http://middleeastobserver.net/expert-explains-yemens-global-strategic-value-why-us-saudis-want-it/
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtTiaZ73oqU&feature=youtu.be
Description:
An expert on Yemen, Hassan Shaaban, explains the global strategic importance of Yemen and its Bab al-Mandeb waterway, and thus underlines the motives of the American-Saudi military campaign in the impoverished country.
Source: Al-Manar TV via Kalam Siyasi (YouTube Channel)
Date: Oct 25, 2020
Transcript:
Hassan Shaaban, Expert in Yemeni Affairs:
Ever since the bourgeoisie – which originated in Europe right after the fall of the feudal system – decided to colonize the (rest of the) world; extract its wealth; gain control over its (natural) resources; and turn its people into consuming animals; ever since that moment, the Western political psyche, which believes in power-based realism, has come to target every country that stands in its way, and every country that has any degree of influence.
Yemen is situated here, (next to) the Bab al-Mandeb (Strait). (This Strait) is located in a (strategically) vital region. 60% of Europe’s energy supply and one eighth of the global economy flows through (it). Millions of barrels of oil pass through (Bab al-Mandeb) every day.
You are talking about a country that has a grip over (the movement of trade) anywhere in the world, in any region of the world. (For that same reason), the British dug the Suez Canal to form a (direct shipping) route to India and Asia.
Well, Bab al-Mandab is naturally created by God. Britain paid a fortune to build the Suez Canal, and Egypt sacrificed the lives of thousands of its people who died during its construction. (Therefore, can you imagine) how much (the West) is willing to sacrifice to (gain control over) Bab al-Mandeb?
Which (countries) are located near the Bab al-Mandab (Strait). What countries border this (connecting) canal and this line that links Bab al-Mandab to the Suez Canal and the Red Sea?
(First, there is) Saudi Arabia, the Arab Zionist entity that mirrors the Israeli Zionist entity and has a significant influence (in the region).
Host:
We will talk about the benefits that Saudi Arabia (would gain from having control over the Strait) in order to explain what made you say such a statement (calling KSA a Zionist entity)…
Shaaban:
(Second), there is Egypt, historically the oldest and most powerful Arab state. Third, we have Sudan, the richest (in natural resources) and the largest country at some point in history.
Host:
The country that was split (into North and South Sudan). The (West) was able to create this division.
Shaaban:
And here (pointing to the location on the map) are Eritrea, Ethiopia – which used to border the Red Sea – Somalia and Djibouti..
Well, what is there in the Red Sea? Go back to what (Israeli) Zionists have written about the significance of this Sea. Did you know – I am sure you do – that Eilat (a port city), known as “Umm Al-Rashrash” (in Arabic), is Israel’s only maritime outlet towards Asia? Linking (Israel) to the Red Sea – or as some Israeli strategists call it, “Lake David”, this outlet is vital for the survival of the (Israeli) Zionist entity.
———
Look at the incredible location of Yemen. The Yemeni coastline stretches for around 1,900 miles, equivalent to 2,400 or 2,500 km along the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
Host:
That is 2,500 km along the two seas.
Shaaban:
Yes, (equivalent to) around 1,900 miles.
Did you know that successive Yemeni governments did not form a naval military power despite the important and strategic location of Yemen along the sea?
Host:
What is the reason for that? Why?
Shaaban:
The reason goes back to Yemeni political decision-making…
Host:
(Decision-making) controlled by the US?…
Shaaban:
(Nods his head) (The absence of a naval force) was an order. When the martyr Yemeni president Ibrahim al-Hamdi came to power in the 1970s, when he started planning and called a conference to discuss the security of the Red Sea, he was assassinated, he was murdered. And the party responsible for the assassination was Saudi Arabia.
The vital location (of Yemen) is significantly important for the colonially-created Gulf entities , and for the (Israeli) Zionist entity, which represents probably the West’s largest global investment. (Yemen) overlooks all of Asia all the way to China, and has this huge region (east Africa) within its reach. (In other words), (Yemen) is (in the region) where Asia and Africa meet. This is where Yemen is located.
Host:
Do you mean that having control over the Bab al-Mandeb (Strait) is equivalent to having control over global trade (between) continents?
Shaaban:
Yes. It (also) means having control over the strait classified as the third most important worldwide.
Host:
What does the control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait mean?
