12-18-2018, 11:40 PM
*** 19-Dec-18 World View -- Ceasefire in Hodeidah seaport in Yemen war holds on the first day
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Ceasefire in Hodeidah seaport in Yemen war holds on the first day
****
![[Image: g181218b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g181218b.jpg)
Fishermen in the the seaport of Hodeidah on September 29 (AP)
Much to the surprise of many people, including me, both sides in the
Yemen war agreed to a ceasefire to begin on Tuesday, December 18, and
after one day it seems to be holding.
This follows months of heavy fighting in Yemen's seaport city of
Hodeidah, in the proxy war between Yemen's official
internationally-recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia and
United Arab Emirates (UAE) versus the Houthi rebels, backed by Iran.
The ceasefire agreement was reached last week at UN-brokered talks in
Stockhold, Sweden.
The war began in 2015, when Houthi rebels from northwest Yemen took
control of the capital city Sanaa, and seized the international
airport. In response, warplanes from a mostly Arab coalition led by
Saudi Arabia bombed Houthi rebel targets.
The war escalated substantially in November of last year, when the
Houthis launched a ballistic missile, undoubtedly supplied by Iran,
that reached the King Khalid International Airport near Riyadh, about
800 km from the Yemen border. The Saudis reacted with its own
escalation, a blockade of all of Yemen's land, sea and air ports.
The Houthis increased their missile attacks on Saudi cities, and then
in June of this year, Saudi Arabia and UAE launched a 'catastrophic' assault on Port Hodeidah in Yemen.
The objective was to cut off supplies of Iranian weapons to
the Houthis, as well as a source of income.
The Hodeidah deep sea port on the Red Sea has become a crucial asset
to the Houthi's war effort. NGOs use the port to import badly need
humanitarian aid, including food, water and medicines, for 8 million
Yeminis. The Houthis control these imports, and charge duties that
fund their war efforts. Furthermore, the Houthis use the port to
import Iranian weapons for the war effort.
The blockade of the seaport may have been effective in preventing
money and supplies from reaching the Houthis, but it also created the
worst humanitarian disaster in the world today, since food, water and
medicines could no longer reach Yemen civilians.
Tuesday's ceasefire is not a peace deal. It's a temporary ceasefire
that both sides have agreed to so that humanitarian aid -- food, water
and medicines -- could be imported into Yemen to alleviate the
humanitarian disaster. There are international efforts to extend the
ceasefire into a complete peace deal but, assuming that can't be done,
the ceasefire may end as quickly as it started. PBS and Sky News and National Interest
****
**** The Jamal Khashoggi murder continues to affect the Yemen war
****
Every we read about slaughter, torture, rapes, jailings and atrocities
being perpetrated in many countries around the world, so it's still
startling to see how the murder of one man on October 2, Saudi
national Jamal Khashoggi, in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, is
even still remembered today, over two months since it happened.
If Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had simply
hired a pait hit man to shoot him dead in the street outside the
embassy, it would have been an ordinary murder of the kind that
leaders like MBS, Erdogan and others regularly order. Instead, MBS
apparently arranged for something out of a horror movie -- kill him,
dismember him, dissolve the pieces in acid, ship what's left out of
the country -- and if I didn't know that atrocities like that are
common these days, I would think it was impossible. But it is
possible, it happened, and that's why so much of the world has turned
against MBS.
There are two reasons why both sides in the Yemen war agreed to the
ceasefire deal.
First is the humanitarian situation. We're used to wars where the
atrocities have become unbelievably bad, and nobody cares. But in the
case of Yemen, it seems that people on both sides do care -- enough to
permit a few days of ceasefire and opening of the Hodeidah port to
relieve at least some of the suffering.
Also, I can't prove this, but reading and listening to news reports
has given me the impression that the two sides fighting the Yemen war
do not have the same level of vitriolic hatred for one another as,
say, the two sides in the Syrian war. I read and hear lots of news
reports about battles and wars in lots of countries, and there's no
question that this war has been extremely bloody, but there seems to
be something lacking in the level of vitriolic hatred. As I said,
this is a feeling, and I can't prove it.
The second reason is that the Khashoggi murder has motivated the
Senate in Washington to pass a resolution directing president Trump to
end American support for the Saudis in Yemen. The measure is purely
symbolic, since it would be vetoed, but the fact that the Senate
passed it has put pressure on MBS to agree to a ceasefire.
The US has a long-standing relationship with Saudi Arabia, dating back
to the 1930s, where the US is committed to provide security while the
Saudis are committed to providing oil. The relationship has lasted
through many crises and, in the end, no one in Washington wants this
to be the crisis that ends it. AP and Washington Post and Axios
Related Articles:
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Yemen, Hodeidah, Saudi Arabia,
United Arab Emirates, UAE, Iran, Houthis,
Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jamal Khashoggi,
Mohammed bin Salman, MBS
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Ceasefire in Hodeidah seaport in Yemen war holds on the first day
- The Jamal Khashoggi murder continues to affect the Yemen war
****
**** Ceasefire in Hodeidah seaport in Yemen war holds on the first day
****
Fishermen in the the seaport of Hodeidah on September 29 (AP)
Much to the surprise of many people, including me, both sides in the
Yemen war agreed to a ceasefire to begin on Tuesday, December 18, and
after one day it seems to be holding.
