Long Range Attack On Saudi Oil Field Ends War On Yemen
Today Saudi Arabia finally lost the war on Yemen. It has no defenses against the new weapons the Houthis in Yemen acquired. These weapons threaten the Saudis' economic lifelines. This today was the decisive attack:
Drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked a massive oil and gas field deep inside Saudi Arabia’s sprawling desert on Saturday, causing what the kingdom described as a “limited fire” in the second such recent attack on its crucial energy industry.
...
The Saudi acknowledgement of the attack came hours after Yahia Sarie, a military spokesman for the Houthis, issued a video statement claiming the rebels launched 10 bomb-laden drones targeting the field in their “biggest-ever” operation. He threatened more attacks would be coming.
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Today's attack is a check mate move against the Saudis. Shaybah is some 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from Houthi-controlled territory. There are many more important economic targets within that range:
The field’s distance from rebel-held territory in Yemen demonstrates the range of the Houthis’ drones. U.N. investigators say the Houthis’ new UAV-X drone, found in recent months during the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen, likely has a range of up to 1,500 kilometers (930 miles). That puts Saudi oil fields, an under-construction Emirati nuclear power plant and Dubai’s busy international airport within their range.Unlike sophisticated drones that use satellites to allow pilots to remotely fly them, analysts believe Houthi drones are likely programmed to strike a specific latitude and longitude and cannot be controlled once out of radio range. The Houthis have used drones, which can be difficult to track by radar, to attack Saudi Patriot missile batteries, as well as enemy troops.
The attack conclusively demonstrates that the most important assets of the Saudis are now under threat. This economic threat comes on top of a seven percent budget deficit the IMF predicts for Saudi Arabia. Further Saudi bombing against the Houthi will now have very significant additional cost that might even endanger the viability of the Saudi state. The Houthi have clown prince Mohammad bin Salman by the balls and can squeeze those at will.
The drones and missiles the Houthi use are copies of Iranian designs assembled in Yemen with the help of Hizbullah experts from Lebanon. Four days ago a Houthi delegation visited Iran. During the visit Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the first time publicly admitted that the Houthi have Iran's support:
"I declare my support for the resistance of Yemen's believing men and women ... Yemen’s people... will establish a strong government," state TV quoted Khamenei as saying in a meeting with the visiting chief negotiator of the Houthi movement Mohammed Abdul-Salam.Khamenei, who held talks for the first time in Tehran with a senior Houthi representative, also called for "strong resistance against the Saudi-led plots to divide Yemen", the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
"A unified and coherent Yemen with sovereign integrity should be endorsed. Given Yemen’s religious and ethnic diversity, protecting Yemen’s integrity requires domestic dialogue," he said, TV reported.
The visit in Tehran proved that the Houthi are no longer an unrecognized, isolated movement:
Officials from Iran, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, exchanged views about political resolution of the protracted war in the Arabian Peninsula country.The meeting was held at the Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran on Saturday with delegations from Iran, Ansarullah and the four European countries in attendance.
The delegates at the meeting explained their respective governments’ views on the developments in Yemen, including political and battlefield developments as well as the humanitarian situation in the country.
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The delegates stressed the need for an immediate end to the war and described political means as the ultimate solution to the crisis.
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The war on Yemen that MbS started in March 2015 long proved to be unwinnable. Now it is definitely lost. Neither the U.S. nor the Europeans will come to the Saudis help. There are no technological means to reasonably protect against such attacks. Poor Yemen defeated rich Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi side will have to agree to political peace negotiations. The Yemeni demand for reparation payments will be eye watering. But the Saudis will have no alternative but to cough up whatever the Houthi demand.
The UAE was smart to pull out of Yemen during the last months. Its war aim was to gain control of the port of Aden. Its alliance with southern Yemen separatist who now control the city guarantees that. How long they will be able to hold on to it when Khamenei rejects a division of Yemen remains to be seen.
Today's attack has an even larger dimension than marking the end of the war on Yemen. That Iran supplied drones with 1,500 kilometer reach to its allies in Yemen means that its allies in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have access to similar means.
Israel and Turkey will have to take that into consideration. U.S. bases along the Persian Gulf and in Afghanistan must likewise watch out. Iran has not only ballistic missiles to attack those bases but also drones against which U.S. missile and air defense systems are more or less useless. Only the UAE, which bought Russian Pantsir S-1 air defense systems on German MAN truck chassis(!), has some capabilities to take those drones down. The Pentagon would probably love to buy some of these.
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It was the U.S. use of stealthy drones against Iran that gave it a chance to capture one and to analyze and clone it. Iran's extensive drone program is indigenous and quite old but it benefited from technology the U.S. unintentionally provided.
All the wars the U.S. and its allies waged in the Middle East, against Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Lebanon (2006), Syria (2011), Iraq (2014) and Yemen (2015), ended up with unintentionally making Iran and its allies stronger.
There is a lesson to learn from that. But it is doubtful that the borg in Washington DC has the ability to understand it.
Posted by b on August 17, 2019 at 20:16 UTC | Permalink
next page »I'm afraid the only lesson the Borg in Washington will learn is to continue squandering US resources and manpower on pursuing and inflicting chaos and violence in the Middle East. Clown prince Mohammed bin Salman will not learn anything either other than to bankrupt his own nation in pursuing this war.
Israel has driven itself into its own existential hell by persecuting Palestinians over 70+ years and doing a good job of annihilating itself while denying its own destruction. If Israel can do it, the Christian crusaders dominating the govts of the Five Eyes nations supporting Israel will follow suit in propping up an unsustainable fantasy. Samson option indeed.
Posted by: Jen | Aug 17 2019 20:45 utc | 3
I am sure that the Suads will be looking to their zionist allies to supply them with the Iron Dome system that the US military just wasted millions of tax payer dollars and purchased several days ago. The irony of that system is that is was overwhelmed several times when the Palestinian freedom fighters launched a wave of home made rockets at Occupied Palestine. I hope the Sauds learn a lesson..doubt it though.
Posted by: Tonymike | Aug 17 2019 20:46 utc | 4
the exact center of this death/destruction is well known....it is a virus which needs to be eradicated from the face of the planet.....with each passing day it becomes more evident....each day brings that day of reckoning closer....
Posted by: michael Houston | Aug 17 2019 20:52 utc | 5
This is good news for Yemen and...for oil producing nations in need of a price rise.
Posted by: donkeytale | Aug 17 2019 20:53 utc | 6
Does anyone know or can anyone speculate how Iran managed to get drones into Yemen ?
Posted by: Ian Seed | Aug 17 2019 20:55 utc | 7
The defeat of the United States aggression in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria has shown the Venezuelan military that it can defeat the United States. The Venezuelan militia collectives, aka, colectivos is the embryonic form of Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Posted by: El Cid | Aug 17 2019 20:55 utc | 8
Yeah... The end may finally be in sight.
