NYT Finds "Hidden Hand" In War On Yemen
Yesterday the U.S. openly attacked Yemen by firing cruise missiles against old Yemeni radar stations. This, allegedly, in response to four missiles fired on two days against a U.S. destroyer at the Yemeni coast. The U.S. Navy said the missiles fell short. They were unable to reach the ship. No one but the navy, especially no one in Yemen, has seen or reported any such missile launches - short or long.
The U.S. is in alliance with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries in bombing Yemen for 18 month now. They totally blockade the coast of the country that depends on imports of food and medicines. The actively fighting countries are heavily supported by the U.S. military. This has been widely admitted by U.S. officials and in military reports. The U.S. government even feared of being help legally responsible for the carnage it causes.
But since the launch of the cruise missile U.S. media have totally forgotten all of this. Now the U.S. "has been attacked", without any recognizable reason, and is only "defending" itself. No legal consequences are to fear now. Anyone who believes that the U.S. is somehow responsible for the at least 10,000 dead and the many starving people in Yemen must somehow believe in a mysterious conspiracy.
Just consider this New York Times headline, from today, after the U.S. attack on Yemen.
Yemen Sees U.S. Strikes as Evidence of Hidden Hand Behind Saudi Air War.
The NYT tweeted the piece with this text:
New York Times World @nytimesworld
For the U.S., it was retaliation; for Yemen's Houthi rebels, it confirmed a long-held belief nyti.ms/2e9mKyb
6:30 PM - 13 Oct 2016
Wow. The Houthi rebels "believe" in a "hidden hand". Must be crazy people. They unreasonably attacked. And they deserve such strikes.
The NYT piece reads:
WASHINGTON — For the United States, it was simple retaliation: Rebels in Yemen had fired missiles at an American warship twice in four days, and so the United States hit back, destroying rebel radar facilities with missiles.But for the rebels and many others in Yemen, the predawn strikes on Thursday were just the first public evidence of what they have long believed: that the United States has been waging an extended campaign in the country, the hidden hand behind Saudi Arabia’s punishing air war.
How could the Houthis come to "believe" of such a "hidden hand"? Was it really because the strike was the "first public evidence"? Or was it because the NYT and all other media reported many times over that the U.S. actively supports the Saudi attacks? Did the Houthi probably read yesterday's NYT piece on Yemen written by the very same main authors?
Up to now, the Obama administration put limits on its support for the Saudi-led coalition, providing intelligence and Air Force tankers to refuel the coalition’s jets and bombers. The American military has refueled more than 5,700 aircraft involved in the bombing campaign since it began, according to statistics provided by United States Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East.
So the "first evidence" of the "hidden hand" were, unlike the NYT today claims, not yesterdays strikes but official reports on the public CentCom website? Maybe frequent discussions of the war on Yemen the U.S. Congress held since a year ago also count as evidence? Various public reports over the last 18 month detailing the enormous amount of ammunition the U.S. openly sells to the Saudis were also just sightings of "hidden" hands?
Such reporting as in today's NYT is just laughable. It flies in face of all reports of the last 18 month as well as extensive evidence given by the U.S. and other governments. The strikes on the radar sites were just "retaliation". They have no larger context. This is a typical reflection of the U.S. myth of "immaculate conception" of U.S. foreign policy. According to that believe the U.S. always only reacts to being "attacked" or "threatened" for completely incomprehensible reasons when it bombs this or that country and kills thousands or even millions of foreign people.
That is even more evident in the reports by CNN and others. These reports only mention the 18 month of extensive U.S. support for the Saudi campaign down in the middle to end of their pieces. For any but a thorough reader the alleged "missile attacks" and all Yemeni enmity against the U.s. has no history at all. It comes from unreasonable and hostile people who willfully misunderstand U.S. well-meaning.
Thus no U.S. attack is ever unjustified or just a cruel continuation of decades of U.S. insidiousness, hostility and greed. It is always the other side that initiates the fight.
It is easy for the U.S. government propaganda to make such false claims. And U.S. media don't report such but perpetrate anticipatory stenography. They write what the U.S. government wants and U.S. imperialism demands even when not directly ordered to. That is no longer astonishing.
