Yemen was one of many nations that threw off oppressive governments during the Arab Spring of 2011. The slim sunni muslim majority (55% of the population) took over from the previous regime, but the shia minority (45%) have seized the opportunity to seek independence against a weak government. Predictably, Saudi Arabia (a/k/a Saudi Barbaria) backed the sunni regime and Iran backs the shia minority. With the aid of military weapons sold by the US, UK and France, the Saudis have engaged in a protracted war of genocide, supporting the sunni majority in Yemen’s civil war. As always, those who support one type of foreign meddling (i.e. US backing of SA’s actions) hypocritically oppose other countries’ meddling in the same situation (i.e. the US opposes Iran’s involvement).
Yemen’s Houthi (shia) rebels have struck a massive blow, crippling Saudi Arabia’s oil production. The effects will be immediate and worldwide, emphasis mine:
Attacks on Saudi oil facilities knock out half the kingdom’s supply
(Reuters) – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said it attacked two plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry on Saturday, knocking out more than half the Kingdom’s output, in a move expected to send oil prices soaring and increase tensions in the Middle East.
The attacks will cut the kingdom’s output by 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd), according to a statement from state-run oil company Saudi Aramco, or more than 5% of global oil supply.
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While the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put the blame squarely on Iran, writing on Twitter that there was “no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”
Yes, of course we believe you, Mike Pompous. And the US’s intentional drone strikes on Yemeni civilians is “not terrorism”.
How will the world react to the Houthi’s successful strike? My suspicion is oil-addicted countries will behave the same way they did about Somalia: focusing on the “pirates” and ignoring the crimes perpetrated by other nations (e.g. fishing illegally and dumping garbage in Somalia’s waters).
How Somalia’s Fishermen Became Pirates
The waters they [Somali fisherman] sought to protect, says Lehr, were “an El Dorado for fishing fleets of many nations.” A 2006 study published in the journal Sciencepredicted that the current rate of commercial fishing would virtually empty the world’s oceanic stocks by 2050. Yet, Somalia’s seas still offer a particularly fertile patch for tuna, sardines and mackerel, and other lucrative species of seafood, including lobsters and sharks.
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Beyond illegal fishing, foreign ships have also long been accused by local fishermen of dumping toxic and nuclear waste off Somalia’s shores. A 2005 United Nations Environmental Program report cited uranium radioactive and other hazardous deposits leading to a rash of respiratory ailments and skin diseases breaking out in villages along the Somali coast. According to the U.N., at the time of the report, it cost $2.50 per ton for a European company to dump these types of materials off the Horn of Africa, as opposed to $250 per ton to dispose of them cleanly in Europe.
Yemen’s bombing of Saudi oil production is a tactic that any other nation would engage in during war or terrorism against another country (e.g. cutting off Nazi Germany’s access to oil during World War II). The goal is to make life difficult for civilians, to waste resources on rebuilding infrastructure. When the US blew up the Al-Shifa factory in Sudan in 1998, they knew it was producing medicines, not chemical weapons. The world’s demand for cheap oil may lead unscrupulous nations to rationalize further support of the Saudi genocide of Yemenis. If the war criminals in Washington get their way, it will be an excuse for an invasion of Iran.