Shaaban:
As you have just mentioned in the report, having control over the Bab al-Mandab (Strait) means having control over the movement of the world’s economy, global oil transportation, and the route connecting Europe to India and China, and thereby to Asia. Even if we turn the opposite way, and focus on China and the port that it is trying to build in Pakistan in order to extend its maritime reach, (we will see that…)
Host:
(…that the route) will pass through Yemen and the (Bab al-Mandeb) Strait.
Shaaban:
It is a must. (China’s) “Belt and Road Initiative” passes through (the Strait).
Host:
China’s strategic project will only be completed if…
Shaaban:
(If) it goes through Bab al-Mandeb. Let me tell you something about Bab al-Mandeb. If you zoom in on it, you will see an island that divides it into…
Host:
(into) two channels…
Shaaban:
Exactly. The first (channel) is next to Djibouti, and is not suitable for deep-sea shipping. The other (channel) is about 12 km (in length) on the Yemeni (side). Yes, it is subject to international law, but it falls under Yemen’s sovereignty. (Not to mention that) it is the only channel (among the two) that is navigable. Therefore, what you called the bottleneck is the Yemeni (side of) Bab al-Mandeb.
Host:
The Yemeni (Bab al-Mandeb) not the Djiboutian for example..
Shaaban:
Exactly. Accordingly, if you also take into account (the importance of) Socotra and the group of islands. For example, look, roughly in this region, above Bab al-Mandab, there are groups of islands such as Zuqar, Perim and Hanish. In fact, the Hanish Islands have always been under dispute between Eritrea and Yemen. A confrontation (between the two countries) took place in the nineties because of this issue. The mountain in Zuqar Island rises to 600 meters, or approximately 624 meters. Do you know what this means?
Host:
It means that it overlooks the whole region..
Shaaban:
What if I told you that there are Israeli military bases in Eritrea? There are corvettes and naval vessels navigating in the Red Sea. They are docked at Eretria. What if I told you that there is a French military base in Djibouti, and an American military presence as well?
Host:
There is also a Chinese military base in Djibouti.
Shaaban:
I am going get to that (topic). Djibouti was established only to be rented like hotel. The US, Israel and other countries maintain (military) presences in Somalia. If you go up towards Sudan, you would notice that the Turks recently entered the sea area. The whole world is fighting over this area.
Then in 2014, the Yemenis, despite all that we have talked about, started a revolution, i.e. the revolution of September 21, 2014 under the leadership of Sayyed Abdulmalik Badr al-Din al-Houthi. Sayyed Abdulmalik, who forms (a strong) leadership, project and vision said: “Yemen will not be divided into regions”. Notice that after they (Saudi-led coalition) divided Mahra, Socotra, Abyan – I think – and Hadramout, (Ansarullah) brought them together as one region. In other words, Saudi Arabia wanted (to gain control over) some regions. However, this great Yemeni leader (Sayyed Abdulmalik) came and said: “we will not allow this”. Saudi Arabia said…
Host:
The question we are seeking to answer is: “why did they wage a war (on Yemen)? Why did they start an aggression against Yemen?”
Shaaban:
Yes. Saudi Arabia said that it wants to (build) an oil pipeline that will pass through here. Furthermore, a Saudi magazine once wrote about (building) a marine channel that will also pass through Hadramout, thus connecting Saudi Arabia to the Arabian Sea. Here is the Indian Ocean and here is the Arabian Sea. What is the idea? Saudi Arabia, and others parties hiding behind it, want to avoid (the Strait of) Hormuz (controlled by) Iran, the great power that they cannot clash with. The solution for (Saudi Arabia) is to flee to the South (to Bab al-Mandeb).
Therefore, unlike what the (Saudis) say, their war in Yemen is not a war against Iran, it is a war to get away from Iran’s influence over the Strait of Hormuz. But unfortunately for them, there is a large force in Yemen called “Ansarullah”, a force with national vision unlike what they try to portray. (Ansarullah forces) have a Yemeni national project. They want to preserve the unity (in Yemen), the unity that the Emirates wants to destroy by dividing (the country). We can get into more details (about that) later. The Yemeni revolution led by Sayyed Abdulmalik gained influence and control over Ma’rib and the channels that we talked about, and thereby saying that “Yemen will not be any country’s backyard”. Yemen is not a territory that anyone can manipulate. It is an independent, sovereign state that has policies, that has the right to be present in this strategic region of the world.
