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Page added on June 1, 2015
Arab air strikes pound Yemen
Efforts to coax Yemen’s warring factions into talks have made some progress, officials said on Monday, as warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition mounted more air strikes on the country’s dominant Houthi militia.
An Arab alliance has been bombing the Houthis since March 26 in a bid to restore exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. The Sunni Muslim states regard the Houthis as a threat to the stability of Yemen, which flanks the world’s top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.
Political sources in Oman confirmed on Monday that diplomats were brokering talks between U.S. and Houthi envoys in the capital Muscat aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to a conflict that has killed over 2,000 people since March.
Oman added on Monday that it had located two missing foreign citizens – an American and a Singaporean — in Yemen who were reported in Arab media on Sunday as being held by Houthis, and evacuated them to Muscat after coordination with “the relevant authorities in Yemen”, the state news agency said.
Three more U.S. citizens, two of Yemeni and one of Somali origin, are in Houthi custody, said an official in Sanaa, now controlled by the Houthis and allies of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Independent politicians in Sanaa said the new diplomacy had succeeded in narrowing gaps between the Houthis and the exiled government to pave the way for eventual United Nations-backed negotiations in Geneva.
“There’s progress in the talks toward an agreement on a long truce and reviving political dialogue,” one politician told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Oman is the only member of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council not taking part in the military campaign in Yemen, and has a record as a peacemaker in the strife-torn region.
The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has also achieved headway towards convening talks in Geneva, Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said.
He said progress was made on “the date, agenda and framework for the Geneva talks and the parties that attend the meeting” and that a formal announcement was expected within hours.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks with Yemeni President Hadi, his deputy, Vice President Khaled Bahah, and other political figures. Before that, he held discussions with Houthi leaders in Sanaa.
Previous plans for talks in Switzerland were postponed due to objections by the Riyadh-based Yemeni government, which wants the Houthis to quit Yemen’s main cities and recognize Hadi’s authority before speaking to them.
The United States, the main ally of Saudi Arabia, has provided the kingdom with weapons and intelligence during its war against the Houthis.
The Houthis want a ceasefire as a precondition for talks, and the Yemeni politicians say the U.N. envoy has made progress toward an agreement on a five-week ceasefire and the release by the Houthis of several detained pro-Hadi figures — including the defense minister and the president’s brother.
UNRELENTING AIR RAIDS
Saudi planes and artillery on Monday bombed the Houthis’ northern stronghold province of Saada, bordering the kingdom.
The Houthis, who swept into Sanaa in September and fanned out across the country, say they are winning a revolution against corrupt officials and hardline Sunni militants.
Air strikes hit military positions aligned with the Houthis in Sanaa on Sunday, and residents reported the sounds of explosions and anti-aircraft fire continuing into Monday.
Warplanes also dropped bombs on Houthi fighters on the outskirts of the southern port city of Aden, a bastion of support for Hadi where there has been heavy ground fighting.
A near-blockade of Yemeni skies and ports by the Arab coalition has wrought severe shortages of food and fuel for its 25 million people, and aid groups have warned that a prolongation of fighting could deepen the humanitarian crisis.
Famine Early Warning Systems, a monitoring group focusing on hunger, said on Monday that food price increases and lack of income could soon push remote areas of the widely impoverished Arabian Peninsula country into emergency.
The Local Rescue Committee, a Yemeni humanitarian group in the southern province of Dhalea, said residents were suffering.
“Food, fuel and electricity are in short supply while sickness is spreading due to poor sanitation and stopped rubbish collection. Meanwhile, Dhalea is cut off by Houthi militias from resupply in every direction,” a committee official said.
26 Comments on "Arab air strikes pound Yemen"
Plantagenet on Mon, 1st Jun 2015 9:00 pm
Obama is backing the Sunnis as they bomb the Shia in Yemen, and he’s backing the Shia as they bomb the Sunnis in Iraq.
Thats not a strategy—thats bumbling foolishness.
GregT on Mon, 1st Jun 2015 9:04 pm
Obama is not a military strategist. Obama is a politician, an actor, and a great orator.
Plantagenet on Mon, 1st Jun 2015 9:33 pm
@gregter
You are right—Obama is not a strategist and he has no strategy. The result is chaos in the middle east and US involvement in a series of nasty but pointless wars.
antaris on Mon, 1st Jun 2015 9:50 pm
Before Obama came along I believe it also would be true to say, their was chaos in the Middle East and US involvement in a series of nasty but pointless wars. When Obama moves along, nothing will change over there, you will just have to blame someone else.
