Brutally bombing Yemen is helping “accomplish significant progress,” according to Secretary Kerry.
“War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength” was the slogan of the totalitarian government in George Orwell’s canonical novel “1984.” We can now add another phrase to the dystopian motto: “Brutally bombing poor countries is helping ‘accomplish significant progress.'”
Secretary of State John Kerry visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today to meet with Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The UAE — a close Western ally with some of the world’s largest oil reserves — is a federation of seven absolute monarchies which base their laws on an extreme interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law). Although it tries to present itself as practicing a semblance of democracy, the roles of the UAE’s president and prime minister are effectively hereditary in nature, passed down to the emirs of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The New York Times has described the UAE as “an autocracy with the sheen of a progressive, modern state.”
In his trip Monday morning, Kerry applauded the monarchic, theocratic state for its work in the region.
“We respect what United Arab Emirates has been able to do to be able to accomplish significant progress in Yemen,” Kerry said.
What exactly does Kerry mean by “significant progress”? He means the UAE has helped wage a destructive war on Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East.
For the past seven months, Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of Middle Eastern countries — armed by Western allies, primarily the U.S. — that is raining bombs down upon Yemen. The Western-backed coalition, which seeks to reinstate President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, is fighting Houthi rebels, who have received some weapons and support from Iran, and fighters loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Hadi characterizes the Houthi rebels as puppets of Iran; the rebels, in turn, call Hadi the puppet of Saudi Arabia and the U.S. As president, Hadi approved and praised the U.S. drone war in Yemen, which has killed a large number of civilians, terrorizing and sometimes even radicalizing the population. The U.N. says American drones havekilled more civilians than al-Qaeda militants, and many scholars, intelligence officials, and journalists have argued that the drone war in Yemen and elsewhere has onlymade violent extremism worse.
Although the coalition is led by Saudi Arabia, the UAE has played an important role. From the time the war began on March 26, the coalition has carried out regular airstrikes on targets in Yemen. In August, UAE troops escalated the conflict by essentially invading Yemen. Scores of Emirati soldiers have died in the on-the-ground fighting.
The U.S. media has been very quiet about the war overall, and American politicians have been even quieter. Yet the conflict has been catastrophic.
“We understand completely and support the reasons that Saudi Arabia and the UAE felt compelled to take acts of self-defense and to protect the security of this region,” Kerry said. But is the UAE acting in self-defense?
No comments:
Post a Comment