Thursday, April 9, 2020

Something Good From The Pandemic? Maybe A Cease Fire In Yemen

Yes, in the midst of deaths and deep recession there may be someting good that may come from this pandemic.  Saudi Arabia's leaders have announced a cease fire in Yemen after five years of war, one also accepted by its ally, the recognized government there.  Unfortunately so far the Houthi enemies of the Saudis and the recognized government have not so far accepted this proposed cease fire, and in fact it is not the first time the Saudis have called for one, with the previous efforts having failed.

However, this time maybe it will stick.  So far there are no officially recognized cases of covid-19 in Yemen.  But tens of thousands of Yemenis are returning home from KSA, thrown out as low oil prices have strained the Saudi economy, with the numerous Yemeni guest workers taking the hit, Yemenis being the only non-Saudis allowed to come and go without getting visas, so easy come and easy go.  In KSA there are now over 3,000 recognized cases while in Yemen more than half the health infrastructure has been destroyed by the Saudis in the war.  Yemen is facing a potentially disastrous situation.

A further aspect of this on the Saudi side is that 150 members of the Saudi royal family have apparently become infected.  Most of these are in the lesser branches, with the family now ridiculously large at about 15,000, of whom about 2,000 are "core."  But in fact some serious "senior" members have fallen ill, with perhaps the most prominent (and seriously ill) is the powerful governor of Riyadh province, which contains the capital city, Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, a nephew of King Salman, who is reportedly hiding on an island in the Red Sea, with de factoo ruler Crown Prince MbS also in seclusion somewhere.  This seems to have spooked the Saudi leadership so that even if the Houthis do not like what is being offered, the Saudis may simply stand down.

The virus may be bringing about peace in a long-suffering nation. Let us hope so.

Barkley Rosser

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A fine writing.

What bothers me however extends from the concern Barkley Rosser has expressed about American sanctions policy towards Iran through this epidemic period. American political leadership has shown shockingly little concern for the ravages of the epidemic in country after country, from Iran to Cuba to Italy to France... We are just not supporting international efforts against this medical-economic crisis, even going so far as to vilify the World Health Organization at this crucial period.

I accidently noticed this terrifying headline, but will not link since I am too appalled:

"WHO head cries racism to cover for his enabling of China's lies about coronavirus"

New York Post

Anonymous said...

Also, what always needs to be pointed out is that the United States and Britain have been supporting the intolerable war on Yemen by Saudi Arabia from the beginning. The US and Britain could have stopped the brutal Saudi warring at any time.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of Marvin Gaye singing:

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, eh eh
Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today