Astonishing is how easy the U.S. public swallows this without any self awareness and protest.
Posted by b on October 14, 2016 at 10:17 UTC | Permalink
« previous pageHoarsewhisperer@20
"...This 'retaliation' fairytale can be safely attributed to the fact that Russia has called the Yankee's bluff in Syria and China has called their bluff in the South China Sea. And being a chickenshit SuperPower, they have to be very careful not to put a foot wrong in either place..."
While I understand your characterization of the U.S. as a 'chickenshit SuperPower' (and don't disagree philosophically because that's how the world mostly sees us) I'll offer the warning that any apparent hesitation to act does not necessarily imply cowardice when you're talking about the seriously ill psychopaths that actually run the U.S.
You would be better served by interpreting it as the actions of conniving opportunists waiting until they have created some advantage that guarantees their success. My nation's leaders will rant in frustration and pout and point fingers in breathless exasperation in public, but are simultaneously scheming with their other evil cronies/lackeys in some smokey back room lair to create the opportunity to eventually get what they want no matter what the cost. They never have to pay of course - that's the little people's job.
"...They've become so accustomed to getting away with perpetrating cowardly shit that they're pretending not to notice that that particular 'window' is closing faster than they're ready to admit..."
Especially when they created that window expressly for "perpetrating cowardly shit". If nothing else, the U.S. leaders are very sore losers. If they go through all the trouble to create a window where none existed and it starts closing, they go berserk. I don't know how to be more emphatic about that.
I predicted the U.S. would incite WW III within the next few months. It's precisely because of a window closing. The psychopaths that really run the U.S. (not the Obamas or Clintons) need to overthrow the Russian and Chinese governments and replace them with someone more... well, puppet-like. At this point, I really don't give a crap why. I have a good idea, but it really doesn't matter.
The window that's closing is Turkey, more specifically Turkey leaving NATO and allying with Russia. Forget any 'benefits' of such an arrangement, even though there obviously are some. In Erdogan's eyes, Russia just sucks less than the U.S./NATO. The U.S. is like a psychotic, lunatic girlfriend. It's not that Russia is better looking, it's just that with Russia, you won't wake up in the middle of the night with a knife in your back with a wild-eyed U.S. 'girlfriend' mumbling about delivering you the gifts of democracy and freedom while she licks the fresh blood from her hands.
Syria was a big part of Turkey's desire to bail from the abusive U.S./NATO relationship, but the Turkish coup secretly machinated by the U.S. was the straw that broke the camel's back. There will be no reconciliation. Not now, not ever. Erdogan isn't stupid.
Now Turkey is forced to break up with an unstable, nuclear-armed lunatic that will not like the idea one bit. Worse yet, Turkey will be choosing the lunatic's nemesis: Russia. I can't even imagine what kind of insanity will ensue, but it will - in spades.
Once Turkey walks, so will a lot of the smaller nations that have nothing to gain (and much to pay) by belonging to NATO. They won't necessarily ally with Russia, but they will ask the U.S. to GTFO of their country. The U.S. will not react rationally to that, either.
See, this is the point where I wish the European nations still had their balls. I would be able to sleep much better in the next few months if I knew other western nations were standing on the sidelines with a nice big shovel and a syringe of animal tranquilizers, waiting to whack the U.S. on the side of the head and put us down for a little nap when we go temporarily insane.
The temporarily insane part? That WILL happen. And that will probably happen a half-dozen times or so before we calm the fuck down. Two years, maybe three? Better stock up on animal tranquilizers. The alternative isn't to continue to be an obedient lapdog to the U.S. - the alternative is lead suits and really thick sunglasses for your children. Get the shovels and animal tranquilizers ready - do it for them.
Alas, I know you won't. Nobody want's to get involved when these messy relationships go bad. Maybe just close the drapes, take the phone off the hook and curl up with a good book. I would also recommend a Colt Python .357 and a few cases of ammo, but that's not legal in most of Europe, is it?
