Yemen under Saudi Rule

A short, partial explanation why I am so angry with Saudi Arabia  and with its most important ally, the United States.  Aden was once a jewel of a city, multicultural, civil, egalitarian, where women were free:  no more, no more.   Alas!

REUTERS, 14/06 16:07 CET

Power cuts, violence fuel Yemen separatists’ dreams

By Mohammed Mukhashaf

ADEN (Reuters) – Deprived of sleep by temperatures of over 40 degrees (104 F), Azal Mohammed was among dozens of young men burning tyres last month to protest against persistent power cuts in Aden, a port city that was the capital of South Yemen.

Over the past 14 months, Aden’s one million inhabitants have endured war and gang violence. The collapse of even basic public services has fuelled demands for the restoration of the southern state that merged with northern Yemen in 1990.

“We want the world, our neighbours, to help us win back our old state,” said Azal, a 20-year-old student. “The south joined this union voluntarily and we don’t want to be part of it any more.”

South Yemen, a former British colony and the only Communist Arab state, united with the pro-Western north after a brief 1986 war. The collapse of South Yemen’s financial patron, the Soviet Union, around the same time encouraged the unification process.

It was never a happy marriage: President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s north Yemen dominated from the start and when the south tried to break away four years after unification, Saleh’s army quickly crushed the separatists, cementing Sanaa’s rule and Aden’s decline, feeding southern resentment.

The current southern separatist movement grew out of a 2007 campaign demanding financial benefits for army officers and civil servants. Emboldened by 2011 anti-government Arab Spring protests that had forced Saleh to step down, southern separatists now want full independence.

SEPARATISTS CONTROL

Their demands gained momentum after Iran-allied Houthi forces invaded the capital Sanaa in 2014 and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Aden in February last year.

That precipitated a civil war that has sucked a Saudi-led Arab alliance into the crisis, in which thousands of air strikes had been launched against the Houthis.

The fighting – which has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.5 million – has also allowed al Qaeda to consolidate its presence in the country.

The conflict has hit access to basic supplies like food, fuel and medicine amid the coalition’s near-blockade on ports.

Having played a key role in facing the Houthi offensive on southern Yemen, separatists now control most levers of power in Aden, where Hadi’s government is currently based.

“The current situation shows the failure of the state to make any movement towards providing even basic services,” said Khaled Murshed, a 40 year old employee at a state company.

“This reinforces the demands of regaining the southern state.”

QUEUES AND VIOLENCE

Many Yemenis accuse Hadi and his government, which until this month had operated from Saudi Arabia, of paying only lip service to improving living conditions.

“Aden lives its worst days,” said Azal, while the government of enjoys “air-conditioned accommodation in Saudi Arabia.”

Stung by growing criticism, Hadi’s government rebased to Aden earlier this month promising to get down to business on improving living conditions in the city.

But residents poked fun at the government, after reports that Prime Minister Ahmed bin Daghr protested at a meeting with city officials that the flag of the former South Yemen was flying over state buildings instead of the national colours.

The Yemeni government, which controls only parts of the country outside areas of northern Yemen held by the Houthis and its Saleh ally, acknowledges it has few sources of revenue to bring about major change.

Officials promised some relief following a deal with the United Arab Emirates – a main member of the Saudi-led coalition that has shouldered much reconstruction in Aden – to supply spare parts for the power plants and fuel supplies, according to the state-run Saba news agency.

But residents say Aden still receives about six hours of power every day, with the main power stations in the Khor Maksar and al-Mansoura districts out of service while the third one in al-Hiswah produces a quarter of its original capacity.

The power shortages have hit water supplies, hospitals and factories. Car owners often queue for three or four days to fill up, while bottled gas is so scarce many people use firewood.

Local hospitals say that at least nine elderly patients died in recent weeks due to the power cuts, and hospital managers say more are at risk due to a shortage of oxygen supplies. The only oxygen-producing plant is at a standstill due to lack of fuel.

“People are dying from the lack of electricity,” said Umm Alaa Aleiwah, a mother of 10 children. “You should resign (Hadi) and leave it to others. May the lord of the world grace us with those who can fix the country.”

(Writing by Sami Aboudi, editing by Anna Willard)

UN coerced into removing Saud name from an ignoble list of armies that kill and maim children

Here is one of the reasons why the Saudi link to United States' foreign policy hurts the United States' sanding in the world.

Saudi Arabia is ceaselessly bombing helpless Yemeni.  Bombs crash down in homes, hospitals, schools, places of business until Yemen has almost no economy left and many of its people are starving.

Saudi Arabia is not justified in its destructive campaign. And many of he bombs dropped are made in the United States and  Great Britain.

Both the United States sand Great Britain provide Saudi Arabia with political and diplomatic cover; they get, in return, a reliable supply of oil and the deposit, in their national bank accounts, of lots of money.  In addition, their legislative and executive branches get lots of money as campaign contributions:  1.4 trillion dollars (the estimated net wealth of the Saud royal family) warrant lots of favors in a money-driven world economy.

