave implications; a break with SA will hasten the U$D demise and all its attendant economic consequences.

Posted by: likklemore | Mar 27 2016 2:02 utc | 29

@11 Yonatan! Nice one bro

Posted by: Fransisco | Mar 27 2016 2:12 utc | 30

@27 virgile 'Until now the USA had accepted that the 9/11 terrorists were in majority Saudis, that Saudi Arabia has a dreadful human right record, that it has been is creating problems in Pakistan, India, Syria, Lebanon.
It is now time to stop that. Obama was courageous enough to criticize openly the Gulf countries.
The Yemen war failure will make Saudi Arabia even more obedient to the USA and more ready to buy more weapons... '

I think the US did more than 'accept' that the 9/11 terrorists were in majority Saudis; I think the US never cared about anyone's human rights record, that human rights records are only for counting coup; that the US was leading from behind with the 'problems' Saudi Arabia was causing around the world. In short that Saudi Arabia was always seen as an instrument by the US, and still is.

The problem for the US is that, according to its plans, it should be the unquestioned world hegemon by now - but it hasn't worked out. Yet the US has so structured the world economy that it's world hegemon or bust, as far as the US is concerned. The US is dependent on its running the rest of the world in its own interest, can no longer survive without exploiting its tributaries as things are set up now. And a change of setup is not on the agenda of the New American Centurians.

The era of 'fine-tuning' ended and the era of revolution from above began ... and the ducks are still not in a row. And pressures are mounting and time running out. Smash and grab for real is now on the agenda. Hillary's on board.

The prognosis for things continuing as they are, according to me, is bust for the US and for the EU/Japan which are dependent on the US. So something must be done. The right thing - the eclipse of corporate interests and power and the rise of human and natural - is not even a possibility to reject as far as the corporate slaves behind the USG are concerned. They're going to go for smash and grab and whaddya gonna do about it? Saudi Arabia is a pushover for the US military, the politicians are just going to try and make it look like someone else did it - Iran, say, and Russia, of course - just as they tried to do in Syria. I can't hold out much 'hope' for that working. I think that every day in every way we are getting closer to the collapse of the west, either because of how they've acted, or because of how they haven't.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 27 2016 2:32 utc | 31

@27 virgile,

i used that word 'destroy' in reply to you, but i realize you said weaken, not destroy ( saudi arabia)..

i am not convinced the usa is really in control of all that much, or whatever they are in control of, it is lessening as we move forward here, kinda like an empire in serious decline... you can't continue to sell the home crowd of your benevolent goodness thru a compliant msm, while causing havoc in so many of the countries you want to control or dominate/manipulate.. well, this has been the pattern, but i think it can't continue. perhaps the relationship with sa and usa is a fragile one given the dependency of oil.. the saudi connection of terrorism and wahabbism is clear for most folks to see.. at what point does the usa want to step away from this, as opposed to it's previous desire to manipulate it to it's own geopolitical advantage? perhaps they are recognizing they can't continue, but all bets are off with either frump or frillary making it to the wh...

@28 aaaa.. i can't discount the possibility of the scenario mentioned in your 2nd paragraph.. it could swing that way..

@29 likklemore.. the us$ was given this special status of oil traded in us$ as a perk from ww2 in the bretton woods agreement around the same time the imf was created to supposedly do one thing, but in essence establishing the us$ as a playing a pivotal role in world finance.. thanks these arrangements set up after ww2 - the usa has used it like a sledge hammer on other countries thru financial sanctions.. it can't end soon enough as far as many including myself are concerned.. if the usa relationship with saudi arabia falls apart and helps in this regard - i say bring it on.. aligning with a country with a rabid, puritanical and fanatical religious ideology to further your own supposed democratic ideals is quite the joke that reeks of hypocrisy thru and thru.. i guess that is what some of us have come to expect from the exceptional nation..

@31 jfl.. i basically see it similar to you..might take longer then we both wish though..

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2016 2:58 utc | 32

@32 james

I don't wish for the collapse of the US/the "west", I just want the behavior of same, and those others who are 'advancing' their societies and economies toward the same state, to change. But I don't imagine the 'leadership' is going to change its behavior ... so the alternative is collapse, according to me. Unless, of course, we somehow intervene.