Posted by: PavewayIV | Oct 15 2016 9:07 utc | 102
FINALLY!! someone witnesses of the situation in West Aleppo...
https://www.les-crises.fr/syrie-un-vannetais-raconte-lenfer-de-la-guerre-a-alep/
(in French, a guy who has been leaving there and doing projects with the kids such as taking them to the cinema etc)
Posted by: Mina | Oct 15 2016 9:42 utc | 103
CNN is an arm of Zionist News Network,ZNN.
Christian racial supremacists?I'm sure many white Christians might think that way,but this is nothing to do with the actual racial supremacists,Zionism,who control every horizontal and vertical in the USA.
Just as they do in Australia,as it seems Australians are just as full of BS as Americans.Yankees sheesh.
And yes.Donald Trump,although its kind of hard to tell,he's still alive a well.
The f*cking serial liars say he is waging a scorched earth campaign.And Wapoo mentioned his followers are starting to threaten the press.
String them up,I say.Goddamn mole traitors.
As I've said before,only Trump can end this nonsense of Israel uber alles,and all the Yemenese and other nations in the ME will benefit,even zion,because he can end their insanity.He will owe them a gloved fist if elected,the most inspiring thing in American politics in decades.Do you think he will be a dupe for them like Obomba,the shrub and the hell bitch.No way.
Posted by: dahoit | Oct 15 2016 10:59 utc | 104
Re: Posted by: Mark | Oct 14, 2016 1:48:07 PM | 48
First thing to remember is that 99.9999% of Americans do not read the NYT or any other newspaper, so nothing is swallowed.
Mate - I'm sorry, you are absolutely full of shit.
So your claim is that only around 320 people in America read the New York Times or indeed ANY OTHER NEWSPAPER!!!
BULLSHIT.
How the fuck do any of these media possibly exist if only a few hundred Americans read any sort of news at all???
BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT.
I bet more than 300 people from America probably read even just this blog!!
Why do you spread such propaganda bullshit and who is paying you to spread disinfo???
Only a paid propagandist could spread such total bullshit agitprop Mark.
Overnight:
Obama sends a "War Powers Resolution" letter to congress, so he can continue with ‘limited & proportionate self-defense’ strikes in Yemen. Apparently, this is not a declaration of war. although since he should go to the UNSC to take further action, anything more might be regarded as an act of aggression in some crcles.
The Saudi investigation finds it was bad intelligence from the Yemeni army, so they are totally innocent.
Posted by: Ghostship | Oct 15 2016 12:11 utc | 106
@Ghostship | Oct 15, 2016 8:11:46 AM | 100
Holy cow another Gulf of Tonkin again? And US will bombs Houthi to dusts bit by bit Saudi's mercenaries from Africa together with Headchoppers finished off Houthi.
Russia should call an UN security council emergency secession from US's playbook - cessation of hostility, all parties seat down and talk. US's coalition of willing veto it.
Posted by: Jack Smith | Oct 15 2016 12:43 utc | 107
@ Jules | Oct 15, 2016 8:09:00 AM | 99
I just looked at Washington Post and The Guardian, so tied to the hip are these two propaganda outlets, and it's the same 16 readers leaving comments there everyday.
The once proud The Guardian, facts are no longer sacred. They are manufactured.
Posted by: Gravatomic | Oct 15 2016 12:53 utc | 108
@ 100 Ghostship
I just found this article in Asia Times that might explain the American supported genocide in Yemen.
The Yemenis, are much better fighters than the Saudis and apparently are currently faring better in the battlefield than their Saudi counterparts.
Additionally, according to the article the Saudis are still engaged in a battle of succession and the current sociopath in charge of the army, Mohammed bin Salman, is staking his claim to the crown on a successful Yemen adventure. Failure could put the Kingdom into chaos.
Methinks our current "Salesman in Chief" is merely doing the Roman thing and trying to keep the "barbarians" from the gates on the fringes of the empire.
An alternative could be that Obama is trying to curry favor with the Mohammed bin Salman to keep the Russians out of Saudi Arabian politics.
http://www.atimes.com/house-saud-preparing-battle-royale/
Posted by: Michael | Oct 15 2016 14:46 utc | 109
@ Ghostship 100
The US has already committed an act of war against the people of Yemen, by its months-long naval blockade of food and medicine desperately needed by the starving and wounded population.
