|
Yemen – The Attack On Hodeidah Is A Prelude To Genocide
Yemen is on the verge of another catastrophic event. The Saudi and United Arab Emirates plan to take the Red Sea port Hodeidah through which most of the food supplies to Yemen's come in.
The port is already under blockade and all ships are strictly controlled. Saudi 'inspections' of ships already taking so long that some food rots before it can reach land. The UN is complaining that there is too little food is coming through:
Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations, with some 8.4 million people severely short of food and at risk of starvation.
…
“I am particularly concerned about the recent decline of commercial food imports through the Red Sea ports,” Mark Lowcock, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, said in a statement read out to a Geneva briefing on Friday.
…
“If conditions do not improve, a further 10 million people will fall into this category by the end of the year,” he said.
Eighteen out of twenty-six million Yemenis may soon die of hunger. If that happens it will be a genocide.
The UN has warned that any fighting over the port will have extreme consequences. Eighteen million people will probably starve if the port is blocked or the roads from the port into the hinterland get destroyed due to fighting.
For three years the Saudi and UAE forces have tried to dislodge the Houthi movement from the Yemeni heartland and the capital Sanaa. The Saudis managed to take the flat desert areas in the east and the UAE took the southern coast but all their attempts to move into the mountainous western core of Yemen have failed. The Saudi and UAE forces on the ground are by now mostly local mercenaries from the south reinforced by a few tank and artillery troops from the UAE.
Map via IWN – bigger
The cities and towns in the north where the Houthi originally lived were all destroyed by Saudi air attacks. They have no where to go and nothing left to loose. They will not give up.
Cont. reading: Yemen – The Attack On Hodeidah Is A Prelude To Genocide
John Bolton Wants No Deal With North Korea Or Iran – But Is There Any Other Choice?
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton nearly succeeded in sabotaging talks with North Korea. But the summit train is back on its tracks. Trump will meet Kin Jong-un on on June 12 in Singapore. The South Korean President Moon rescued the situation. Secretary of State Pompeo helped.
Pompeo managed to keep Bolton away from the negotiations with North Korea. Bolton's attempt to derail talks with North Korea by citing the "Libya model" failed. But Bolton will be back. He will try to torpedo any agreement with 'hostile' countries – be it North Korea or Iran. He is now building up his power for the upcoming bigger fight.
When the North Korean envoy Kim visited the Oval Office to hand an oversized letter to Trump John Bolton was not present:
Pompeo told Trump it would be "counterproductive" to allow Bolton to attend the Oval Office meeting with visiting North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, two people familiar with the matter said, citing an escalating feud between the top diplomat and Bolton.
A big letter
A bigger letter 🙂
Pompeo can take credit for moving Trump away from his demand of immediate and complete de-nuclearization of North Korea. It is obviously unachievable. Any move towards disarmament will have to be reciprocal and step by step. Completely dismantling North Korea's nuclear program, which is unlikely to ever happen, would anyway take ten to fifteen years (pdf).
North Korea has already shown that it is willing to seriously negotiate. It has thereby gained fresh backing from its allies. The sanction regime is already breaking down. Air China is again flying to Pyongyang. North Korean coal is again delivered to Chinese ports and oil comes in from Russia. China as well as Russia have called for a phased approach. Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov emphasized that during his recent visit to North Korea:
Cont. reading: John Bolton Wants No Deal With North Korea Or Iran – But Is There Any Other Choice?
The MoA Week In Review – Italy And The Euro – Open Thread
Last week’s posts on Moon of Alabama:
Recent news confirmed my analysis. The reported deal had not happened. The Syrian government insists that a U.S. retreat from al-Tanf must be part of any deal over southwest Syria: Syria FM links talks on south to US withdrawal from border area. Interestingly the idea of connecting al-Tanf with a solution in the southwest originally came from the U.S. itself. Next week the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Jordan and the U.S. will meet in Amman to discuss the pending deal. The current demonstrations in Jordan over economic problems threaten to escalate into a revolt against the state. This gives Jordan, the U.S. and Israel an extra incentive to push for a fast deal with Syria. Jordan could then send back hundred thousands of Syrian refugees and alleviate its economic problems.