Collapse may, or may not, bring about the change in behavior that I want, and in fact things are more likely to get worse than better, post-collapse, along the dimensions I with which I am concerned. Again, according to me.

I cannot affect the collapse - what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one, and our union's not yet made us strong - all I can do is advocate for the change of leadership before, during, and post collapse. I imagine you've got the drift of my advocacy by now: the creation of democracy, bottom-up leadership, all around the world. I see no other hope, although I imagine there are lots of good ideas other than my own on how to effect that change.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 27 2016 3:27 utc | 33

@ James 32


[thanks] these arrangements set up after ww2 - the usa has used it like a sledge hammer on other countries thru financial sanctions.. it can't end soon enough as far as many including myself are concerned.. if the usa relationship with saudi arabia falls apart and helps in this regard - i say bring it on..[.]

James, “bring it on” -

the usa's sledge-hammer is now a wet paper bag due to FACTA international compliance requirements and financial sanctions.

Exceptional stupidity: SWIFT was weaponized so gold and bartering filled the void.

The dollar by-pass in oil trade mainly, and other general products trade is in progress. Saudi is the last major pricing in U$D. See the most recent avoidance from Iran on previous frozen payments for oil contracts/deliveries and current invoices demands payment be made in euros or national currencies likewise Russia, China, India - actually it’s a long list of countries. China’s currency swaps with other trading partners are in place.

Posted by: likklemore | Mar 27 2016 4:00 utc | 34

@33 jfl

i think i'm some type of socialist.. i believe in free universal medicine and universal education - kinda like what they have in the scandinavian countries.. i would like to see a collapse of the corporate dominance of our political system which is calling the shots on so much including the need to profit off war while the environment goes to hell.. in fact, the environment is going to hell for this continued economic well being of the lucky corporations to survive.. i think the west has gotten way off track and lost it's soul to the devil. i say this on easter weekend.. i want to see something different..collapse would be hard, but i think it has to happen, or it will be worse continuing on this track.

@34 likklemore.. i don't know that we see it the same regarding the financial leverage that the us still has thanks the centrality of the us$ to world finance.. i am confused by what you refer to as FACTA.. what is that? i don't see it.

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2016 4:24 utc | 35

@aaaa 28

"I think USA considers an emergent shi'a establishment to be the biggest threat"

A threat to whom?
The emergence of a Shia power is only a threat to Israel, not to any other country. There has never been any Shia attack in the USA and Iran has never invaded any neighboring countries and won't do so.
The victory of Shias over ISIS is a deep humiliation and a challenge to the Sunnis and to Saudi Arabia in particular, but it is not a threat. Quite the contrary, it may oblige the Sunnis to review their world view and stop begging from the USA and feeling victimized. After all the Sunnis make up the larger number of Moslems in the middle east, it is time they wake up and show that they can be a power again, not puppets.

The emergence of the Shia power is a source of worry for Israel as it finds itself under growing pressure to repair the harm they did to the Palestinians.
After all it is time that finally some Moslem countries have become strong enough to show Israel that it can't just get away with injustice and oppression.

Posted by: virgile | Mar 27 2016 4:42 utc | 36

james @35 - FATCA = Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act = US hegemonic pressure to breach Swiss secret bank accounts, ability to fine foreign "sovereign" institutions, tax all over the world etc. Here's a relatively mild reaction to it and, even so, a clear prediction of the demise of US from its arrogant, and insultingly selfish, overreach: FATCA: Why New Tax Haven Laws are a Disaster in the Making

And I also agree with likklemore @34 - the acronym is slightly transposed, no big thing, but the reasoning and prognosis are 100% correct, imo.

By the way, I learned at my liquor store this evening that Jack Daniels has gone up in price, after several years of stability. So oil is down, gold is down, but something has to give, and you can't hide the fundamentals. Time to start repricing the world's resources on a parity with the true basics of life, such as Tennessee whisky and Russian tanks.

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 27 2016 5:40 utc | 37

Saudi Arabia will fall, or dramatically decline in power/influence, in a few years when the money runs out at current oil prices. And if oil prices would rise again? It'll only rejuvenate the shale business, which in turn damages Saudi Arabia. Their fall from power is inevitable and I wouldn't be surprised if a partitioning of the country, to seperate the oil rich areas from the rest, would occur at some point in the future.