The UN blacklisted  Saudi Arabia of crimes against the children of  Yemen.  The listing was tentatively withdrawn  within a week.

Respected international organizations, including  Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, and Amnesty International, applauded thee listing; bemoaned he withdrawal.  The world press has covered the UN's withdrawal from a variety of perspectives.  Check out google news, UN chief took Saudis off blacklist... for citations to some of them.

Become amazed at the different ways the same event is reported, dependent on the national interest the news outlet  seems to represent.  Wonder how you can ever get the truth of any matter reported in the press.

And don't sink into hopeless despair.  Remain diligent. Figure it out for yourself.

The Times is cautiously recommended, but not when  Saudi Arabia does something bad.  Saudi Arabia does something bad often.

 New York Times 

MIDDLE EAST
United Nations Chief Exposes Limits to His Authority by Citing Saudi Threat

By SOMINI SENGUPTAJUNE 9, 2016


UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations secretary general is supposed to answer to every nation on earth — and no nation at all.
So the unusually frank admission by the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, on Thursday that he had essentially been coerced into removing a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen from an ignoble list of armies that kill and maim children was a rare window into the limits of his moral and political authority — and an object lesson for whoever succeeds Mr. Ban next year. 

On Thursday, Mr. Ban told reporters that he had been threatened with the loss of financing for humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, South Sudan and Syria if he did not temporarily delete the Saudi-led coalition from the list. 

The coalition has been accused of indiscriminately bombing civilian and nonmilitary targets in its battle against Houthi rebels in Yemen for more than a year. The coalition, which is backed by the United States, has consistently denied the accusations. 

Mr. Ban’s office issued a report last week on violations of children’s rights in war zones, and it cited deadly coalition attacks that had hit schools and hospitals. By Monday, however, the coalition was taken off the list, after lobbying by Saudi Arabia and some of its wealthiest allies who help finance United Nations humanitarian operations.
Mr. Ban offered his explanation Thursday, saying, “I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund many U.N. programs.”

By the standards of mild-mannered diplomat-speak, he went on to issue an uncustomarily direct rebuke. “It is unacceptable for member states to exert undue pressure,” he said. The Saudi ambassador promptly asserted that there had been no undue pressure. 

Mr. Ban is wrapping up his 10-year tenure, and world powers are beginning to bargain over who his successor will be and just how independent she or he ought to be. 

Secretaries general have frequently faced intense political pressure from countries large and small, and Mr. Ban’s time in charge has been punctuated with a number of awkward compromises.
Last summer, Mr. Ban reversed course on his list of armies and guerrilla groups that violated child rights in war. In that instance, his special representative for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, recommended that the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas be included on the list for their role in bombing schools and hospitals and otherwise breaking international law during the 50-day war in the Gaza Strip in 2014.
Israel was consulted before the release of the report, Mr. Ban’s aides said at the time, and both Israeli and American diplomats lobbied intensely against the listing. In the end, both Israel and Hamas were kept off the list. Mr. Ban declined to address reporters’ questions on the matter at the time, leaving it to his envoy, Ms. Zerrougui, to explain the redaction. 

The generally risk-averse Mr. Ban has tried to step out a bit more during his last year, but he has also repeatedly had to step back. 

In March, on a rare visit to a camp that houses refugees from Western Sahara, Mr. Ban used the term “occupation” to refer to Morocco’s 1975 annexation of territory that the Sahrawis claim as theirs. The Moroccan government responded by ejecting dozens of United Nations staff members, effectively kneecapping the peacekeeping mission there. 

Morocco has a powerful ally in France, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, which helps explain why the Security Council said nothing to persuade Morocco to reverse its decision. That left Mr. Ban on his own, and within days, his spokesman was compelled to swallow his words. 

“We regret the misunderstandings and consequences that this personal expression of solicitude provoked,” said the spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric. 

Perhaps Mr. Ban’s most awkward moment came when he sought to act independently of the United States. In January 2014, he invited Iran to United Nations-brokered political negotiations over Syria, only to be advised by American officials to rescind the invitation, according to interviews with diplomats at the time. 

A day after he publicly announced the invitation, he appeared before reporters and said Iran could not attend. The State Department made its opposition clear, and demanded that Iran first accept certain conditions that it knew Tehran would find unacceptable. One of Mr. Ban’s aides said he felt betrayed. 

Asked at a news briefing on Thursday about Mr. Ban’s admission of Saudi pressure, a State Department spokesman, Mark C. Toner, said, “We agree with the secretary general that the U.N. should be permitted to carry out its mandate, carry out its responsibilities, without fear of money being cut off.” 

Pressed about American threats to cut off funding, Mr. Toner said, “I’m aware of our own track record.” 

Eleven people have so far declared their candidacy to succeed Mr. Ban when his term expires at the end of this year. A few others are expected to throw their names into the race in the next few weeks. 