If Yemen had attacked the ship it would have been an act of justified self-defense.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Oct 15 2016 15:53 utc | 110
Gravatomic @ 102
In agreement with your comment, see the video "US news is faked":
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sKTe6hzlio
Posted by: Krollchem | Oct 15 2016 15:56 utc | 111
mark - i seemed to have hit a raw nerve in a few folks!
ot - storm clouds gathering has a new video up from a week ago ..
Posted by: james | Oct 15 2016 16:10 utc | 112
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noor_(missile)
Possibly some of these will be used in the conflict.
Does Iran have the will to provoke Empire?
Posted by: Brad | Oct 15 2016 16:18 utc | 114
My disappointment is with the French, Germans, Italians, Greeks and the other allies. Why are they silent? Historically they have shown themselves to be less manageable. What's going on? Ken Nari
Partial answer for France. The F MSM is far more locked up than anywhere else (..US, Germany, Switz, Italy..) Some proportion of ppl just follow on.
Hollande is a dead man walking and nobody wants Sarkozy back, that accounts for say 80% of ppl, who say or would they don’t want war with Russia and they don’t want France supporting KSA /ISIS in Syria, etc. The corruption of the State and the fake duo-poly becomes more exposed day by day.
However, the opposition is split and carefully controlled, and can’t get its act together. Oppo, in no order::
The ‘lefter’ part of the Socialist party, called les Frondeurs. Useless, and often pro-EU (reform from within) - they are on the gravy train, the socialist party is split but better not to show that much (see Tsipras or Sanders part of the Establisment for ex.)
Movements like Nuit Debout which never go anywhere and serve to decompress discontent (see Occupy Wall Street)
The National Front, Le Pen. Remains a right-wing party and while putting forth some acceptable positions, is vilified like the plague - nobody except Soral has ever dared to join with them (for good reason as collaboration would most certainly be refused, their living is sucking in the ‘littles’ but always losing)
A sort of alt-nationalistic reconciliation anti-Anglo-Zionist strand (Soral, Diedonné, etc.) which is not only banned by media but viciously pursued in the courts etc. and thus has no political presence
An opposition from a semi-elite, who are all economists or affiliated. These agree (or will discuss etc.) amongst themselves but have no common political platform and really only an internet presence. They have done silly things like begging Piketty to stand for president. Names: Olivier Berruyer, Paul Jorion, Jaques Sapir, others.
A few ‘figures’ that present alternatives but are never given media space and struggle on with a small following. Asselineau, the New Popular Republic, is imho the top man here.
Communists (very weak) are also split
The very poor + immigrants from the Maghreb, now 3rd generation, have no representation or figures at all and are either checked out or don’t know where to turn except create disturbance and ‘community’ (via islam as identity politics)
The silent and fearful….
— the State apparatus Media blast is brutal, absolutely killing, incredible. Plus all sorts of irrelevant words / quarrels etc. drown out political discourse completely.
— talk of civil war, or a citizen / military coup, or other, does not make the MSM but it is present and quite loud, gingerly on the internet (you can be imprisoned for it)
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 15 2016 16:20 utc | 115
Fresh diplomatic talks to end the Syrian conflict are under way in Switzerland, the first since the United States halted bilateral negotiations with Russia on a ceasefire approved earlier this month.
With violence still raging in Aleppo and reports of new attacks on hospitals in the northern city, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, met Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, and top diplomats from the United Nations and regional powers in Lausanne on Saturday.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/syria-war-talks-lausanne-aleppo-fighting-161015035430288.html
Posted by: ALberto | Oct 15 2016 16:39 utc | 116
@109 noirette.. thanks.. france sounds like a police state..
Posted by: james | Oct 15 2016 16:40 utc | 117
@109 Thanks Noirette. I understand Daniel Cohn-Bendit has gone through quite a few transformations since his street-fighting days. He's quite the respectable politico now.