Posted by: never mind | Mar 27 2016 6:09 utc | 38

@ Virgile
Your Number five comment is on point.

Posted by: lebretteurfredonnant | Mar 27 2016 7:43 utc | 39

@35 james

Well I believe in universal health care and universal education as well. Nothing's free, they'll have to be payed for from taxes. So we'll have to raise them. On the people who have the money. To paraphrase Willy Sutton. The United States spends more than too much on the MIC. Close those 1000 foreign bases, mothball those dozen nuclear carrier groups, disband the standing army, go back to state militias/national guard units to defend the USA. Defend. The so-called department of defense is clearly the department of war, and it needs to be shutdown or we'll have more and more - nothing but - war.

The people who work in the MIC can be put to work building trains and dirigibles and repairing the US' crumbling infrastructure. Half the 2.3 million prisoners in the US can be released and laws changed to ensure that functions like education, prisons, and the military never, ever fall into the private hands again. There's lots to be done.

You seem to think that because I view a plute as a plute whether he/she is American, Russian, or Chinese that I'm some sort of 'capitalist'? But my own belief is that the people are the the nation, the people are the country, the people are the capital, their own greatest resource, and the reason government exists is to see to our needs. Think of all the cash the US has gone through in my lifetime, since 1947, and look at the sorry state of the populace with regard to health, education, and independence. It's a joke. A joke we've played on ourselves. There have been and there are always going to be people who want to cadge the lions' share of public resources for themselves, and they will, too, just as long as we let them. We need to recognize reality, pull up our socks and deal with it.

Our publicly funded schools need to teach children just exactly what's at stake, what's to be lost to a lack of eternal vigilance. That the first duty of everyone in society is safeguarding and defending what we have, collectively, from those who would dispossess us and ensconce themselves in our place. I imagine that sounds pretty radicle, and it should, it is radicle: it's right at the root of our existence.

But what is to be done first is to gain control of government, and then we can have any kind of society we want. Apparently we don't want much. I paraphrase Eugene Debs there.

Democracy, democracy, democracy. It takes everyone of us to cover the bases, with people looking out for the trees and the animals and the birds and the bees as well. We need the ability to dismiss and replace errant legislators, judges and presidents whenever it suits us to do so. We ourselves need the ability to legislate, directly, and to repeal errant legislation enacted by our representatives when required as well, including bad treaties. We certainly need the ability to end wars. before they start or when they're underway, whenever we see fit - which ought to be 99 times out of 100. We need to be able to set the cops straight, to dismiss murderers and criminals among them, chiefs of police, whenever it needs doing. We don't have to show anyone no damned badge, we are the sovereign American, Russian, Chinese, Canadian, European, African, Asian peoples. All we need is an absolute majority of voters in a given constituency, in a given jurisdiction. This is the next step in human evolution, and the fusiliers, the financiers, and the fossil fuelers are challenging us now to evolve or to die. At least to life as we've known it, and imagined it could be, would be, here on our one and only home planet earth.

There are people who are willing and able to stand on our necks forever, if we let them. This is not a job for someone else, in some other country, we are the only ones here with our own interests at heart.

I guess you didn't actually ask, but that's what I think.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 27 2016 8:26 utc | 40

@virgile @aaaa 28

Iran was the best ally of the united state and Israel in the region until The Iran revolution.The problem has never been the shia but the Revolutionary aspect of Iran.However even that revolutionary aspect must be downplayed as Khomeini was supported by the west in his rise to power.Iran is not a military threat to Israel.Everyone serious knows that.The problem is that they do support the Hezbollah and more importantly Iran is very independent and nationalistic.

@never mind
A partitioning of the country is what Saudi Arabia is afraid the most but they can't do anything about it.It has already been decided.
About the proxy and ideological war for hegemony in the middle east Saudi Arabia is waging against Iran it all comes down to the oil rich region in Saudi Arabia that is mainly inhabited by SHIA. The royal Saudis fear that the influence of the shia crescent could lead to a revolt and secession from the shia population that would take away from them the rich oil region in the northeast of Saudi Arabia.

Posted by: lebretteurfredonnant | Mar 27 2016 8:56 utc | 41

@11 Yonatan

Israel, as you say, is trying to show to Russia it is a 'good guy' (TM), and the Russians must be enjoying every minute of it.


