ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Debacle in Yemen

Updated on March 25, 2015
One can see why Saudi Arabia is NOT happy about Iranian influence in Yemen
One can see why Saudi Arabia is NOT happy about Iranian influence in Yemen

It seems like a fairy tale, that President Obama's declaration of how his policy and efforts in Yemen were stabilizing the capital and the war against Al-Qaeda there worked. That was just a year ago or so. But, the policy of just giving millions in aid and training and having a small drone base there without American troops in meaningful numbers has proven to fail, not always, but there have been enough times. Supporting a government that was always at risk of being overthrown because of its own corruption is a recipe for disaster eventually. I mean, we did have proof before the recent collapse of Yemen: Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan (just give it more time), Libya. Yet, the reluctance to station US troops to support the policy, even in token numbers, certainly did not enhance the chance the policy would succeed. Money and training can help only so much.

Now, Yemen is added to the list of U.S. failures in the Middle East. Yeah, President Obama is to blame. Diplomacy does not always work in corrupt governments, no matter how bad we need them to work. Of course, neither does a military occupation. It is a question of balance and the lack of real U.S. military presence there made the situation weak. The collapse of Yemeni government friendly to U.S. government is gone. It no longer exists. The Houthis are now in control and are Shiite. Any US presence now in Yemen is gone. Some 12 countries closed their embassies friendly to U.S. interests.

The Houthis makeup of 30% of the Yemen's 26 million people. They are Shiite, while the remaining are Sunni and others. Saudi Arabia and other Sunni tribes support the exiled government now in Aden. Iran has been supporting the Houthis because they are also Shiite. In effect, it is yet another proxy war between Sunni and Shiite factions of this crazy religion called Islam. America tends to be on the Sunni side, even though, they try not to take sides in a religious war Americans cannot comprehend nor understand. It simply is stupid to allow religion to dictate to government, Yet, under Islam, that is all that matters, whether it is in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, or Afghanistan. Islam forces many bad decisions in government. Government abuses Islamic teachings by stating it is support by the teachings of the Quran, however, stupid it may sound. For instance, in Iran, skateboarding is not allowed in public. To support this, the government uses the Quran to support it so its citizens comply. The same thing occurs not allowing women to go to soccer matches there. Only men can. They use the Quran to justify this because men and women should not mingle at such events. Such bullshit.

Now, in Yemen, the Houthis are turning to Russia, China, and Iran for support of their new government. They are doing so to offset the American support of the Sunni nations who oppose Iran. They want Russian investments and ties, China sees Yemen as a future site for a possible naval base or more. Iran has been providing money, weapons, training, for sometime and now they are providing gasoline since Saudi Arabia has cut it off. Iranian support will now improve their infrastructure and electric grid. Iranian airlines now will be one of a few nations flying to that country. The Houthis have invited Iran to conduct energy exploration near the Saudi border. But, let's not forget that al-Qaeda is based there also, a Sunni militant faction. Iran considers them a terrorist group as well. So, what will happen in the future is anyone's guess. A nuclear armed Iran would just escalate all this Sunni-Shiite war so much, a nuclear exchange could occur because neither is afraid of dying, unlike the Cold War between the US and USSR. Iran's influence is expanding. Would the US-Iran ever have a joint operation to destroy al-Qaeda, and then, just turn on each other later?

Iran, China and Russia will provide Yemen with many needs, but all with strings attached, making the Middle East a much more dangerous and unpredictable mess.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)