And not to want to make the drones a smaller factor than they are; The diplomatic recognition by this meeting in Teheran is the game changer IMHO.
Props to MAN supplying the trucks for the Pantsir, though i wonder how they did this regarding US sanctions.
Though it is hard to predict how a political settlement in Yemen could look like. The country is still deeply diveded over ethnic, religious, tribal and ideological viewpoints. Even though the outside state actors did fuel this tension, it was there before the war, and likely will be after it.
So lets hope a modus operadi better as in Lebanon can be found. Or we will see a next phase of the conflict.
PS: And to those who attacked me for pointing out that there may be truth in the allegations that Iran and Hezbollah supports the Houtis: Maybe you too can learn something from this:
The truth lies inbetween. It always does.
Even though some of those black&white worldview nuts that make witch hunts inside our Alt-Media community seem to not want the truth, but to be right in their one sided deluded narrative.
Just like those nuts on SF, who prefer to be lied at and cry for censoring when someone disturbs them in their sleep.
Well, sleep well folks..
Posted by: DontBelieveEitherPr. | Aug 17 2019 20:56 utc | 9
The houthi should keep hitting the Saudi infrastructure as hard as they can to teach the bastards in the Saudi kingdom as well the louse Trump and his cronies in the USA and the British isles.
Tit for tat and I hope that the Syrian , Hezballh will do the same once the Israelis bombs Syrian territory.
Turkey watch out , useless SOB Erdogan.
Very nice indeed
Posted by: Robert Alaly | Aug 17 2019 20:57 utc | 10
If some one intend to help , it is always will be a way to do it .war profiteers will do the job for you obviously for a price.
How the allies and mostly the US managed to arm the ISIS gangs in Syria ?
Posted by: Bobby | Aug 17 2019 21:01 utc | 11
Could this also be a reminder to stay away from Grace I tanker?
Posted by: someone | Aug 17 2019 21:02 utc | 12
let me throw something out there. Israel has entrenched itself in the US political and media systems. There is no logical path to eliminate or reduce that influence, and thus perhaps the plan that has been hatched is to strengthen Iran to the point that it can confront Israel.
Posted by: ebolax | Aug 17 2019 21:02 utc | 13
I anticipated just this sort of event 2+ months ago to go along with the tanker sabotaging to expand on b's thesis about Iran having the upper hand in the current hybrid Gulf War. The timing of this new ability dovetails nicely with the recent Russian collective security proposal, with the Saudis being the footdraggers in agreeing about its viability due to its pragmatic logic. So, as I wrote 2 days ago, we now have an excellent possibility of seeing an end to this and future Persian Gulf Crises along with an idea that can potentially become the template for an entire Southwest Asian security treaty, whose only holdout would be Occupied Palestine. The Outlaw US Empire is effectively shutout of the entire process. And as I also wrote, it's now time for the Saudis to determine where their future lies--with Eurasia or with a dying Empire.
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2019 21:07 utc | 14
@Tonymike
So the U.S. bought the Iron Dome stuff from Israel? I guess that means we paid for it twice, eh? Glad to know my tax dollars are hard at work "keeping us safe."
Wonder what they might be planning for with that one?
Posted by: KC | Aug 17 2019 21:11 utc | 15
Think of it this way: UPS, FedEx or an Amazon Fulfillment Center .... they only sent the pieces with instructions.
Regarding the Grace 1 debacle - I read conflicting things about it and have not been keeping up. First the U.S. made some attempt to sieze it (or was that just a ploy to let Iran know "we" didn't forget them, a Potemkin seizure if you will) then I read that Gibraltar had let her go.
Anybody know the current status of that situation? Is the Grace sailing back on her way? How about the British tanker held by Iran?
Posted by: KC | Aug 17 2019 21:13 utc | 17
Ian Seed | Aug 17 2019 20:55 utc | 7--
The Yemenese military had lots of technological capabilities remaining from the Cold War along with factories, technicians and raw materials. For example, Yemen's aerospace forces allied with the Houthi and are the ones producing and shooting the missiles and drones. One doesn't need to import a complete drone; technical blueprints on a floppy, CD-ROM, DVD, thumb-drive, are all that's required. The humanitarian crisis due to food and medicine shortages played on the minds of people such that an image of a poor, backward, non-industrial capable society was generated that wasn't 100% correct.
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2019 21:18 utc | 18
ebolax @13
According to your hypothesis, who is carrying out a plan to strengthen Iran to confront Israel so they withdraw from the US political system?
This seems rather implausible.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 17 2019 21:19 utc | 19
KC | Aug 17 2019 21:13 utc | 17
Anybody know the current status of that situation? Is the Grace sailing back on her way? How about the British tanker held by Iran?
Grace 1 is still anchored off Gibraltar. See this link.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 17 2019 21:25 utc | 20
This is the best news I've heard in a while!
But next comes the Trump Family's one-note high dudgeon and menacing, thuggish bloviation: Trump, Bolton, Pompeo, and MBS starring in "The Three Stooges Meet the Sheik of Araby".
It will be a firestorm of frenzied ululation, chest-pounding, finger-pointing, and feces-flinging towards the "Houthi terrorists".
One can only hope that it's not accompanied by the usual show of malicious war crimes and atrocities, even if it's only for face-saving purposes to give SA a leg up on the eventual "deal" B. optimistically envisions.
Posted by: Ort | Aug 17 2019 21:31 utc | 21
With hat-tip to a "friend", I can provide another lesson that impinges on strategic thinking.
The US military, in addition to all levels of "education" in public and private institutions, along with "think tanks, etc, use IQ tests to select/recruit/target the upcoming "brightest" minds. Such is a sickly if unintentional joke.
Intelligence Quotient [IQ] testing is derivative of the original tests devised by Alfred Binet in France early 19th Century. Binet always warned that such tests are certainly not a measure if "intelligence". Specificly, and briefly, there is no agreed-upon definition of intelligence that enables measurement of it. His tests, which later the US Army and psychologists called IQ Tests, were designed to spot young schoolchildren whose learning ability seemed below a general standard, or apparently, "retarded". Such children could often be brought up to, at least, average levels of learning/functioning simply by special attention. For example:
Poor eyesight or hearing, illness, malnutrition, lack of sleep, French language deficit of immigrant families, unusual fears/anxieties/nervousness, relatively minor mental problems that could be remedied, etc.
In fact, Binet recognized and warned that "intelligence" was not a "thing" that could be measured by some single type of test; that "intelligence" was a hybrid of many factors which were mostly not identified and thus unknown, much less agreed upon.