Posted by: dh | Oct 15 2016 17:03 utc | 118
Just a theory, but I believe that every new President gets a mug to mug meeting with Kissinger and some thugs in black suits. Kissinger sets him or her straight on how things are going to be. If you love your children and your life, do you choose to defy the mighty Kissinger?
Now in Hillary's case, she's already been vetted. No corrections are necessary. She is fully on board. Ready for service on day one to continue where Obama leaves off.
To wit:
The task of executing the requirements of the Yinon Plan and its requisite destruction of MENA for Greater Israel.
And to meet the resource needs of the MIC and approved Multinational Corporations.
Brzezinski wrote, four years before birthing the Trilateral Commission (1973) with his godfather, David Rockefeller:
“[The] nation state as a fundamental unit of man’s organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force. International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation state.”
Any doubt on the question of TC goals is answered by David Rockefeller himself, the founder of the TC, in his Memoirs (2003):
“Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”
Posted by: fastfreddy | Oct 15 2016 17:12 utc | 119
Methinks our current "Salesman in Chief" is merely doing the Roman thing and trying to keep the "barbarians" from the gates on the fringes of the empire.
An alternative could be that Obama is trying to curry favor with the Mohammed bin Salman to keep the Russians out of Saudi Arabian politics.
http://www.atimes.com/house-saud-preparing-battle-royale/
Posted by: Michael | Oct 15, 2016 10:46:47 AM | 103
I think that Salesman in Chief is a better lead. Saudi politics are those of a feudal state with a numerous ruling family, and this is definitely the case of a client state, so Roman history is very informative. But in this case, barbarian client state shows an inordinate appetite for some trinkets produced by the Empire, plus readiness to bribe the imperial grandees more directly, so a natural policy is to indulge them as long as it does not undermine primary imperial interests.
However, the current policies of the Crown Prince are sufficiently erratic that they may lead to replacement, and the successor may have misgivings about over-indulging his predecessor who wastes funds in the order of 100 billion dollars, a serious coin in the age of cheap oil. Thus the doubts about the wisdom of the policy became allowable in the establishment media like Time Magazine, The Guardian etc. And my reading of the phrase in NYT is that NYT also signals doubts here.
But for the rebels and many others in Yemen, the predawn strikes on Thursday were just the first public evidence of what they have long believed: that the United States has been waging an extended campaign in the country, [is] the hidden hand behind Saudi Arabia’s punishing air war.
To me, this is a timid signal that there is a f....up. That f....p is pretty comprehensive, but here NYT concedes that however noble the intentions are (not disputed at the moment), the result is a punishing air war (not disputed either) that leads to atrocities and a humanitarian crisis (signaled elsewhere, Time, Guardian, and even NYT) and cements a hatred of USA in Yemen (which is unfortunate, because Yemen actually has some place in imperial plans). For various reasons, NYT plays a loyal imperial subject here, so the key sentences are a bit ambiguous, is the punishing air war real or just a "perception of many".
By the way, The Guardian has a relatively nice opinion piece by "Mustafa Bayoumi, an award-winning writer, and associate professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York." And today, NYT put Yemen on the top of the front page.
Thus this week Yemen gained the status of an "important war". Will it open flood gates for more comprehensive and sobering comparisons with Syria, with many similar events and actors?
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 15 2016 17:41 utc | 120
By the way, Her Majesty Government announced that they will submit a ceasefire resolution for Yemen in UNSC. I wonder if this is wise in the sense that they are opening a can of worms and it will surely be a field day for the Russians. The top question I have if the ceasefire means suspending the blockade of the part of Yemen that is not controlled by "Hadi loyalists", and where about 20 millions live, a bit more than in East Aleppo. And if not, why not, and if it should be "relaxed", how? Food packages in "humanitarian flights" will not adequately address the problems of huge population, unrestricted maritime traffic will probably be rejected: poor Yemenis but great points for damn Ruskies.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 15 2016 18:01 utc | 121
@Piotr Berman | Oct 15, 2016 2:01:10 PM | 115
Came across the news in RT this morning. Wondering the reasons behind it after Saudi earlier stated "...Misinformation led to Saudi coalition attack on Yemen funeral week."