Italy voted for a coalition government between the Lega Nord and the Five Star Movement. When the parties presented their new government Berlin and Brussels protested against the new finance minister Paolo Savona, a known critic of the Euro. Directed by the ECB the financial markets immediately demanded higher interest rates for Italian bonds. Under pressure the Italian President Sergio Mattarella vetoed the new government. The parties capitulated. They named Giovanni Tria as their new finance minister. Tria is a member of the ‘think tank’ FMC (Fondazione Magna Carta):
The think tank aims at combining elements of liberalism with Catholic social teaching, supports the so-called “Judeo-Christian roots” of Europe, and takes a strong pro-United States and pro-Israel stance in foreign policy, especially in relation to radical Islam and Islamic terrorism. […] FMC has had close ties with American neocons.
The new government has little experience in ruling. The powers-that-be selected Giovanni Tria to potty-train it. The rejected Paolo Savona will serve as Minister for European Union Affairs. This configuration guarantees lively cabinet meetings in Rome and loud discussions in Brussels.
Paolo Savona is right, the Euro was a mistake. It is destroying Italy and other southern countries of the continent. How it does that, why leaving the Euro is the only sane response and how to manage leaving it is detailed here: Sacrificing at the Altar of the Euro.
Also recommended:
– What if Babchenko had decided to stay “dead”? – OffGuardian
– The New York Times and the murder that wasn’t – WSWS
– “Kiev Committed an Act of Terrorism Against Public Opinion by Staging Babchenko’s ‘Murder'” – Stalkerzone
This is the end of our biannual request for Moon of Alabama donations. A big THANK YOU! to everyone who chipped in. If you haven’t done so yet please click above for further instructions.
Use as open thread …
Ukraine – The Babchenko Hoax Was Part Of A Corporate Raid
The case of the death and resurrection of the Russian journalist Babchenko in Kiev is even more surreal than it seemed so far. According to Ukrainian sources and court documents the whole hoax was part of an attempt to raid and take over a private company.
Babchenko himself and the man who was hired to "kill" him had cooperated with the main branch of the Ukrainian national security service (SBU). The "operator", who is accused of having hired the "killer" for Russia, appeared in court. He claimed to have cooperated with the Ukrainian counter intelligence agency, which is side branch of the national security service. The accused "operator" is an executive of a private joint venture and has been under pressure over claims against his company. There are indications that the whole stunt may have been staged to get him "out of the way" to then take over the company he leads.
The suggestion is that high levels of the Ukrainian security services staged the whole affair not only to blame Russia but also for someone's personal gain.
In 2017 Arkady Babchenko, despised in Russia for his open hostility against its people, came via Israel to the Ukraine. He was welcome in Kiev for his anti-Russian position. Babchenko found a job with ATR, a Crimean Tatar TV station. The fine-print on the ATR website says that it "was supported by the Media Development Fund of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine".
On May 29 the Ukrainian government claimed that Babchenko had been assassinated. As usual the death of a journalist hostile to Russia was used by NATO aligned media to blame Russia, the Kremlin and Putin. That there was zero evidence that Russia was involved did not matter at all. A photo of the allegedly killed Babchenko laying in his blood emerged.
Crisis actor Arkady Babchenko – bigger
The very next day the General Prosecutor of the Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko and the head of the National Security Service (SBU) Vasyl Grytsak (also written as Hrytsak) held a press conference and presented a very alive and happy Arkady Babchenko. He had not been shot at all. The whole hoax, it was explained, was launched to find the people behind an alleged assassination campaign originating in Russia. In this official version the Russians hired some Ukrainian "operator" who then hired the "killer" to assassinate Babchenko. The hired killer told the police about it and the hoax of Babchenko's death was staged to find the culprits behind the plot.
All those western "journalists" who had believed Ukrainian government claims without any evidence and wrote unfounded accusations against Russia were not amused. The Ukrainian government exposed them as the mere propaganda tools and fools they are. The "journalist" Babchenko himself, interviewed by Bloomberg's Leonid Bershidsky, comes off as a naive and rather dim light.
Yesterday the "hired killer", one Alexey Tsymbalyuk, went public. He is a Ukrainian nationalist who had fought against the the Russia supported entities in eastern Ukraine. He has since become an orthodox priest.
Cont. reading: Ukraine – The Babchenko Hoax Was Part Of A Corporate Raid
|