In short, whatever an IQ test purports to measure, it is not "intelligence", but at best only a part of that nebulous concept.
While governments and their justice systems and alphabet-agencies are demonstrably run by "high IQ" persons, the results give the lie to "intelligence" tests. It is , sadly, exactly so.
To wit: Dare we consider all the garbage that is swallowed by infants in their first 3 years of life? All that data is, in effect, rather "implanted" into their minds without the slightest inspection by the victims. Is there any person's mind that has not been twisted by that collection of raw data operating totally out of cognition? Dare you look now for your own collection, just from those early years?
{There is a book that researches this subject IIRC The Mismeasurement Of Man by J.Gould]
Posted by: Chu Teh | Aug 17 2019 21:33 utc | 22
What to say? Poetic justice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGrUz-rdxxM
Ancient cultures are not so easy to erradicate so as to loot their resources.
A lesson the peoples without culture must learn.....
Posted by: Sasha | Aug 17 2019 21:47 utc | 24
And of course, this makes the threat by Iran to hit back against military and industrial installations on the other side of the Persian Gulf that much stronger.
Posted by: fx | Aug 17 2019 21:59 utc | 25
IMO, Russia's collective security proposal has the potential to travel beyond the Persian Gulf, Southwest Asian region. The region IMO most in need of ridding itself of destabilization and establishing peace so the requisite level of security can be established for development to recommence is the map Horn of Africa and Red Sea bordering nations--Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt--plus Libya. Of course, that needn't be the only African region as every African nation needs to finally get beyond the vestiges of their colonial & neocolonial pasts and work for themselves instead of their previous thieving masters.
The Imperialist/Colonial Empires of the past and present had their opportunity to establish peace and wellbeing amongst the peoples of the above regions, but all they had in mind to accomplish was the plundering of those people and their national resources. Yes, it will be a lot to ask of those nations and their people to trust Russia and China since the former masters will howl that they are no different from them. But if the current proposal succeeds, the chances are good the next one will be attempted and also succeed.
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2019 22:02 utc | 26
Well that certainly raises the stakes.
Ksa is cornered.
Posted by: Jared | Aug 17 2019 22:09 utc | 27
13
It would be rich indeed if Iran were to be the entity that ultimately manages to loosen the stranglehold that the Zionists have on the USA Congress, media, president, donors to political parties, etc.
Posted by: Really?? | Aug 17 2019 22:10 utc | 28
24
Beatiful video.
Extraordinary architecture.
I hope this successful military pushback against the Saudis leads quickly to food and meds entering Yemen and relieving the humanitarian crisis there.
Posted by: Really?? | Aug 17 2019 22:17 utc | 29
Good news! Made my day. Thanks for the insightful article the like of which we never see on the mainstream media.
Also thanks Chu Teh for the intelligent comment on intelligence.
Posted by: Ike | Aug 17 2019 22:20 utc | 30
@15 KC "Wonder what they might be planning for with that one? "
Probably nothing. The purchase was mandated by Congress, the US military didn't really want it.
At best it will be used as a training aid for USAF pilots to practice against.
Other than that the US military has no use for it because they know its worthless.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Aug 17 2019 22:22 utc | 31
Thanks for the journalism that I come to MoA for b
Glad to read about the progress by Yemen against SA and hope it continues. What is also encouraging is the EU representation at the meeting which further isolates the Axis of Evil (US/UK/Israel) that are also going against others attempts to let local countries protect the Persian Gulf
I read somewhere today that a munition storage facility in Bagdad was destroyed by the efforts of Israel resulting in Iraq limiting any aircraft flying to those specifically approved by Iraq.
Did those 5K troops from the US really get to SA and are they there for support or an Axis of Evil coup?
WWIII is progressing along while many are distracted by the shiny "identity politics" happening in the West to keep folks from focusing on the reality of war.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 17 2019 22:27 utc | 32
A graphic idea of the distance in the map...
https://twitter.com/descifraguerra/status/1162850455954874369
Photos of the Houthis drones and rockets arsenal...published last month...Someone possibly thought it was fake...
https://twitter.com/descifraguerra/status/1147940696705392642
Posted by: Sasha | Aug 17 2019 22:31 utc | 33
I can imagine the shale oil producers smiling right now...100 a barrel oil will be just what they need! Cost-push inflation leading to a return of bell bottoms and leisure suits. No wonder all these 70's band retreads are touring again :)
Posted by: jerichocheyenne | Aug 17 2019 22:39 utc | 34
So what we are saying is that Iran really has been causing enormous mischief in the region (from a US pov) and that the US sanctions - effectively a starvation siege - are much more understandable in this context. (or the "nuclear weapon" excuses were just a distraction).
Can't say I am disappointed, but this is less a world where the US looks ridiculous, and more one where they might actually get European support to attack Iran.
Israel has to be the big loser longterm.
Posted by: Michael Droy | Aug 17 2019 22:40 utc | 35
When Russia started its air operation in Syria I was amazed how vulnerable the planes looked parked side by side on the open runway. Syria has tens of airbases with Soviet style hardened shelters. Yet Russia chose to establish their Khmeimim airbase at the civilian Latakia Bassel al Assad International Airport. A simple GRAD strike could wipe out the whole air group.
Evidently the autocannon on the Pantsir S-1 can intercept an incoming GRAD barrage. There are several reports of GRAD attacks at the airbase but no reports of damage. The only reported damage to the airplanes came from an ISIS style drone attack. The second attempt failed, as Russia was more prepared.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 17 2019 23:08 utc | 36
Michael Droy | Aug 17 2019 22:40 utc | 35--
So, poor Yemen wasted via siege warfare waged by NATO since 2015 though its Saudi, UAE and terrorist proxies that came very close to success, finds the initiative to counterattack with what little it has at its disposal--All accusations of Iranian help have never been proven--and thanks to the Outlaw US Empire's threats against Iran force UAE to withdrawal and seek peace with Iran with Saudi soon to follow. And the situation is all Iran's fault?! Note the date above--it precedes Trump's election, his illegal withdrawal from the JCPOA and institution of the illegal sanctions regime against Iran.
Europe is on board with Russia's collective security proposal. Europe had representatives at the meet between Khamenei and the Houthi negotiator. Europe--even the UK--still working to salvage the JCPOA via the non-dollar trade conduit. And you conclude that the Outlaw US Empire "might actually get European support to attack Iran."
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2019 23:11 utc | 37
First Afghanistan, then Yemen. Maybe the western media's imaging of these people as towel headed, sandal wearing primatives is just a tad misguided......
Posted by: eagle eye | Aug 17 2019 23:21 utc | 38
Certainly is good news. Turkey may need to rethink their partnership with the Evil Empire regarding the plan to steal a section of northern Syria to establish a "safe zone." Funny choice of words isn't it?
