2017 and 2018 have provided some surprising missed opportunities for peace in Yemen. First there was former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s botched outreach to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in an attempt to foment a Sana’a lead peace process. This ultimately led to Saleh’s assassination at the hands of his Houthi partners who felt betrayed by…
Last week, after Israel reportedly shot down an Iranian drone and Prime Minister Netanyahu proudly displayed a hunk of twisted metal as a war trophy, Americans were treated to fresh calls for regime change from some prominent neoconservatives. Granted, Iran is no friend to the U.S. and might even qualify as a modest adversary. Its…
On 22 January, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen unveiled a new plan to deliver “unprecedented relief to the people of Yemen”. The Yemen Comprehensive Humanitarian Operations (YCHO) is a new “aid” programme with the ostensible aim of “addressing immediate aid shortfalls while simultaneously building capacity for long-term improvement of humanitarian aid and commercial goods imports…
The Russian veto in the United Nations Security Council on Monday to block a Western-backed resolution to condemn Iran for its alleged violations of international sanctions and its fueling of the conflict in Yemen was a landmark event. This is the first time Russia has shot down a US-led move in the Security Council regarding…
The Saudi military and state bureaucracy needs more than a shakeup. On 26 February King Salman issued a royal decree according to which several army generals, civil servants, royal court advisors, mayors, and local governors were either sacked, promoted or replaced by others. Such reshuffles are not unusual but the timing is questionable. Feel-good factor…
The deluge of recent reporting regarding possible conflict with nuclear armed North Korea has somewhat obscured consideration of the much higher probability that Israel or even Saudi Arabia will take steps that will lead to a war with Iran that will inevitably draw the United States in. Israel is particularly inclined to move aggressively, with…