The president of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, who has held the first-ever public hearings for the candidates, has used the terms “independent” and “courageous” to describe his ideal future secretary general.
That may be unrealistic. It is really up to the five permanent members of the Security Council to choose the next head of the organization, and while many of them have said they want a strong secretary general, they have also avoided calling for one who is independent. 

As for the Saudi-led coalition, Mr. Ban said he would jointly review the claims made by his special representative, who accused the coalition of indiscriminate attacks against children. Privately, diplomats say such a review could drag on until it vanishes from public memory.

Saudi Arabia flatly denied that it had exerted any pressure. “No, of course not,” the ambassador, Abdullah al-Mouallami, said in a telephone interview. “It is not our style. It is not our culture. It is not our spirit to use threats or intimidation.”
He did say that he had met with Mr. Ban’s deputy, Jan Eliasson, a Swedish diplomat, on Monday and expressed his concerns about the listing. He said he told him that “it would have an adverse impact on relations between Saudi Arabia and the United Nations.” 

Rick Gladstone contributed reporting.

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Four images from google images, from Yemen, posted this last week:

The West should increase support for democratic Kurds; reduce support for increasingl anti-democratic Erdoğan

A tempest, but not in a teapot.  

United States troops know who are on their side.  Good for the troops on the line!  Too bad the Pentagon yields to Erdoğan’s censorship and not surprising that it does.

Some day soon the United States and the European Union have to accept that Erdoğan’s Turkey has become an anti-Western dictatorship unworthy of Western military support.  

And I admit as strong preference for the egalitarian, religiously-inclusive, democratic, feminist Syrian Kurds,who live much more in line with Western cultural values than Turkey has at present, an deserving of more than United States' support.  Where is the European Union’s support for the Kurds?  

My guess: surely the European Union is mired in the refugee crisis and genuinely requires help from Turkey.  The refugee crisis is real; still — a gesture of support for Syrian Kurds will not spell doom: Erdoğan will fume, and without the West, Erdoğan and Turkey are surely isolated except for support from lonely, autocratic Bibi, a weak reed indeed.

Thanks, Kristina, for alerting me to this story.

Turkish President condemns US commandos photographed sporting Kurdish militia insignia

Posted Sat at 9:08am

PHOTO: A man identified as US special forces, at right, sports the insignia of YPG. (AFP: Delil Souleiman)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the United States' support of Kurdish fighters in Syria after a photographer revealed US commandos wearing the insignia of a militia branded a terror group by Ankara.

"The support they give to ... the YPG (militia) ... I condemn it," Mr Erdogan said. "Those who are our friends, who are with us in NATO ... cannot, must not send their soldiers to Syria wearing YPG insignia."

Mr Erdogan's comments came after an AFP news agency photographer captured images of US troops in Syria wearing the insignia of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

Ankara regards the YPG as a terror group, accusing it of carrying out attacks inside Turkey and being the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for over three decades.

The United States does not consider the YPG to be a terrorist group.

"The PKK, the PYD, the YPG, Daesh (Islamic State group), there is no difference. They are all terrorists," Mr Erdogan said.

Who are the Kurds?

Who are the Kurds? Why are they fighting Islamic State? Why is Turkey fighting them? And what do they want?

It had long been public knowledge that around 200 US commandos are in northern Syria helping local militia target the IS extremists' de facto capital Raqqa and guiding coalition air strikes.

Mr Erdogan, speaking in the majority Kurdish city Diyarbakir, accused the US of being dishonest because of its support for the militia and its political wing the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

"I believe that politics should be exercised with honesty," he said.

The US, seeking to avoid a rift with ally Turkey, swiftly announced on Friday that special operations troops in northern Syria would henceforth stop wearing the badge of the YPG guerrillas.

PHOTO: YPG fighters take up positions inside a damaged building in Syria as they monitor the movements of Islamic State fighters.(Reuters: Rodi Said)

"We understand Turkey's concerns, and let me make that clear," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner, "And we continue to discuss this as well as other concerns that Turkey has regarding Islamic State."

Asked at a briefing on Thursday if it was appropriate to wear such insignia, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook declined to comment on the photographs.

Has the Kurdish moment arrived?

The main forces on the ground facing IS are the Kurds, who after years of marginalisation have emerged as a key political and military force. Annabelle Quince reports.

But he said that when special forces operate in some areas they do what they can to blend in with the community to enhance their own security.

The State Department insisted that Washington and Ankara remain close partners in the broader fight against IS, despite disagreements about the role of the YPG.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the US of "hypocrisy" and "double standards" and said the American soldiers might just as well have worn the logo of Al Qaeda, IS or Boko Haram.

The US has blacklisted the PKK as a "foreign terrorist organisation" but regarded its Syrian-based sister group PYD as a useful ally in the face of the IS threat.

The YPG provides the bulk of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces fighting the IS group.

AFP/Reuters