I mentioned this on another post but here it goes again: On PressTV one can see a copy of the "murkan "warrant" to seize the cargo of Grace l. It is dated 16 November... an interesting slip of the pen. Care to comment Psychohistorian?
Posted by: Miss Lacy | Aug 17 2019 23:47 utc | 39
The Saudi’s are the third largest military spenders at $83 billion a year, while the US is number one at $643 billion, and Yemen at $3.5 billion. Truly David vs Goliath and great news.
Posted by: Stever | Aug 18 2019 0:17 utc | 42
It is game over for the pathetic MbS, he is a moron and got into deep sh•t when ventured in Yemen, he will lose his battles in all fronts...Yemen, Syria, Iraq etc...hopefully he will indeed pay dearly to the Yemeni people, but my gut feeling is that the Houthis will have to hit more targets before MbS kneels. Go Houthis.
Lets no forget KSA is sending large funds to the SDF in Syria, this is what is keeping SDF alive during these past 2 years, not US money but KSA's. UAE is out in Syria and Yemen, and playing ball in Libya, hopefully we will see UAE being more assertive with Iran and Qatar soon. Also, isolation of KSA means Israel is screwed in ME.
Posted by: Canthama | Aug 18 2019 0:27 utc | 43
@ Miss Lacy who asked me to comment on date screw up shown below
"
WHEREAS a Verified Complaint for Forfeiture ft Remhas been filed in the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia, on the 16th day of November,
2019, alleging that the defendant property is subject to seizure and forfeiture to the
United States pursuant to 21 U.S.C. S 881(a)(6);
"
I went looking and yes, you can download the Grace 1 warrant for arrest that I quoted above from the US Justice dept.
I am not an attorney but expect that the date screw up makes it null and void and would have to be re-submitted correctly to have "legal" standing
LOL!!!!! I somehow have a hard time thinking that this was an "honest mistake" that was overlooked all along the way but late empire is what late empire does.....
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 18 2019 0:27 utc | 44
@19: Yes, sounds crazy. But so does the reversal of the trend found at the bottom of: https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/boardmembership.htm
Posted by: ebolax | Aug 18 2019 0:29 utc | 45
KC @ 15:
Yes I thought Tony Mike's comment @ 4 looked like a mistake or an oversight but on second thought the notion of the US selling the Iron Dome missile defence system to Israel and Israel selling it back to the US (though maybe not to the same people or agencies whi sold it to Israel originally) sounds quite plausible, given that the US military gave up principles of accountability, transparency and being able to trace paper trails or equivalent documentation years if not decades ago.
Posted by: Jen | Aug 18 2019 0:41 utc | 46
Thanks Ike @ 22:20
Shd be Binet in early 20th Century.
Posted by: chu teh | Aug 18 2019 0:45 utc | 47
Chu Teh @22
Very interesting. Thank you. Saved for future reference when answering bigots who claim average IQ of various races has any significance whatsoever.
Posted by: anti_republocrat | Aug 18 2019 0:46 utc | 48
Ian Seed @ 7:
Ger @ 16 and Karlof1 @ 18 already beat me in saying the pieces and instructions could have been delivered in small packages. There is also the issue of having qualified people who can assemble drone pieces together which their comments didn't completely address. Those qualified people could have been Saudi army defectors fighting with the Houthis or people in Iran giving instructions via cellphone or Skype (or its Iranian equivalent). Arabic-language instruction videos on YouTube on building drones might have come in handy.
Posted by: Jen | Aug 18 2019 0:52 utc | 49
re Binet and Intelligence @ 21:33
IIRC, Binet [translation]stated that it was "impossible to measure intelligence by assigning a single number". I.e., just the nebulous concept implied so many factors and facets and viewpoints were involved.
Posted by: chu teh | Aug 18 2019 0:54 utc | 50
Satillite pic of oil field and damage inflicted. Yes, it does look like a pin prick as the Saudis might describe it. But they were quite lucky it didn't burst an artery. Better guidance and effectiveness will vastly improve. The attack also warns UAE again of its vulnerabilities, and not just from Houthis. Compared to missiles, the drones are very cheap and can likely be produced rapidly. What would really impress is several straight days of similar drone assaults aimed at differing oil infrastructure targets. And as the IMF figures show, the Saudis need every penny of income.
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 18 2019 0:57 utc | 51
Supplying the Houthi with drones to stage sustained attacks on Saudi oil production seems like an excellent riposte by Iran against the economic war being staged by the US. Disrupting the Saudi supply complicates the embargo on Iranian oil and puts upward price pressure on oil, with multiple consequences. There is greater incentive than ever before for importers of gulf oil to lift the Iran embargo, and the meeting with the European officials at the Iranian Foreign Ministry may be a reflection of that. The US economy is already experiencing recession jitters and the threat of an oil price spike could push things to a tipping point. Recession = losing in 2020 for Trump. Trump is doubtlessly under new pressure, both domestically and abroad, to keep things calm in the international oil market.
Posted by: Thirdeye | Aug 18 2019 1:12 utc | 52
Good to see all the Globalists getting their story straight, since nothing we've been told about the war in Yemen is remotely true.
Israelis have been guiding both sides of the conflict since day one. I seriously doubt Hezbollah would be so stupid as to help the Houthis create the Clash of Civilizations region-wide, so favoured by the disciples of Samuel Huntington. By the way, has anyone seen or heard Nasrallah say anything about the participation of Hezbollah in Yemen?
Iranian supportfor the Houthis, if it existed before the meeting with Khamenei, is again from the Globalist camp within that country (Iran), who have indeed done everything in their power to make the Huntington thesis a reality, including for example forcing Syria to dismantle it's professional army and turn it into Shia militia before the Russian intervention reversed the course. With less than 15% of Syria's population being of the Shia faith, the double dealing Iranians certainly sabotaged and nearly helped tear Syria apart before the more recent change of strategy, which likely began to unfold immediately prior to the Russian intervention in Septemeber 2015. Everything we have seen since then has been a more or less cooperative effort between the Anglo-Americans, Russians, Turks and Iranians in particular.
War is a sport engaged in by globo-elites for multiple purposes, not least of which includes culling large segments of the population while setting millions of others into flight as refugees. It appears as though the main purpose was to control Saudi Arabia and increase debts of that country to Western financiers.
Posted by: C I eh? | Aug 18 2019 1:19 utc | 53
Jen @49--
The technicians assembling the drones don't even need sheet metal to cover the framing--recall how airplanes were covered prior to and during WW1, lacquered canvas or paper such that its stiff and smooth--although there's probably plenty of scrap metal to use as construction material thanks to all the bombing. The precision work is the engines; they can't be jury-rigged to fly 1500K!