How did (Saudi Arabia and its allies) perceive this issue? They believe that these Yemeni forces (Ansarullah), in one way or another, serve the interest of the Islamic Republic (of Iran) because they do not support America, they do not support Israel, nor are they tools like the (leaders who governed) before the (2014) revolution, before Sayyed Abdulmalik, before Sayyed Hussein’s project, the Quranic project based on the Quranic path. They are not tools. They are not venal. They do not accept bribes as did many politicians who historically controlled Yemen’s political decision-making.
They will not be assassinated like they assassinated the martyr (President Ibrahim) al-Hamdi, even if they assassinated Sayyed Hussein (al-Houthi). The assassin of Sayyed Hussein got the order directly from these countries (Saudi Arabia and its allies), (who ordered the killing) of Sayyed Hussein because he chanted the slogan: “Death to America, Death to Israel”. What does “Death to America, Death to Israel “mean? (It means) death to the interests of those (who govern) this region of the world, death to their entities in this region of the world, death to their policy in this region of the world, and life to Yemen.
When Sayyed (Hussein al-Houthi) came up with the strategic slogan of Ansarullah, i.e. “Victory to Islam”, (he meant) the Islam that represents the identity and the independence of a nation. Yes, in this case, Yemen with its (strategic) geographical location and its rich history turned into a strategic political project. (Therefore,) it was necessary for (Saudi Arabia and its allies) to wage a war, to start this aggression. It was necessary for them to do what they are currently doing.
Host:
It was also a must for Ansarullah to fight them.
Shaaban:
(They fought) in defense (against the Saudi aggression)
Host:
We will show the outcomes of the (Saudi) aggression (on Yemen) in a quick report, then we will continue…
Not contradicting the expert but if this is really behind the motives of the KSA, USA, and Israel then they suffer from extreme paranoia. Yes, Yemen is in a key location as is Egypt w/the Suez Canal but if the Houthis and Iranians actually tried to block access to the Red Sea, 1. reciprocal blockade of Iran’s very vulnerable access to the Arab Sea, 2. the western powers could selectively seize the strategic portions as the U.S. controlled the Panama Canal.
I think emotions always come into play. The bad three want to show the non-Sunni’s their place; dogs chained outside in the backyard. Salman wanted to have his coronation with a military victory and I have not seen a place that the U.S. and Israel, regardless of importance is unwilling to destroy if they have Iran’s phone number.
If KSA wants out of the Hormuz bottleneck, they must have complete control over some part of Yemen. Wonder if they’ll rope the US in? I can already hear it on the news.
With a set-the-history-straight sigh and As for Bank of London involvement, see below
“In 1875, the London banking house of N M Rothschild & Sons advanced the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, acting for the British Government, £4,000,000 to purchase Suez Canal shares. Disraeli was a close personal friend of Lionel de Rothschild, and according to legend, this was transacted on a gentleman’s agreement, with no documentation, a ..”
Also in 1956 when Nassar nationalized the Suez Canal, Britain froze Egypts bank accounts in London. and started a war in which the French and Israelis were also involved. ( US, too, but they played “good cop”).
Thanks for this posting of a Wonderfully passionate and intelligent presentation.
teranam13
All countries possess certain geostrategic values, some more, some less. However, when it comes to Yemen, the chief reason why you have a war is because the Saudi oil fields are becoming depleted. According to one analyst, Saudi Arabia has been inflating reports of it’s oil reserves by as much as 80 %. Well, you cannot drill for tens of years and still expect to have huge oil reserves. On the other hand, Yemen is floating on untouched oil. Both the Saudis and the West want it.
One correction for the article. The author has stated the following:
“Ever since the bourgeoisie – which originated in Europe right after the fall of the feudal system – decided to colonize the (rest of the) world; extract its wealth; gain control over its (natural) resources; and turn its people into consuming animals …”.
The term “bourgeoisie” is a French term. It designates the newly rich, the new middle class, which rose in number as the centuries passed. By the 18th century it accumulated in number. However, you had a tiny middle class in the Middle Ages, the merchants and craftsmen, although they were grossly outnumbered by the peasantry. This tiny middle class existed both in Christian and Muslim lands. What is grossly inaccurate in the article is the statement that the European “bourgeoisie” decided to colonize the rest of the world and extract it’s wealth. To only accuse Europeans of colonization is absurd, bearing in mind the Arab invasions of Spain and what is today France (the Battle of Poitiers in 732), not to mention the Ottoman invasions of Eastern and Central Europe, with Vienna being twice besieged.