Could it be UK providing covers for the Saudi atrocious in UN security council? And sanction for US and UK carpet bombing Houthi militants to kingdom come? This should end Saudis’ quagmire at the same time redirect attention for the Headchoppers to slips into Aleppo?
It depends on the draft resolution, and again will Russia veto it?
Posted by: Jack Smith | Oct 15 2016 18:39 utc | 122
@121 Churkin found the first draft 'wishy-washy'....
"The decision to seek a formal resolution came after Russia blocked a statement drafted by Britain that condemned the airstrike, apparently carried out by the Saudi-led coalition, which killed more than 140 mourners. The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said the statement was “wishy-washy” and called for “some very serious thinking” on how to address the deteriorating situation in Yemen."
http://en.abna24.com/service/europe/archive/2016/10/15/785637/story.html?
Posted by: dh | Oct 15 2016 19:22 utc | 123
To Grieved, 65
The Saker has a lot of weird stuff in it but around the time of the Ukrainian coup it had a lot of hard facts that I couldn't find anywhere else. Those facts were later confirmed by a multitude of sources so it's fair to say he got them right at a time when, as far as I could find out, no one else much was getting them out at all. He bridged the world of the specialist and the world of those in the general public just trying to find out what the hell was going on.
I suspect that the result of such work as that is now visible. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of sceptical comments whenever the newspapers dare to open their comments sections to the public. A corresponding brake on the politicians as they become aware that the Clintonian distinction between how those politicians operate within their own circles and what they tell the public no longer holds.
Maybe the value's not so apparent now with this particular blog, but I think that's the problem with all such blogs. Just getting hold of the facts and putting them out is hard graft. No pay, except what comes from donations. Little recognition. Easier to retreat into a little circle of like-minded believers than to keep soldiering on doing work that, in an ideal world, would be getting done by properly paid and properly supported media or press reporters.
It's not an ideal world and such reporters don't exist. So there's still a purpose for the Saker and similar blogs, including this one. We're quite capable of filtering out the weird stuff as long as the facts keep coming. They're not going to come from the NYT or the BBC, that's for sure.
Posted by: EnglishOutsider | Oct 15 2016 19:32 utc | 124
The terrorists in east Aleppo have clearly had their day. Either they will flee to Idlib or die in Aleppo. Kerry knows this. God knows what he is saying to Lavrov in Lausanne, but I expect Lavrov will do most of the talking. US involvement in Yemen is a direct result of the defeat in Aleppo. The Saudis known that their whole existence is threatened. I imagine they have pulled out all the stops with the US. They cannot afford too many defeats and so have begged the US to step in. It could all go horribly wrong. Instead of minimising the damage from Aleppo, the Saudis run the risk of multiplying their troubles. The Houthis are not to be messed with. Killing people who attend a funeral is pretty much as low as it gets. If they are not down and out, the Houthis will hate the Saudis for a very long time to come, and may well eat away at the southern edge of the Saudi kingdom. Who knows they may get a long way, and if other factors come into play they might get all the way to Riyadh. Already on the edge, the Saudis may be accelerating their downfall. The US will not put boots on the ground in Yemen. They will bomb and may well create another Libya, but Yemen is pretty much there already, so however much the US do this, they will do little to get rid of the Houthis. Fierce fighters at the best of times, they will redouble their vengeance if the US gets sucked in. The clockwise ticking. The Saudis are on the way out.
Posted by: anitele'a | Oct 15 2016 20:38 utc | 125
It's worse than that, they did their famous "à la alQaeda" we bomb you and when the people start to come and help we re-bomb (suicide bombers have been practicing just that in Iraq for a decade). Just 3 days before that, I was hearing on a French gov radio one of the pseudo-medics in East Aleppo explaining that this was the normal way of the attacks from the horrible Socialo-Red-Bolcheviks, be they Russia or Syria. He was also explaining that he was appealed by the latest bombing of his area because "this monday was the day for kids to go back to schools" (when we have been hearing for 3 full weeks that they were bombed to rubbles and that nothing remained... very serious).