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 18 2019 1:28 utc | 54
@19
I thought what was meant was that Iran would engage with Israel militarily and weaken it, and that in turn would weaken the Zionist hold on US affairs.
Exactly how this would work was not made clear, but it seems possible that a hegemonic Israel getting its nose seriously bloodied by the Iranians might sober up a few Murkins. On the other hand it might have the opposite effect.
Most American voters do not want more war and foreign adventures. That portion of his platform is partly what got Trump elected in the first place. I think actually going to war to defend Israel might be a hard sell with the American people, esp. if it involved boots on the ground in Iran. But but of course the people would have no say. It would be Congress giving Trump the green light a la October 2002 and Bush's Iraq Adventure.
Posted by: Really?? | Aug 18 2019 1:36 utc | 55
@Posted by: anti_republocrat | Aug 18 2019 0:46 utc | 48
Well there are some allegedly serious blogs out there, where people from the "intelligencce community" write, allegedly belonging to the "alt-media", which spin around the IQ issue, like The Unz Review and SST of the ínclito Pat Lang.
The latter, grows himself, even more, telling us about his test results at both, IQ and Myers-whatever...
Also that is a recurrent argument and used to attack a commenter who is posting inconvenient things, once it is known in the "community" that the poster is not American and could be even forn other race...
Posted by: Sasha | Aug 18 2019 1:37 utc | 56
Zarif continues his shuttle diplomacy, now with Kuwait. Today's Houthi success will provide a bit extra leverage in getting Kuwait to sign onto Russia's collective security proposal, which would leave just Saudi and Bahrain. IMO, the Saudis would be fanatical fools not to sign on and get Bahrain to also. The old ways no longer work, and the regional paradigm is already changing such that they risk being left behind. And the Outlaw US Empire is powerless to stop the future that's coming.
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 18 2019 1:44 utc | 57
Why are the Houthi drones able to strike deep into the Saudi territory with impunity, despite the latter armed with shiny expensive US weapons? My hunch is these toys themselves are just as useless as the Saudis operating them.
Yet another shitstain added to the string of embarrassing failures in the ME by the paper tiger Empire and their lackeys. Their only "strategy" left is to act tough while hoping nobody notices they are wearing no clothes.
Posted by: JW | Aug 18 2019 2:01 utc | 58
@Sasha #56
Well there are some allegedly serious blogs out there, where people from the "intelligencce community" write, allegedly belonging to the "alt-media"..
In fact all of the major blogs of the so-called alt-media are intelligence blogs, just as all of MSM are intelligence operations.
Take it to the bank my friend. Those who aren't direct particpants must adjust themselves to the false narratives to be credible, even if to contradict those narratives, so indeed the space is 100% controlled.
How many comment oriented alt-media geopolitical blogs can you think of, that most of the people who frequent MoA will recognize immediately? It isn't that hard of a space to dominate, plus we are an infinitesimally small group of people.
And as such, people who are knowledgeable about geopolitics can be dangerously powerful trend setters of a sort. Shouting the Emporer has no clothes has it's effect, namely having the potential to start a stampede.
In any case be assured no speech is 'free,' just like no circle is square, those perfidious Brits fooled you again with one of their logisms with assumptions attached.
Each website allowing commentary uses it's own bag of tricks to direct conversation and over all audience perceptions. Most require logging, which is easy to manipulate as far as the content below the main piece is concerned, as with SST and blow hard Pat Lang. Others pretend to be open, as with Vineyard of the Saker, where the comments consist of one guy restating the 'lesson' of today's propaganda spiel, at the top of the comments section, to a self selected group of adherents, while no countervailing details or narratives are permitted due to heavy handed moderation. At Syrper, which is famous to those closely following the war in Syria, they use the illustrious sayanim troll Canthama, who is effective because he sticks to details and particulars for an audience who is hungry to hear them, and who take for granted that the over arching narrative in which the information is presented must also be true, while here we have non-stop back and forth between paid sayanim trolls and themselves.
Over 10 or twelve years I've watched the ebb and flow of this space, coming to it as a refugee from the mainstream media, from which we were literally driven away, only to land into the waiting arms of yet another Mockingbird mind-control operation, just then starting to roll.
All media is controlled media. The invention of Alt-media was like the creation of a second party in a one-party state. All of the opinions that matter to oligarchical elites are uniform across all media spaces and political parties alike.
Posted by: C I eh? | Aug 18 2019 3:53 utc | 59
Thanks b. for the good news ! The military paradigm really changed worldwide.
It started when the americans tried to launch two cruise missiles on Damas in 2017 i think, from Spain. They where down in a few minutes. It was the first time the u.s had to face a "no you can't". Since then, adding those new hypersonic missiles and all, the world recovered its multipolarity. Some morons can still shake their little arms, but overall, I think they're confined to their msm little circus.
Posted by: alain | Aug 18 2019 4:19 utc | 60
2015.
the possibility of editing one's post would have been usefull here...
Posted by: alain | Aug 18 2019 4:30 utc | 62
C I eh don’t think too hard, or you’ll eventually discover we’re just figments of your imagination.
Posted by: Jezabeel | Aug 18 2019 4:50 utc | 64
@42 Stever The Saudi military expenditure isn't because the Saudis want to use the stuff they purchase. It is simply the easiest way to recycle petrodollars back to the USA, because if the Saudi's didn't find a way to do that then they would eventually become the target of some good ol' CIA-style colour-revolution.
Don't think of it as $83billion of military muscle.
Think of it instead as $83billion bribe to a standover merchant.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Aug 18 2019 5:59 utc | 66
I think that the implications of this drone strike are even bigger than this article suggests
The western global military supremacy (or whatever is left of it) entirely depends on control of the skies.
With this strategic monopoly gone the third world finally has a way to fight back, by striking targets at will across the globe.
And that changes the entire power equilibrium on the planet.
