Re: Yemen Shia-Sunni Clashes
Yemen: The Big Picture
As usual, western media are deliberately confusing in communicating on the latest Mid-East conflict which eventually led to the recent atrocious bombing of Yemen by the US-directed Saudi alliance, including Qatar and other Gulf monarchies. They are proxies, to be sure, for their Washington masters. My heart is bleeding for Yemen, a country of warm and generous people I got to know well, working with them in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Yemen is a patchwork of tribes, the result of former colonies, therefore made vulnerable for conflicts; easily ignitable conflicts.
A situation left behind on purpose by the old British colonial masters, today servants to the Washington Empire. That's the name of the game throughout the Middle East – and eventually throughout the world. Divide and rule, by Zionist-Anglo-Saxon organized and never-ending chaos.
It is certainly true, where ever the US and its NATO cronies put their heavy boots, they create lasting misery and chaos. But these never-ending implanted internal conflicts and civil wars in far-away countries are produced by design, not to end soon. They are multi-benefit endeavors, lubricating the US war machine, assuring the 'need' for US intervention and occupation, and they are paving the way for US/western transnational corporations' unabated and merciless exploitation of the victims' riches, looting their natural resources and enslaving their people. The globalized warriors, the emperor's proxy armies, NATO and NATO-CIA trained mercenaries encounter little resistance from the population. People oppressed by civil strife have no time and energy to defend their rights, resources and country. They must fight for their sheer survival.
The current conflicts and proxy-wars in the Middle East are complex and complicated. My gut feeling, though, tells me that the wars are not really about sectarian conflicts; they are not about Shias battling Sunnis. They are part of a bigger picture, driven by Washington to achieve its final objective, worldwide hegemony, Full Spectrum Dominance. The emperor's clients, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf States, kingdoms of tyranny, and more surprisingly, the European Union, they have all become henchmen for empire, following Washington's marching orders.
The recent brutal attack on Yemen is US-supported and led by Saudi Wahhabis, an aggressive fundamentalist off-shoot of Sunni Islam. Fighting a proxy war against the Shia Muslims in Iran and the Yemeni Houthis, a secular off-spring of Shia Islam, as well as Syria with its ruling Ba'ath party (a socialist faction of Sunnis) – is a win-win, serving the big trans-Atlantic master, as well as Riyadh's key objectives – regime change in Syria and annihilating Iran.
Yemen's Houthis, a Zaydi sect of Shia Muslims, congregated themselves in the early 1990s as a secular progressive group of "Young Believers". As crusaders for peace they helped poor communities and organized youth camps in the northern Saada province. With President Ali Abdullah Saleh's Government becoming increasingly repressive against any movement with a socialist connotation, the Houtis grew rapidly into an army of young men, soon becoming a dominating force in the North. They were seeking democracy, openly opposing the US-Saudi supported dictator, who was kept in power by Washington since 1978. The Houthis organized a first uprising against the Saleh Government in 2004, but were defeated by Saleh's brutal army with heavy backing by the Saudi tyrants.
Under continuous popular (and Houthi) pressure and with Washington's nod, Saleh finally stepped down in February 2012, ceding power to his Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The Houthis, by now a large constituency of left leaning Shias, wanted a more egalitarian representation in Parliament. They attracted small parties and like-minded Muslim splinter groups to form a coalition. Among them was the new "Arab Spring" party, led by a woman and with an anti-capitalist discourse. They emerged from the mass movement against President Saleh in 2011. The Houtis eventually succeeded in taking control by storming government buildings and Parliament in January 2015. Hadi resigned, fled to his native Aden and eventually received safe conduct to the monarchy of Saudi Arabia.
The Houtis hastily formed a five-member transition government and intended to write a new Constitution with democratic principles. However after the Washington-backed Saudi airstrikes on 25 March 2015, the leadership of Yemen is in a state uncertainty. The last thing Washington wants in the strategic southern tip of the Arab Peninsula is a socialist government.
ISIS and al-Qaeda are both involved in the Yemen conflict. They represent the epitome of western created terror armies. They continue to be supported as well as fought by Washington and its western stooges. They are bombed by NATO and its Middle Eastern allies in disguise for western propaganda. In reality they receive weapons and food deliveries from NATO and other western powers and are leading proxy wars for Washington – in Iraq, Syria – and, yes, in Yemen. ISIS helps keeping the US/NATO killing and cash machine alive and well.
With some notable exceptions, the so-called Arab Spring is basically a CIA/Mossad driven destabilizing force throughout the Middle East and North Africa with the objective of establishing neo-colonial rulers, similar to those western instigated, US / NATO led 'color revolutions' in the former Soviet Republics. Some exceptions include the West Sahara, Bahrain and even Egypt, where at one point genuine socialist movements infiltrated the US/Mossad sponsored rebellions. The new Yemeni Arab Spring party also appears to belong to the exceptions.
These newly flaring-up conflicts in the Middle East, and now especially the systematic destruction and partition of Yemen, is part of a bigger picture: a strategic move subjugating the Middle East by organized chaos. Domination of Yemen is an important step on the Zionist-Anglo-Saxon Empire's path towards world hegemony. Yemen at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia, at the Horn of Africa, already subdued to empire's bidding, are among the most strategic spots for controlling the entire Middle East and Gulf States. They constitute direct links to the US and French military bases in Djibouti and to Diego Garcia, the British island in the Indian Ocean, leased to the US military in the 1960's – which today hosts the largest US naval base outside the US mainland. Through this geographic triangle Washington and NATO are effectively controlling the entire Indian Ocean.
Yemen, like Ukraine, is just another square on the geopolitical chess board which the exceptional nation aims to dominate. However, revolutions and social upheavals from all corners of the globe are gradually encroaching on empire's hegemony. Moreover, the looming economic power shift to the East will be the final blow on the way to Washington's demise.
Appeared at Information Clearing House.
Peter Koenig is an economist and former World Bank staff. He worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. Read other articles by Peter.
Yemen: The Big Picture | Dissident Voice