Unfortunately, according to an article by M K Bhadrakumar, the nature of the Russian/Israeli relationship is somewhat more nuanced.. Echoes of the U.S./Israeli “special relationship” are clearly evident in Putin’s affirmation that there is a “special dimension” to the relationship. And, as in the case of the U.S. (as well as most western gov’ts), this can be traced to the outsized influence of the Jewish lobby.


Do not keep score in Russia’s polyamorous ties with Israel, Iran
http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/author/bhadrakumaranrediffmailcom/

Nothing would bring out better the superlative quality of Israel’s ties with Russia at present. Netanyahu has done brilliantly well in gaining mastery (although no Kremlinologist) over the art of pulling strings in Moscow and getting decisions taken by the Russian leadership that accommodate Israel’s vital interests and core concerns.

and

Tehran is cognizant of the hidden bonds that tie the Russian and Israeli elites together; how much of a role the Russian oligarchs and their ill-begotten wealth have played in imparting verve to the ties with Israel; how the Jewish elites in Russia historically exercised a larger-than-life influence in their country’s politics and business;,


Posted by: pantaraxia | Mar 27 2016 11:43 utc | 42

It's an extraordinarily complicated situation and given the people involved, it's probably impossible for us to assemble the bits and pieces together to try to understand what's exactly happening. I do think there are a lot of (probably) correct ideas in the post and in most of the comments. I haven't read them all, I admit.
Some conspiracy theories are, of course, more plausible than others. Time will show us which ones are more accurate.

Another piece in the puzzle which may (or may not) be included is mentioned in this post. I refer to the last section and the Rothschild's newest project in Nevada. Probably few people need to be reminded of the Rothschild family's connection to the state of Israel.

http://nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com/2016/03/rising-and-falling-fortunes-rothschild.html

Posted by: nomad | Mar 27 2016 12:04 utc | 43

The US dollar is paper. Its value is backed by faith and credit. The US used to disclose the amount of paper it printed, but it stopped reporting that figure during the Dubya Admin. when it was sending pallet loads of $100 bills to Iraq. Guys were buying coffee with hundred dollar bills and nobody could make change. The number of dollars in the world is googolplex.

Dollars also exist as numbers on a tote board or LCD display. They can be made to appear or disappear. If you paid your taxes in cash to the IRS, what would they do with the paper money? They don't have any use for it. They mark your debt paid on a tote board, but they have no need to deposit the funds. Do they?

What did the payment of your taxes do? Did it enrich the government? Or did it simply make you poorer? The government is in debt! We're supposed to be afraid of that. We have to tighten our belts!

Posted by: fast freddy | Mar 27 2016 13:24 utc | 44

Yes,the Saudis are on the way to oblivion,as the peoples of the region are tired of all the hypocrisy and absolute depravity of the royals.And with the falling oil prices,engineered by the oil producers themselves,to hurt Russia and the Iranians for US,will hasten their collapse.
I wonder if Trump is aware that the Saudis are IsUS?He has advisers from the military,so he can't be clueless.Is he calling their bluff?

Posted by: dahoit | Mar 27 2016 13:27 utc | 45

PS;Since Mavi Marmara,Erdogan has become Israels boy toy.I wonder what they have on him?

Posted by: dahoit | Mar 27 2016 13:29 utc | 46

Grieved @ 37 I mis-transposed. Thanks for correcting.

James @ 35

FATCA is the smoking gun for the U$D demise. It is ( U$D ) capital controls in disguise. Worldwide governments and their banking institutions have complained but reluctantly complied at huge compliance costs. If you are a US passport-holder Or not, try opening a new U$D account overseas.

{a recent experience: I am not a US resident or citizen and I hold a U$D account with the same bank for over 30 years. In my country we have real estate holdings; last month a US citizen tenant paid his monthly rental <- $5 K U$D. Item went through our U$D account. 7 days later our bank’s Risk Compliance Division, in keeping with FATCA, requested tenant’s date of birth, civic address and occupation. The requested information originated from the US bank which issued the money order !!!???}

Really! Who needs this? Do you think Americans will enjoy their coming isolation?