Posted by: Vincent Tayelrand | Aug 18 2019 6:43 utc | 67
@ karlof1 | Aug 17 2019 23:11 utc | 37
Have problem remembering "Outlaw US Empire" and always recalling "Illegal US Empire" instead. Somehow logic bends 'Outlaw' (as something the empire does) into 'Illegal' (as something it IS). Might you have a memory aid? Outlaw is so cowboy.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 18 2019 6:52 utc | 68
I agree with B. This is big. What it means is that the neutralization of air war, the only sort of war that the West is willing to fight without mercenaries willing to do the dying on the ground, is here. This is a big deal for the planet and for institutionalized violence in general. It is also the death knell for the international arms industry. When Houthis, a non-governmental force, can neutralize the most powerful dictatorship in the world anyone can neutralize anyone. When a non-governmental entity like Hezbollah has the technological chops to design and prove such impressive capabilities it means these can and will be exported to anyone, anywhere, in a few years. Think about what that will mean? Drones will be able to reach the US from anywhere in five years. Russia and China probably already have them. We already know the calculations of loss of air power to Syrian and Iranian defenses has significantly reduced US and Israeli air attacks in Syria and on Iran, so those in this thread who think those aggressors will ignore these developments and will continue aggressive air war are ignoring military policies in the US and Israel that have already changed. The bigger picture is that aggressions by the US, at Israel's behest, have only served to strengthen their targets: Russia, Syria, Hezbollah, Iran, the Houthis. What this is doing is closing out military aggressions - might makes right - as an option in international affairs. Europe, with the exception of lapdog UK, is already refusing to support such aggressions. Of course the MSM is ignoring or missing this broader context; not even B is pointing it out in his article. Israel, the US, and the Saudis simply have no ability to sustain homeland losses. With those becoming increasingly feasible, wars of aggression are becoming increasingly less likely. This is a huge positive development for world peace, and one that is completely counter to the scare-mongering that is the daily bread of the MSM. It also foretells the demise of colonialistic governments everywhere.
Posted by: JNDillard | Aug 18 2019 6:58 utc | 69
@ C I eh? | Aug 18 2019 3:53 utc | 59
You forgot to mention Naked's Capitalism and its Bordello.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 18 2019 7:13 utc | 70
b, I think you're underestimating the role of the fighting in Aden. Aden is the base of the anti-Houthi movement, the main airport through which you can enter the country, and the capital of the so-called legitimate president (whose palace has beeb seized). The separatists are Sunnis of a semi-Wahhabi persuasion, the home of "al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula". If the rebels there succeed, what is there left to oppose the Houthis? Only the foreign blockade in the Red Sea, and the air attacks.
I haven't heard much about attempts to retake Aden.
Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 18 2019 7:23 utc | 71
Even criminals could use drones similar to those used by the Houthis to threaten critical infrastructure in Western countries. How's that for an asymmetric response? What you sow is what you reap.
It is relatively simple and cheap to disrupt a country with the use of a few drones and some IED's. Most "modern" societies are unable to cope with sustained small scale attacks on domestic infrastructure with a few civilian casualties thrown in the mix.
I suspect the Pantsir system will become a "strategic" system just like the S-400. At the end of the day, bullets, drones, rockets etc. "trump" economic sanctions and hollow threats.
Posted by: Symen Danziger | Aug 18 2019 7:44 utc | 72
Michael Droy | 35
That is indeed an American point of view!
And no, not under any circumstances are such sanctions as we see against Iran understandable because they hit civilians and cause incalculable harm - the same as in Syria and elsewhere. And no one can ever justify their use. Ever. It is beyond inhuman.
And anyone trying to help Yemenis protect themselves against a ferocious campaign as waged by Saudi Arabia - proxy for US/UK etc - is absolutely right to do so.
Posted by: AtaBrit | Aug 18 2019 8:06 utc | 73
Thank you JNDillard #69
Can I add all those US bases scattered around the planet at known GPS localities.
I wonder how many hundreds of these an airforce can get instead of one (not so stealth) F35?
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 18 2019 8:46 utc | 74
I think we can now adress the use of 'proxy war' again . In the beginning the claim was made up , it was a lie.
Now there is significant involvement of the Iran/Hezbollah block so the claim would have some merit. I still don't see it as a proxy war because the question is: who do you have to negotiate with to end the conflict. And then the answer is not Iran. The houthis yes.
Posted by: tuyzentfloot | Aug 18 2019 9:04 utc | 75
@Jen #3: Perfect description of the current situation, and I completely agree. The Israelis have really driven themselves into a dead-end. There’s no way the Greater Israel–sympathizing Jews (commonly called “Zionists”) will be able to repeat their successful ascendancy within the British Empire and then the American Empire with China. As the West weakens, they will no longer have a powerful psychotic entity to sic onto their victims. In the stories of Golem, its creator removes the “e” letter in “emet” inscription hanging from Golem’s neck, turning it to dust. Who said this has to be done by the creator? The inscription may very well wear out from old age. Especially since “emet” means “truth”, and that’s exactly what is being erased by the West at the moment.
Posted by: S | Aug 18 2019 9:21 utc | 76
On the Grace I, the Indian captain resigned last week; so it's not going anywhere until they have a new crew. There was also some mention of repairs needed.
Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 18 2019 9:49 utc | 77
UAE has learned to BS the media
they claim that they withdraw but their militias took the bank in Aden and expelled the Hadi gov.
negociations back to square 1, with a new inflexible player, 'the independentist militias' taking the role
for Yemenis it mean no more salaries are paid (including in Houthi controlled territories) and crisis back to the beginning, with independentists allied in the south with the Islamists, UAE taking advantage of the chaos to extend its control of the southern Red Sea and the straight via its Erythrean ally, and the Houthi-Saudi problem becoming somehow isolated from the rest
I hope i'm wrong
Posted by: Mina | Aug 18 2019 9:51 utc | 78
I guess the questions are pretty simple:
a) How many of these drones do the Houthis already possess?
b) How easy/difficult is it to prevent the Houthis from getting more?
The Saudis need to make a calculation on both points and that determines from their PoV if this war is worth continuing.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Aug 18 2019 10:43 utc | 79
@Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 18 2019 7:23 utc | 71
Aden, without its strategic port, is a cauldron where you can not even breath because of the humid unbearable hot. For a good reason, a centrict district is called "Crater"...
Mukalla, another port, this one of economic importance related to fishing, will get in the hands of the separatists too.
Still, the Houthis will get Hodeidah, definitely strategically placed in the Red Sea and which could develop into a great economic hub with Chinese or Iranian investment...For that, of course, the US/UK Navys currently blockading it should go back their home, but we know they will not do it even with boiling water, don´t we?
Yemen, with its varied landscapes and climates, complement itself perfectly as a whole, what one region does not have, it have it the other, as happens in many other countries. Of course, this "separatists aims" are fuelled by foreign interests, as they always are...
A decisive fight against corruption, added to a fair representation of tribes and regions in the parliament, and education against Qat consum for 12h/day, would be a start for a flourishing Yemen, which could take a good revenue from tourism, as it was doing when I visited such beautiful, peaceful, hospitable country, although still underdeveloped in its potential...
Posted by: Sasha | Aug 18 2019 10:44 utc | 80
Laguerre, you are wrong as usual.