And a week before, on Sky UK TV another pseudo-medic explaining without laughing that he had been staying with his family in one room during the bombings but that they may die "in two hours". Interesting concept. The PR needs a bit more training.
Posted by: Mina | Oct 15 2016 22:03 utc | 126
Came across the news in RT this morning. Wondering the reasons behind it after Saudi earlier stated "...Misinformation led to Saudi coalition attack on Yemen funeral week."
Could it be UK providing covers for the Saudi atrocious in UN security council? And sanction for US and UK carpet bombing Houthi militants to kingdom come? This should end Saudis’ quagmire at the same time redirect attention for the Headchoppers to slips into Aleppo?
It depends on the draft resolution, and again will Russia veto it?
Posted by: Jack Smith | Oct 15, 2016 2:39:05 PM | 122
I think that what should be puzzling to Western observers is why the Saudis decided to admit something. Contrast it with totally opaque behavior of the "Western coalition" concerning the massacre of Syrian soldiers. The target was observed for "days", but the vaunted intelligent weapons were directed rather stupidly, if not maliciously, and who was the stupid/malicious analyst, we will perhaps know in 50 years. Perhaps New Zealanders were given the task of image analysis and everybody trusted them on the account that last time New Zealanders hurt anyone was at Gallipoli. In the case of the funeral in Sana, the time and place was known to "everybody", and the attack was placed and timed with admirable precision. It may seem weird than nobody noticed that vast majority of folks at a funeral reception are civilians, but the Saudi version is not totally implausible. But why not just stay mum?
My guess is that KSA does not want the relationship with major Muslim countries to be even worse than it is. With all Saudi bribing power, both Egypt and Pakistan are either un-cooperative, or giving a token support. Saudis know that PR efforts in the West have limited success, just enough to give them what they want, and they do not care too much. Their universe is Muslim Umma. And I imagine that they do not do too well, so they try to limit their arrogance a bit.
Whichever military is guilty of some atrocious mistake, a glaring atrocity, the standard procedure is denial and obfuscation, and it is a mark of power to offer total BS and watch it being swallowed. Sweating out some plausible explanations is almost an admission of weakness. Conversely, a story with implausible details marks imperial self-assurance.* We can also observe some hierarchy. USA is pretty good at pithy official version and "investigations" that do not go anywhere. Vassal states, befitting their lesser station, try to stay closer to the realm of possible when they explain, and sometimes they nab the culprits when they investigate. The hegemon state, sometimes described as TODITME (the only democracy in the Middle East) is a bit unsteady: sometimes it offers a dazzling sequence of impossible and contradictory explanation in uber-imperial "we do not care what you think" style, and sometimes has little bouts of introspection. Which somewhat perversely can amplify the goal of showing that "we do not care what you think".
------
* One can ask: but what about "democratic emperors"? Don't they want to convince their own voters? Yes and no. It is much better to be admired than believed. For example, the explanation "We do not torture, and in any case, these guys were the worst of the worst and deserved every bit of it" was much admired. The bonus was that it was detested by some political opponents who could exhibit their lack of patriotism, misguided compassion for the "worst of the worst" and prove that they are unworthy of being elected. In fact, it was so admired that Trump incorporated some less subtle version of it into his campaign. To keep with the self-contradictory style, he should say "We will not torture, but all violent Islamic extremists that we will capture, and there will be many, will regret every second of it." OTOH, I think that even Reagan and Bush Jr. offered contradictions split between different paragraphs.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 16 2016 1:30 utc | 127
The sad saga of Boris Johnson the wanna-be mob-riser is being reported in The Guardian.
Russian ambassador pours scorn on Boris Johnson’s protest call
Diplomat says foreign secretary’s proposal shows weakness of Britain’s Syria policy
Daniel Boffey
Saturday 15 October 2016 15.42 EDT Last modified on Saturday 15 October 2016 19.20 EDT
[...] Yakovenko, who was appointed by Putin in 2011, writes: “The novel way of diplomacy proposed by foreign secretary Johnson has so far materialised in a lone gentleman with a poster outside our embassy – not something I would describe as a big diplomatic victory. But the very fact of having to resort to (non-existent) campaigners to make a point is, in my opinion, a sign of the state of Britain’s Syria policy.”