Posted by: likklemore | Mar 27 2016 15:07 utc | 47

The SWIFT bypass- with Turkey's aid during sanctions on Iran - trading oil for gold:

Has someone had enough of Erdogan? The US’ recent arrest of Turkish businessman may usher a bad omen for Erdogan and his family. Will a deal to protect be in the works?

more details at Al-monitor:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/03/turkey-iran-usa-arrest-of-zarrab-bad-news-for-erdogan.html#


The March 19 arrest of Iranian-Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab in Florida came as a bombshell to Ankara politics. Zarrab allegedly was the key figure running a money-transfer network in 2010-2015 that was designed to evade US sanctions against Iran.

Zarrab allegedly acted on behalf of the Iranian government and Iranian businesses, and there is speculation that he must have made a deal with US authorities.

Zarrab was first detained in Turkey but eventually was released with the government’s help. Many believe that Zarrab had to have known he would be arrested the minute he landed in the United States, and that he wouldn’t have made the trip without a deal worked out in advance. His potential disclosures to the US federal prosecutor will surely implicate Turkish officials and, as such, may well be an instrument of pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.


Posted by: likklemore | Mar 27 2016 15:46 utc | 48

ot
ps - i'm a canuck

@37 grieved and @47 liklemore

i don't see how something like fatca can represent the demise of the us$ and that's after reading up on it.. maybe you two see something i don't..

@ 40 jfl. thanks. i didn't really think about it in so far as who you were, but thanks for sharing regardless.. a lot of things have to change - that much is obvious.. whether people have the will and ability to do it, i am not so sure..

take the example of this war on yemen - topic of the thread... why did it happen? whose interests does it serve? of what benefit was/is it to the planet? i mostly come away with negatives on the last 2 questions here.. some religious nutcases are running a backward and culturally closed off country called saudi arabia where women are treated as chattel and etc. etc. and they want to make war on some other country called yemen for no good reason.. is it religious based, or based on being influenced by some foreign country, or? none of it makes sense.. as b points out - this guy who was 'voted' in - the whole process is a complete joke... this seems to be the way of the world circa 2016..

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2016 15:54 utc | 49

ot

@48 likklemore... i posted the topic of zarrab a few days ago on the open thread.. nobody had anything to say on it then.. maybe the more coverage it gets the more people will consider it..

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2016 15:56 utc | 50

Saudi Arabia has never been so vulnerable and humiliated. It has had a series of shocks in the last year. … virgile at 5.

Imho KSA has felt this coming up, > its new domineering, agressive stance. Complete miscalculation.

One reason is that the US in no longer dependent on Saudi oil.

pie chart, sources of US petroleum imports, from 2011 (changes if any less in favor of Gulf)

http://bit.ly/1UQyAdO

Trump says he would consider halting purchase of oil from KSA. (see previous post likklemore at 22 etc.)

KSA is loosing grip thru a looming home-grown color revolution. As keeping ppl quiet with money distribution is sagging (oil prices) dissent increases. None of the previous efforts, 2o years long, to ‘diversify’ - into manufacture, mining, financial services, religious tourism! and agriculture! getting women to work! setting up new universities! etc. - had any effect at all. The curse of black gold.

Austerity in KSA is a recipe for explosive violence. (see also Laguerre at 19.)

The new mantra seems to be ‘privatization’…The Prince-elect told the Economist in Jan. 2016 a ‘Thatcher Revol.” is on the cards.. (to be clear sigh i loathe the economist but these are at least in part the ‘issues’)

http://www.economist.com/saudi_interview

Posted by: Noirette | Mar 27 2016 16:37 utc | 51

@ James 49, 50
re: Arrest of Zarrab. We’ll see how well US ally, Erdogan et al, will be shielded. The Iranian deal has not diminished the agenda.

re: Fatca and unintended consequences being demise of U$D. Other than my experience posted above, other members of my family are in exportation and at high senior levels in the international division of a major bank. In new contracts Clients are now avoiding U$D trade payment as a first option.

So, Not just IMO, if country –to- country trade deals are being conducted in non-U$D, it is common sense to conclude that over the near term, it’s not just a by-pass but a demise.

Posted by: likklemore | Mar 27 2016 17:49 utc | 52

Mr. E of Turkey is in deep shit at the moment.
When the news broke of Zarrab's arrest, people in Turkey said they were planning to name their future children after the man in the Justice Department who pushed for the arrest of Zarrab. In fact, there's evidence (compelling) evidence that Zarrab met with US embassy officials prior to selling his luxurious home in Istanbul. It was less of an arrest in Miami and turning himself in for a reduced sentence.