This follows months of heavy fighting in Yemen's seaport city of
Hodeidah, in the proxy war between Yemen's official
internationally-recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia and
United Arab Emirates (UAE) versus the Houthi rebels, backed by Iran.
The ceasefire agreement was reached last week at UN-brokered talks in
Stockhold, Sweden.
The war began in 2015, when Houthi rebels from northwest Yemen took
control of the capital city Sanaa, and seized the international
airport. In response, warplanes from a mostly Arab coalition led by
Saudi Arabia bombed Houthi rebel targets.
The war escalated substantially in November of last year, when the
Houthis launched a ballistic missile, undoubtedly supplied by Iran,
that reached the King Khalid International Airport near Riyadh, about
800 km from the Yemen border. The Saudis reacted with its own
escalation, a blockade of all of Yemen's land, sea and air ports.
The Houthis increased their missile attacks on Saudi cities, and then
in June of this year, Saudi Arabia and UAE launched a 'catastrophic' assault on Port Hodeidah in Yemen.
The objective was to cut off supplies of Iranian weapons to
the Houthis, as well as a source of income.
The Hodeidah deep sea port on the Red Sea has become a crucial asset
to the Houthi's war effort. NGOs use the port to import badly need
humanitarian aid, including food, water and medicines, for 8 million
Yeminis. The Houthis control these imports, and charge duties that
fund their war efforts. Furthermore, the Houthis use the port to
import Iranian weapons for the war effort.
The blockade of the seaport may have been effective in preventing
money and supplies from reaching the Houthis, but it also created the
worst humanitarian disaster in the world today, since food, water and
medicines could no longer reach Yemen civilians.
Tuesday's ceasefire is not a peace deal. It's a temporary ceasefire
that both sides have agreed to so that humanitarian aid -- food, water
and medicines -- could be imported into Yemen to alleviate the
humanitarian disaster. There are international efforts to extend the
ceasefire into a complete peace deal but, assuming that can't be done,
the ceasefire may end as quickly as it started. PBS and Sky News and National Interest
****
**** The Jamal Khashoggi murder continues to affect the Yemen war
****
Every we read about slaughter, torture, rapes, jailings and atrocities
being perpetrated in many countries around the world, so it's still
startling to see how the murder of one man on October 2, Saudi
national Jamal Khashoggi, in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, is
even still remembered today, over two months since it happened.
If Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had simply
hired a pait hit man to shoot him dead in the street outside the
embassy, it would have been an ordinary murder of the kind that
leaders like MBS, Erdogan and others regularly order. Instead, MBS
apparently arranged for something out of a horror movie -- kill him,
dismember him, dissolve the pieces in acid, ship what's left out of
the country -- and if I didn't know that atrocities like that are
common these days, I would think it was impossible. But it is
possible, it happened, and that's why so much of the world has turned
against MBS.
There are two reasons why both sides in the Yemen war agreed to the
ceasefire deal.
First is the humanitarian situation. We're used to wars where the
atrocities have become unbelievably bad, and nobody cares. But in the
case of Yemen, it seems that people on both sides do care -- enough to
permit a few days of ceasefire and opening of the Hodeidah port to
relieve at least some of the suffering.
Also, I can't prove this, but reading and listening to news reports
has given me the impression that the two sides fighting the Yemen war
do not have the same level of vitriolic hatred for one another as,
say, the two sides in the Syrian war. I read and hear lots of news
reports about battles and wars in lots of countries, and there's no
question that this war has been extremely bloody, but there seems to
be something lacking in the level of vitriolic hatred. As I said,
this is a feeling, and I can't prove it.
The second reason is that the Khashoggi murder has motivated the
Senate in Washington to pass a resolution directing president Trump to
end American support for the Saudis in Yemen. The measure is purely
symbolic, since it would be vetoed, but the fact that the Senate
passed it has put pressure on MBS to agree to a ceasefire.
The US has a long-standing relationship with Saudi Arabia, dating back
to the 1930s, where the US is committed to provide security while the
Saudis are committed to providing oil. The relationship has lasted
through many crises and, in the end, no one in Washington wants this
to be the crisis that ends it. AP and Washington Post and Axios
Related Articles:
- The Jamal Khashoggi murder changes the direction of the Yemen war (08-Nov-2018)
- Saudi Arabia and UAE launch a 'catastrophic' assault on Port Hodeidah in Yemen (15-Jun-2018)
- Yemen's Houthi missile attack on Riyadh called a 'dangerous escalation' (06-Nov-2017)
- Saudis target women and children in Yemen to make them 'shiver' for generations (28-Aug-2018)
- Iranian advisors are 'on the ground' with Houthis in Yemen, supplying weapons and intelligence (06-Jan-2018)
- Brief generational history of South Yemen (29-Jan-2018)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Yemen, Hodeidah, Saudi Arabia,
United Arab Emirates, UAE, Iran, Houthis,
Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jamal Khashoggi,
Mohammed bin Salman, MBS
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