The sole functioning airport (except for the Saudi-backed pseudo-gov and its mercenaries who land anywhere in military planes of course) is in Seiyun, Hadramawt. Tickets are expensive but there is about a plane a month to Amman or Cairo, slightly more lately because of summer/eid holidays.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiyun
Posted by: Mina | Aug 18 2019 11:23 utc | 81
And I should add, you must be vetted by the Saudis to be allowed to buy a ticket. These are no-Shiite flights I guess.
Posted by: Mina | Aug 18 2019 11:25 utc | 82
JnDillard @69
" The bigger picture is that aggressions by the US, at Israel's behest, have only served to strengthen their targets: Russia, Syria, Hezbollah, Iran, the Houthis. What this is doing is closing out military aggressions - might makes right - as an option in international affairs. Europe, with the exception of lapdog UK, is already refusing to support such aggressions. "
That is less of an issue than sanctions. China's largest oil company backed out of a large shipment of Venezuelan oil on Thursday and no one has bought the shipment yet. Probably a quid pro quo for a 90 day lifting of certain Huawei sanctions. Russia has withstood sanctions well so far, but I don't see how anyone can say Syria and Iran have been strengthened. We will make every effort to assure a famine in Syria. Posters on this board understate that US sanctions can still devestate most companies anywhere that depend on foreign trade.
It is very possible that if sanctions do not topple regimes we might be back to boots on the ground wars or at least a full scale naval blockade of unfriendly countries. I frankly think there is a good chance Trump gets his prize in Venezeuala, but I think Iran will hold out longer.
Posted by: Schmoe | Aug 18 2019 12:18 utc | 83
Mina
Laguerre, you are wrong as usual.I don't have any claim to particular knowledge about Yemen, as I've never been there. I don't know why you are so offended. Aden was the airport till recently, and the question is why no longer. The Saudi "pseudo-govt" is losing on the ground, that was my point. Losing to the Sunni al-Qa'ida separatists of the south, not to the Houthis, but still losing. The issue of drone attacks is not that vital.
Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 18 2019 12:49 utc | 84
#16,#18 & #49
Thank you for your replies. I was labouring under the misapprehension that drones were physically transported into Yemen (which I thought wouldn't be possible). As you rightly explain there is no reason they actually had to be physically imported when they could be assembled inside Yemen with the right know how. Thanks again.
Posted by: Ian Seed | Aug 18 2019 13:04 utc | 85
@Posted by: Mina | Aug 18 2019 11:23 utc | 85
I have not followed the Yemen war so closely lately ( well, we have too many fronts opened at every locatio nof the globe....), but the whole Hadramawt Valley was not in the hands of AQAP?
That would inutilize the airport for anybody except those behind AQAP...
Posted by: Sasha | Aug 18 2019 13:12 utc | 86
It is unlikely that Aden will succumb, for long, to the wahhabi al qaeda. The separatists there, hark back to the Peoples Republic days when the former British Protectorate and Crown Colony was led by the forces, including the highly trained and well armed Aden Protectorate Levies, which had driven out the UK and made alliances with Communist states.
They were rather more inspired by Che Guevara than the Saudis, for whose Royal Family there is widespread contempt.
Aden has been a large, modern commercial port with an oil refinery and manufacturing for a long time. It has or had a well organised working class and a nationalist contempt for the whole gang of desert raider emirs dotted, by the UK, up and down the Arabian peninsula.
Aden and the immediate environs, Lahej etc, may well separate again but they won't live easily under the rule of Israeli allied agents of the Emirs.
The UAE is almost certainly offering Aden, as a base, to the US and Israel-good luck with that!
Posted by: bevin | Aug 18 2019 13:16 utc | 87
I speak regularly with a Yemenite friend who has travelled from there recently.
Anyway, you'll notice that nobody reports on what is going on in Hadramawt. As usual with Yemen, there is no real central authority and in a time of chaos like that, only tribal law remains. Traditionally, the roads in Hadramawt are connecting KSA pretty easily and half the male population there has a job in KSA at some stage in his life or a relative to visit.
Posted by: Mina | Aug 18 2019 13:19 utc | 88
Apparently Aden has flights to Djibouti and Khartoum mainly. For mercenaries?
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airports/ade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aden_Airport
I don't think it has been in use for normal people since the beginning of the war. Maybe just for humanitarians and politics.
https://yemenia.com/
claims there are Aden Cairo and Amman flights apparently, but if you click on schedule, you don't go anywhere.
https://yemenia.com/schedule
Posted by: Mina | Aug 18 2019 13:28 utc | 89
@Chu Teh #22
You got the title correct, the authors name is Stephen Jay Gould. He was an excellent science writer, actually a paleontologist specializing in snails, of all things, and for years wrote a monthly column for the Smithsonian Magazine. His columns were collected in book form and are available in murky corners of the internet as well as in dead tree editions. Interesting reading. The second edition of The Mismeasure of Man specifically dismantles The Bell Curve by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, who tried to prove black people are genetically inferior. It's a very good book.
Posted by: Procopius | Aug 18 2019 13:28 utc | 90
ok you were right, it was operational. mainly humanitarian though i would say.
https://www.governmenteuropa.eu/trapped-in-yemen-concerns-grow/94236/
https://www.emirates247.com/news/region/uae-provides-aden-airport-with-equipment-electricity-generators-2019-08-08-1.688265
https://www.wam.ae/en/details/1395302776546
Posted by: Mina | Aug 18 2019 13:32 utc | 91
JNDillard | Aug 18 2019 6:58 | 69
uncle tungsten | Aug 18 2019 8:46 | 74
This indeed could be a game changer for countries around the world, bullied/sanctioned/regime-changed by the Outlaw/Illegal/Demonic US Empire and others...
IMHO this appears similar to surge in personal "ghost" weaponry via 3D-printing/machining tech as the PTB ramp up pressure on the 2nd Amendment in the US (and similar elsewhere), but instead on a national level
In fact, sanctioned countries like Iran, Syria, Venezuela, N.Korea could establish profitable cottage industries to thwart those sanctions by mass producing those drones and/or selling those sanction-busting services to other oppressed nations, i.e. send us X amt of gold and coordinates and we'll take care of your problem
And then those targeted bully nations could also pay NOT to get hit (and by pay I mean lift their sanctions against that country, among other things). It's a win-win for everyone! What's not to like?
Personally I know of a run-down dump of a place in Washington that could benefit from a ground-up demolition/restoration, and would be willing to start a crowd-funding campaign to get 'er done...
Posted by: xLemming | Aug 18 2019 13:34 utc | 92
@Posted by: C I eh? | Aug 18 2019 3:53 utc | 59
I have not observed and taken part in the "alt-media" for so long as you have done it, just half the time, but you seem to be doing the same you are denouncing the "alt-media" are doing, say, telling some truth, that most "alt-media" ( if not all...) are owned by the US intelligence services, while taking the opportunity to slander Iran, and it seemd to me in other comments also China, which fits perfectly with Trump´s administration´s and Pentagon´s goals....