As far as E. he was actually caught warning his son to "hide the money" before the polic arrived. He first said the recording was fake, then it was an invasion of his privacy. And then he fired all the police and prosecutors and judges and appointed new people. And that was the end of it as far as he was concerned.
Apparently that's not the way it is turning out. A lot of Turks are saying that the US is showing Turkey how to deal with corription.

Posted by: nomad | Mar 27 2016 17:58 utc | 53

@52 likklemore.. thanks. i can see how that would have a corrosive effect on people (especially americans with foreign bank accounts) holding us$.. so many of the foreign countries that i have traveled to accept us$ readily...

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2016 17:59 utc | 54

"Netanyahu has done brilliantly well in gaining mastery (although no Kremlinologist) over the art of pulling strings in Moscow and getting decisions taken by the Russian leadership that accommodate Israel’s vital interests and core concerns."

This is quite superficial. Notably lacking is a specific example of "getting decisions taken by the Russia" favorable to Israel. A closer analysis would find traces of that, but they would be easily explained as an exchange of small favors with a simultaneous exchange of threats. It is true that Putin politely talks with Israeli leaders without treating them to "an outdoor lunch" (in February near Moscow at Putin's private residence, that was a pinnacle of "warm hospitalily") and without anyone from his government calling the distinguished guests "cretins", but in general, Russians stick to good manners.

Russia took a terribly long sweet time delivering anti-aircraft system to Iran, and in general, both Iranians and Russians exchange "favors" on the basis of current interests. I suspect that Russia used the "Jewish tycoon" connection to nix the idea of delivering Western weapons to Ukraine. One hint that that was happening was studious refusal by Israel to take any position on Crimea and Ukraine. The idea was stupid but it did have its champions.

But in general, Israel is much closer to KSA than to Russia on issues whom to support in Middle East.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 28 2016 0:41 utc | 55

Suspected U.S. air strikes in Yemen kill 14 militants: residents, medics


Air raids killed 14 men suspected of belonging to al Qaeda in southern Yemen on Sunday, medics and local residents said, in one of the largest U.S.-led assaults on the group since a civil war broke out a year ago.

The air strikes took place as fresh signs emerged that tensions were easing between the Iran-allied Houthis who control most of northern Yemen and Saudi-led forces after a year of fighting that has killed more than 6,200 people.

Residents in southern Yemen said an aircraft bombed buildings used by al Qaeda in the southern coastal Abyan province and destroyed a government intelligence headquarters in the provincial capital Zinjibar that the militants had captured and were using as a base. Medics said six people were killed.

Earlier on Sunday a suspected U.S. drone attack killed eight militants gathered in courtyards in the villages of al-Hudhn and Naqeel al-Hayala in Abyan, residents told Reuters by phone.

Last week, U.S. war planes killed at least 50 people and wounded 30 more in an attack on an al Qaeda training camp in the mountains of southern Yemen.


Can't have any fresh signs of peace. Anywhere. The Criminals In Action and their pals in the US Air Force Will see to that.

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate said he's “really good at killing people”. And he still is, all those thousands of corpses later. And if peace, or even a cessation of hostilities should raise its ugly head, The Man is right on it! Like white on rice.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 28 2016 11:19 utc | 56

AA also said the Saudi MSM have said OBL is rehabbed by the NY judge who said Iran did 9-11!
What a fun house!

Posted by: dahoit | Mar 28 2016 14:51 utc | 57

The House of Saud's 200+ year game of using Wahhabism as a base for its power looks like it's in its final, most dangerous phase. The Wahhabist/Jihadist movement is increasingly factionalized and internally antagonistic. The invasion of Yemen exposed KSA's military incompetence. While KSA has called for a "Sunni coalition" to defeat ISIS in Syria, they lack the strength to fight the ISIS brethren in Yemen. The plunge in oil prices puts a crimp in Saudi ability to buy peace at home and finance Jihadists abroad. Jihadist adventures in Iraq and Syria are not going well and are potentially headed for collapse. Jihadist factions aren't likely to confine their internecine conflicts to Syria. They could easily come back to KSA, the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Posted by: Thirdeye | Mar 29 2016 6:47 utc | 58

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