Plantagenet on Mon, 1st Jun 2015 11:24 pm
@antaris
I gather you object to blaming Obama for Obama’s own policy failures.
Why?
antaris on Mon, 1st Jun 2015 11:36 pm
Okay. Let’s blame Obama some, the guys before some and the next guy or gal also. The fact though is that the people over there have been fighting each other forever and will continue to into the future.
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 12:05 am
Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress
Introduction
The Constitution divides the foreign policy powers between the President and Congress but not in a definitive manner. 1 Edward S. Corwin wrote:
What the Constitution does, and all that it does, is to confer on the President certain powers capable of affecting our foreign relations, and certain other powers of the same general kind on the Senate, and still other such powers on Congress; but which of these organs shall have the decisive and final voice in determining the course of the American nation is left for events to resolve. 2
Events have confirmed that together the President and Congress make foreign policy, but they have not resolved the question of which branch originates or finally determines policy. The two branches share in the process and each plays an important but different role. The question of who makes foreign policy does not have a more precise answer for several reasons.
First, U.S. foreign policy is not created in a vacuum as some sort of indivisible whole with a single grand design. Rather, making foreign policy is a prolonged process involving many actors and comprising dozens of individual policies toward different countries, regions, and functional problems.
Second, the complex process of determining foreign policy makes it difficult to decide who should be credited with initiating or altering any particular foreign policy. The two branches constantly interact and influence each other. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to trace an idea back to its origin, determine when a proposal actually influences policy, and decide when a modification creates a new policy. 3
Third, the roles and relative influence of the two branches in making foreign policy differ from time to time according to such factors as the personalities of the President and Members of Congress and the degree of consensus on policy.
This report does not attempt to define how a policy is made within a branch, as this is a complex and varied process and would require a detailed study of each case. Several case studies of this type are indicated in footnotes, and illustrations mentioned in the report highlight some of the many individuals and groups within each branch who contribute to policy formation. Similarly, the report does not examine the influence of groups outside the executive and legislative branches, but the illustrations show that such groups, including the judiciary, interest groups, the press, and the public at large, can sometimes play an important role.
http://fpc.state.gov/6172.htm
Makati1 on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 12:06 am
Fact or fiction?
http://journal-neo.org/2015/06/02/yemen-practical-nuclear-survival/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/possible-tactical-nuclear-strike-neutron-bomb-in-yemen/5452876
And the beat goes on…
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 12:41 am
The book you are about to read is one of the most impor- tant works of Marxian historical sociology on the workings of twentieth-century United States capitalism since James Weinstein’s The Corporate Ideal in the Liberal State appeared in
1968. Its painstakingly researched revelations about how monopoly capitalists in the Council on Foreign Relations carefully and secretively planned the policies of modern-day imperialism and then introduced them into government will come
as a surprise even to those who have followed the ugly manifestations of these policies with great care.
http://goodtimesweb.org/overseas-war/0595324266_ImperialBrain.pdf
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 12:44 am
Just like President George W. Bush’s cabinet, Barack Obama’s cabinet is going to be brimming with politicians affiliated with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg group.
AmericanFreePress is reporting on the extraordinary ties that members of his new cabinet have to these elitist globalist organizations that have dominated American politics for generations now.
The reality is that no President in the past 30 years has picked a cabinet that was not completely dominated by members of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg group.
Of Barack Obama’s 14 top cabinet selections, 9 of them are affiliated with the Bilderberg group, 10 of them are affiliated with the Council on Foreign Relations and 5 of them are affiliated with the Trilateral Commission according to AmericanFreePress.
But the reality is that the majority of the American people do not even know that these globalist organizations exist, or that they work to actively promote the interests of the international bankers who own the privately controlled Federal Reserve.
The American people voted for change, but the incoming government is going to be from the same organizations that the Bush government was from, and the policies that the Obama administration will be implementing will look very much like the policies that were implemented under Bush.
If the American people wanted change then they will be extremely disappointed by the next 4 years.