Iran, as they do all the ME countries which are not allied with the US/Israel to retain power of their dictatorships, are simply defending itself against harassment and clear intends of total blockade á la Syria/Venezuela/Yemen/Cuba style, and allying with others suffering the same, a natural human behavior since childhood...
Neither China nor Iran have any interest in any "Clash of Civilizations", as their thousands years long history clearly show, these are cultures based in commerce, in any way would benefit from any "Clash of Civilizations", a US/UK invent so as to try to dominate and control Planet Earth´s resources by throwing one people against the other to loot while everybody is so busy fighting that no one looks....
I am finding as well extremely rare that you are not debunked in this by anybody here, except by a succint and subtly comment by woman so suspiciously nick named Jezabeel...so as to show that you are somehow opposed by Zionists...Rare....When your arguments beneffit Israel all the way, as well as the US...
Posted by: Sasha | Aug 18 2019 13:39 utc | 93
Thank you B for this information. Without such articles/essays as yours, one would, if only receiving the BBC World Service and NPR, *never* know anything about what is going on in Yemen or what the Houthis have done to Saudia. On only a small handful of occasions has the Beeb broadcast anything about this war and then only when they can, in true Orwellian fashion, deflect attention from the US/UK's abominable support for Saudia's horrendous bombing and blockading of Yemen and onto the Houthis by ascribing to them the destruction of lives and the starvation of so many. NPR is even more "circumspect."
Meanwhile, of course, the HK "protests" are covered in detail, frequently and on a daily basis - always from a pro-western/"democracy" NED US/UK supported perspective. The use of Tear gas is "deplored" vigorously - as if western nations haven't and wouldn't use such a thing against protestors (thus the BBC and NPR and their ilk stay absolutely mum about the Gilets Jaunes and the serious injuries inflicted on those protestors - against austerity, not "for" so-called democracy therefore unworthy - by the French police).
And why shouldn't Iran support the Houthis, Hizbullah, if only morally and ethically? *We* in the exceptionalist west "support" Israel - a racist, ethnically-cleansed and cleansing, torturing, apartheid, stolen state. The MSM - when they mention Iran's support of the Houthis - it is only to denigrate such support. Only we in the pure as driven snow west have the right to support those nations/governments/protestors/fighters we decide are the white hats.
Posted by: AnneR | Aug 18 2019 13:41 utc | 94
Interesting article by Wayne Madsen on Yemen and its history. For some background info: https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/08/18/two-formerly-independent-nations-struggle-for-re-emergence/
Posted by: Ralph | Aug 18 2019 13:47 utc | 95
I don't think it'll hurt Amerikastani weapons sales because Saudi Barbarian incompetence was so staggering that a medieval army armed with flintlocks could have fought them to a standstill.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayastha | Aug 18 2019 13:55 utc | 96
Posted by: Ian Seed | Aug 17 2019 20:55 utc | 7
Knowledge transfer. You can do it online nowadays. The drones are "locally produced".
It is fairly simple to build a drone.
“The Saudis and Emiratis are investing heavily in counterdrone technology,” a U.S. official told the Journal. “But the relative ease of building drones using commercial parts is challenging efforts to contain the threat,” which is increasingly stressing “commercial shipping and American military ships in the region.”
Posted by: somebody | Aug 18 2019 14:08 utc | 97
@Posted by: Mina | Aug 18 2019 13:19 utc | 92
When I visited Yemen, Hadramawt was introduced to me as inhabited by Yemeni migrants in India who then returned to their motherland and built curious colourful houses ( really palaces...).
Also, I was mentioned about Yemeni migration into KSA for working reasons, but I had no the impression anybody would go into KSA to visit relatives, if not to find a job itself, but the opposite, people working as migrants in KSA always return to warm hospitable Yemen.
No Yemeni in its sense would want to go into KSA unless forced for working reasons, unless it is for doing Hajj. Yemenis are treated in KSA like the "black people" in the US, as second cathegory citizens. There is no way anybody would want to go through self inflicting such pain on itself, the more due the price of flights and that the wages earned by Yemenis working in KSA hardly cover thet usually over-extended Yemeni families, where soemtimes some generations of the same family, including several families in it, depend on a wage earned abroad....The Yemenis do not travel, that´s the reality...otherwise they would had presure their government to make more reforms to develop the country and take care of its citizens. The last generation of Yemenis who traveled abroad, currently bordering retiring age ( but who could well reciclate into a new dirigent class...) are those who studied in Communist countries, like Cuba and USSR, but, then, these witnessed a quite sober while at the same time hardworking examples of society...
Thus, Yemenis would very much prefer to die of hunger and diseases in their hospitable, kindhearted welcoming land that to go into such nightmare. I can understand them well, I would probably do the same if facing the same situation...
Hence the Houthies fight like lions for their land...These are of the kind who never migrate, whatever the hardships the country could be passing through...
Posted by: Sasha | Aug 18 2019 14:08 utc | 98
@ Sasha who wrote in response to C I eh
"
I am finding as well extremely rare that you are not debunked in this by anybody here, except by a succint and subtly comment by woman so suspiciously nick named Jezabeel...so as to show that you are somehow opposed by Zionists...Rare....When your arguments beneffit Israel all the way, as well as the US...
"
I will write for myself and say that b has written time and time again not to feed the trolls because it makes his management job harder and so between that and not wanting to clutter up the comment thread with pissing matches, I try to just beat out my one note Samba of private/public finance, provide links to interesting developments and write supportive responses to folks like you....thanks for your contributions which I always read
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 18 2019 14:09 utc | 99
"Israel and Turkey will have to take that into consideration. U.S. bases along the Persian Gulf and in Afghanistan must likewise watch out. Iran has not only ballistic missiles to attack those bases but also drones against which U.S. missile and air defense systems are more or less useless."
Except the drones pictured ain't stealthy, so yeah the US and Israel, and Turkey, can track them and shoot them down.
The reason the Saudis couldn't: Incompetence. Does anyone really think that the Saudis know how to operate US supplied radar systems well?
Now correct, Iran may very well have stealthier drones based on US tech, but they look a lot different. And I more than suspect Iran is not sharing them.
Posted by: Jay | Aug 18 2019 14:13 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
There is a lesson to learn from that. But it is doubtful that the borg in Washington DC has the ability to understand it.
The outcome was a forgone conclusion. The smash, destroy, and destabilize campaign in the region could have only come from the most powerful lobby in the US. We all know who that is.
Posted by: dltravers | Aug 17 2019 20:23 utc | 1