The reason why Europeans were more successful than Muslims in creating overseas colonies was due entirely to superior maritime technology (superior ships), as well as knowledge of navigation and geography. For example, one of the reasons why the second siege of Vienna was crushed in 1683 was due entirely to Turkish ignorance of geography. They could not believe that the Poles and Germans could relieve Vienna in such a short period of time. By the 18th century European combat ships (frigates and ships of the line) were vastly superior to Turkish ships, both in firepower and design. This, of course, does not include European superiority in navigation. The British Parliament, for example, introduced the Longitude Act of 1714, which in Ottoman Turkey was an unheard of thing.
It was not the British who built the Suez canal, it was the French with Ferdinand de Lesseps as the leader of the project. The British were absolutely opposed to it as it would give too much influence to the French and they succeeded in stopping it several times.
Little to add to this knowledgeable analysis, the Yemen situation is complex, but also painful simple. Territory that commands critical waterways is to be highly coveted, always.
Those who, like myself, like to muse about spurious *what-ifs?*, can consider the context of Hormuz and Iran in this modern apocalyptic age. The much-touted idea of secondary-effects tsunamis wiping out this shipping passage, and cutting off Iran, although not necessarily realistic, is a model for thinking for the future, which is all or nothing thinking. The same chaotic type ideations threaten the Suez far more than Hormuz, which is far more vulnerable point as the Red Sea is very shallow there in approach. Rather than a loss of Hormuz, and Gulf oil, it seems plausible the goals are aimed at Aqaba, and a cross Asia link through these ports of Israel and Jordan.
Another spurious what-if?, hardly considerable these days, is the notion of a mini ice age, shrinking the Seas to old levels, pre-historic levels. As unconscionable as this may be to the good-thinkers and the political righteous, the powers of the earth do study these ideas, and do so believing, not scoffing. I personally find this notion of ice ages all the more compelling as the powers that be spare no effort in warning us of the exact opposite scenarios. Sceptic science is based on this prejudice. Lol.
It is worse. It is a civil war. A continuing simmering conflict begun generations ago which always attracts outside interference whether good, rarely, destablelising, mostly, helpfull, never. No matter what the cause there are always infiltrators. I have seen appear as if they materialised out of another dimension and before you know it, conflict begins. Yemen vis a vis The Saudis, who expert imans preaching revolt across European mosques are barefaced about their intervention to look after their interests given they are living on an unstable foundation ideologically not so much as financially. When any one who thinks themselves strong as a national entity and know they are going broke war follows. The British Empire by turn of the last century realised this and launched a globar war that still rages today in Yemen with the backing of the Amerikan Empyre and British pretentiousness who however have the plutocrats of London financiers – expert at causing chaos and catastrophe globally to cover for the flagging influence of their own imperial aims. And by the way Egypt is not an Arab State. It is in a continent called Africa. But more correctly that is culturally it belongs to the eastern Mediterranean littoral.
This is 100% British. Saudi Arabia only does its British overlord’s dirty job.
“So the current British-Saudi war against Yemen is in fact the third in a century. But why is Britain so seemingly determined to see the country dismembered and its development sabotaged? Strange as it may seem, the answer is that Britain is scared of Yemen. For Yemen is the sole country on the Arab peninsula with the potential power to challenge the colonial stitch-up reached between Britain and the Gulf monarchies it placed in power in the nineteenth century, and who continue to rule to this day. As Palestinian author Said Aburish has noted, the very “nature of the Yemen was a challenge to the Saudis: it was a populous country with more than half the population of the whole Arabian peninsula, had a solid urban history and was more advanced than its new neighbour. It also represented a thorn in the side of British colonialism, a possible springboard for action against their control of Saudi Arabia and all the makeshift tributary sheikhdoms and emirates of the Gulf. In particular, the Yemen represented a threat to the British colonisation of Aden, a territory which considered itself part of a greater Yemen which had been dismembered by colonialism”. The potential power of a united, peaceful, Yemen was also highlighted by Aden’s High Commissioner Kennedy Trevaskis, who noted that, if the Yemenis took Aden, “it would for the first time provide the Yemen with a large modern town and a port of international consequence” and “economically, it would offer the greatest advantages to so poor and ill developed a country”. A peaceful, united Yemen – with over half the peninsula’s population – would threaten Saudi-British-US hegemony of the entire region. That is why Britain has, for over 80 years, sought to keep it divided and warring.“
From: Britain and the ‘Yemeni’ Threat, Dane Glazebrook, Counterpunch, Feb 1, 2017