When will the American people finally wake up?
http://futurestorm.blogspot.ca/2008/12/obamas-cabinet-full-of-cfr-trilateral.html#sthash.D7avy4zl.dpuf
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 12:54 am
Gliding the halls of government and commerce like some ethereal ghosts, a select group of powerful wealthy wield their might through clandestine means; their cabal is often described in obscure terms such as the Invisible Government, the Insiders, the Power Elite, and the Establishment. These men and women would like the misinformed public to believe it’s all a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. Yet could their goals simply be transparent and rudimentary; power, greed, and retaining control of their amassed wealth at all costs? Only the machination that accomplishes these goals appears complex: the interwoven infrastructure, the ability to manipulate, to distort the truth, to polarize groups, always diverting the peoples’ attention from their true nature and identity. This article focuses on three of their primary organizations that develop their cabal and set into motion their objectives: the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergers, and the Trilateral Commission.
COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: The Council on Foreign Relations, from hereon referred to as the CFR, was founded in 1921. It’s architect was Colonel House, the behind-the-scenes power to Woodrow Wilson and representative of the turn-of-the-century American industrialists and bankers, including J.D. Rockefeller, J.P.Morgan, Jacob Schiff, and Paul Warburg.
The late Carroll Quigley, Georgetown University professor and CFR member, stated in his book Tragedy and Hope, “The CFR is the American Branch of a society which originated in England, and which believes that national boundaries should be obliterated, and a one-world rule established”. Simply stated, the goal of the CFR is to influence all aspects of American society in such a subtle, gradual process that one day Americans would wake up and find themselves in the midst of a one-world system.
Indeed, for the past eighty years, the majority of cabinet positions have been held by members of the CFR, as well as past presidents, both Republican and Democrat. Certainly, as a leading CFR and TC member, Kissinger’s own admittance that “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac” and “Middle East oil is too important to be left in the hands of Arabs” add little doubt to this gang’s truer motives.
Members come from predominantly affluent circles and upbringings, as well as from those individuals with a self-serving sense of extreme ambition, elitism, and ultimate disdain for humanity. Its membership represents the interests of a governing American upper social class which owns a disproportionate share of the country’s wealth, contributes a disproportionate number of its members to governmental bodies and decision-making groups, and dominates the policy-making process.
BILDERBERG GROUP: Originally named for the Dutch hotel where the first meeting was held in 1954, the Bilderberg meeting is a private annual gathering for the politically and corporate influential, with revolving representation from the world’s western leaders in global banking, education, politics, business, military, and the media.
Bilderberg Group founder, Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, a protege of the Rothschild family, once said, “It is difficult to re-educate people who have been brought up on nationalism to the idea of relinquishing part of their sovereignty to a supra-national body”.
Many political careers seem to dramatically soar after attending their first Bilderberg meeting, including Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, and Tony Blair. Once the groomed politicians meet the Establishment’s approval as their chosen representatives, the machination is set into motion to convince the various citizenry’s to elect these candidates.
TRILATERAL COMMISION: Founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller, Zbigniew Brzezinski and others to foster cooperation among the big three industrial powers of the U.S., Europe and Japan, utilizing its future influential members to design a multinational consolidation of the four centers of power— political, monetary, intellectual, and ecclesiastical— in the formation of a one-world government.
Overlapping membership frequently occurs within these three organizations, as throughout corporate board rooms, helping to consolidate their interests. Both the Bilderbergers and the Trilateralists insist on anonymity of its attendees, no media coverage, and closed-door meetings. If their discussions are truly for the common good, why not tell the world?
http://www.dcclothesline.com/2013/06/04/the-web-of-power-council-on-foreign-relations-bilderberg-and-trilateral-commission/
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 2:09 am
Thanks for the links Makati1. There were some videos from the Iraqi invasion that showed the same.
BobInget on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 11:02 am
Near as I can tell none of above posters even mentioned the dreaded “OIL” word.
No one commented on the actual article.
Instead, we deny why the US thinks we obliged to support Saudi Arabia’s obvious aggression towards what we believed to be an ineffectual target for Mid East frustration.
Here’s a hint. ‘The Name of this Web Site’.
All but one poster offers our President is to blame for this 600 years old religious conflict.
As a ‘Red Diaper Baby’ I’ve been listening to
radicals bashing reactionaries, each other since 1937. (i was 2) Only now have I begun
to understand ‘pivot’ tactics fully.
KSA has dropped thousands of weapons killing two thousand.
When it dawns on Saudi Royals
bombing Yemen is having zero effect on Iran,
Saudis sue for a ‘cease fire’.