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 16 2016 2:20 utc | 128
to jfl France as a police state (sorry for OT but in a dead thread)
Here is a *non-exhaustive* list of ordinary demonstrators and / or mostly protesting Union members (not ‘enemies of the state’, potential terrorists, suspect muslims, criminals, or stuff like that) arrested / indicted with some consequence: charged / fined / imprisoned, in France (1) from Feb 2016 to roughly today. A long scroll down..even if no French, have a look:
1. It includes for some entries > being summarily fired from job.
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 16 2016 12:21 utc | 129
The online bbc has an article today on b johnson having written a pro eu article just last february. This guy will end up doing comic shows
Posted by: mina | Oct 16 2016 12:54 utc | 130
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/houthi-arms-bonanza-came-saleh-not-iran-1224808066
Will Iran or other supply some certain* weapons to Houthi?
Posted by: Brad | Oct 16 2016 14:33 utc | 131
127
And you will find all your answers ...right ...here:
Posted by: TheRealDonald | Oct 17 2016 4:53 utc | 133
119
Somewhat a fait accompli, wouldn't you say, with -$321 TRILLION in global 'debt', (sic), odeous, onerous, fraudulentvsynthetic collateral debtvshackles, not counting forward 'entitlements' that will never be paid, and They pulled it off in only 17 years from the Gramm Leich Bliley soft coup in '98, to the collapse of Greece in '15 and rise of the iron claw of the central banks.
Yet here we are pontificating on a Yemen none of us have been to or know anything about internally, while the Nightmare Before Christman Spawn of Satan Trump-Clinton Executivevprepare to take over the reins (reigns?) of SuperPower Exceptionalist Supremacy. Wow.
Posted by: TheRealDonald | Oct 17 2016 5:11 utc | 134
OT, France. As dead thread… I became curious about one aspect of governance. One of the symptoms of F no longer being a ‘democracy’ (Representative Republic in fact) :
National Assembly (lower house), 577 deputies
Votes from 2.2.2016 > 13.10.2016, the first page at link for me, number of yes-no voters:
(Abstentions are all under 10, often zero, with the exception of 8/94 votes that had abstentions from 29 - 45 members. This was a quick count so may be off by 1-2…)
13 - 42 members voted yes/no: on 34 occasions
47->76: 27
80->120: 6
134->246: 7
276->308: 14
454-518: 13
—> For a large majority of votes almost nobody showed up. Only on 13% of occasions was the house 'fullish' (454-518 of 577 deputies present.)
http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/scrutins/liste/%28legislature%29/14
Tentative remarks. a) Possibly, the majority of issues are trivial, provoke no interest, and are merely left to chance - or the vote is organised beforehand with x, y, z having to show up. Both are terrible. b) For many votes, deputies cannot face their public to justify abstaining or voting Yes (re. new F labor law for ex.) so they are absent “due to circumstances.” c) > The whole Assemblée is a sham.
The post-Democratic age has been with us for a long time but is becoming exposed.
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 17 2016 12:45 utc | 135
Speaking of Yemen:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/remember-the-uss-mason-attacked-by-yemen-or-was-it-a-false-flag/5551343
Posted by: xyz | Oct 17 2016 17:50 utc | 136
The comments to this entry are closed.
Bipolars of the world (already got united): the latest blur by French president Hollande: he let two journalists publish just six months before the elections a book which is the result of more than 50 hours of interview through 4 years. He criticizes everything and every one, from the whole judiciary system to his colleagues and accepted to sign a contract stating that he would not be allowed to read the completed book before publication.
As to ppl who wonder how the Eu got silent, the main prob is unemployment and high costs of living: wherever the jobs are, the wages hardly pay the rent. And those who inherited properties and don't have this problem, they know very well on what side of society they are so they keep quiet (+when they have a job it usually implies a very good, i.e. Brain-formatting education and a bit of family networking to secure a position which suits their geographical desires.)
Posted by: Mina | Oct 15 2016 7:59 utc | 101