If you ever watched Westerns on TV you know. After loosing 90% of of useful infrastructure, 2,000 citizens, you know
US and Saudi air attacks are not “the cowboy way”.
For Yemenis to be attacked by foreign powers is a camel of a different color.
This cycle of violence is only now beginning to harm perpetrators.
The US and KSA killed 2,000 Yemenis. In that wake we can easily count 10,000 future
so called ‘terrorists’. ie: revenge seekers.
In this the 11th year of the ’30 Years Oil War’
we still haven’t come to terms with Exactly
Why we are supporting Saudi Arabia .
http://autos.jdpower.com/content/blog-post/K6qWKdA/april-2015-auto-sales-climb-5–sales-buoyed-by-suv-demand.htm
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 11:27 am
Before oil Bob. The wars were fought for control by other means, over other resources.
It is the same groups of people today, as it has been for hundreds of years. (before oil)
It is financial control that they want. Complete, global, financial control.
“All Wars are Banker’s Wars”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfEBupAeo4
Plantagenet on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 12:33 pm
Right now its not oil, and its not finances. Right now the 1300-year-old religious war between Sunnis and Shia has broken out again, with Sunnis fighting Shia in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and Sunnis launching terror attacks on Shia in KSA, Pakistan, etc.
Thats why its so stupid for Obama to be fighting on the side of the Shia in Iraq and Syria, and arming and supporting the Sunni in Yemen and Syria (yup, Obama is arming and training sunni fighters to attack the Shia in Syria, while simultaneously bombing other Sunni fighters against the Shia).
Its not a strategy —- its a muddle.
HARM on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 12:38 pm
“Obama is backing the Sunnis as they bomb the Shia in Yemen, and he’s backing the Shia as they bomb the Sunnis in Iraq.
Thats not a strategy—thats bumbling foolishness.”
No, that’s called playing both sides and doing whatever the military-industrial complex wants. Selling arms to both sides of a conflict while raking in the $$$$$ is right out of the corporate oligarch’s playbook. It’s also an old Realpolitik “divide and conquer” strategy beloved by military hard-liners.
Plant, are you at all familiar with history, or just trolling here? American Presidents have been doing this $hit for centuries. Reagan sold arms to the Iranians, while also selling arms and intel to Iraq, which was warring with Iran. We’ve been doing the same thing in Southeast asia, South America, Africa, etc. since forever, and the British did it before us. Nothing new here.
Plantagenet on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 12:43 pm
@HARM
You may be right that Obama is shilling for the defense industry and intentionally supporting both sides in the Sunni-Shia religious war in order to sell more US armaments. He’s just sleazy enough o do that, although IMHO this has happened because of his stupidity and incompetence and is not part of a plan.
Cheers!
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 1:09 pm
Not part of A plan, but part of THE plan that has been in the works since before Obama was even born.
Plantagenet on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 1:22 pm
@gregter
There’s been a secret “plan” since before Obama was born that he is carrying out now?
How mysterious!!!
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 1:37 pm
No secrets planter, all out in the open for anyone that cares to open their eyes.
Speculawyer on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 1:52 pm
“Obama is backing the Sunnis as they bomb the Shia in Yemen, and he’s backing the Shia as they bomb the Sunnis in Iraq.
Thats not a strategy—thats bumbling foolishness.”
That is silly over-simplification. We are not backing Sunni or Shia. We are backing the more legitimate governments of the countries. We back the elected Iraq government in Iraq (and bombing ISIS) and we back the Yemeni government in Yemen (and bombing rebels).
I certainly hope we are not stupid enough to take sides of religious sects.
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 1:56 pm
Who do you believe are ‘WE’ Spec? The people behind this could give a rat’s ass about you. You are a source of income, or cannon fodder if need be. Nothing more.
HARM on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 2:17 pm
@GregT,
There are plenty of spy movies out there that have used the subject as a backdrop, but I thought “The International” was a particularly good one. A work of fiction that artfully illustrates reality.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963178/
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 2:59 pm
@harm,
There are literally thousands of books written on the subject, a large percentage of them written by historians. This really doesn’t help people to understand what is going on however, when people refuse to read them.
Speculawyer on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 3:24 pm
Don’t worry. I’m part of the Illuminati, so I’m in control.
GregT on Tue, 2nd Jun 2015 3:29 pm
Keep telling yourself that Spec, everything will be just fine.