Category: Saudi Arabi

Pentagon contradicts White House about US troop presence in Yemen

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

US defense officials claim they have no boots on the ground in Yemen, despite a recent acknowledgement that US forces are indeed present in the war-torn Gulf state, a 27 January report from The Intercept shows.

Pentagon contradicts White House about US troop presence in Yemen

Related:

Biden’s announcement on ending US support for the war in Yemen, explained

But that doesn’t mean the US will stop fighting in Yemen. Per the administration, it will continue to strike al-Qaeda and ISIS militants in the country to ensure they can’t use it as a base to hatch plots against America. The US has been targeting terrorists in Yemen, most of them against al-Qaeda, since 2002 and has killed around 1,000 people in strikes. Stopping that campaign, experts say, might give the terrorists more space to operate.

So ending support for the fight against the Houthis, and continuing the fight against America-threatening terrorists — that’s pretty straightforward. What isn’t as clear is what the second element, supporting Saudi Arabia’s defense, means in practice.

The biggest complication here is what defines an “offensive” versus a “defensive” move. Say the Houthis attack Saudi Arabia, which experts I spoke to expect they will continue to do. The rebels launched missiles at an airport and airbase in Saudi Arabia in 2019, and at Saudi oil stations last year. Under international law, Riyadh has the right to retaliate in a commensurate way.

Reviving ISIS: A US weapon against the Resistance Axis, by The Cradle’s Iraq Correspondent

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The U.S. has never hesitated to use those it calls terrorists as a means for its own ends. From The Cradle’s Iraq Correspondent at thecradle.co:

Is it a coincidence that the world’s foremost terror organization is being revived just as the US struggles under a multi-front assault on its hegemony in West Asia? More curiously, both ISIS and Washington’s targets are exactly the same.

Reviving ISIS: A US weapon against the Resistance Axis, by The Cradle’s Iraq Correspondent

H/T: Der Friedensstifter

U.S. Deployed Air Targeting Team to Israel, Document Suggests

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

TARGETING INTELLIGENCE — THE information used to conduct airstrikes and fire long-range artillery weapons — has played a central role in Israel’s siege of Gaza. A document obtained through the Freedom of Information Act suggests that the U.S. Air Force sent officers specializing in this exact form of intelligence to Israel in late November.

U.S. Deployed Air Targeting Team to Israel, Document Suggests (archived)

If true, this is disturbing! The Hague Invasion Act doesn’t cover the ICJ, from what I can tell. /s

Taiwan’s Election On Saturday Will Decide War Or No-War In China

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The election on January 13th, of Taiwan’s next leader, will choose between Lai Chin-le (Taiwan’s current ‘Vice-President’) who favors war against the mainland, versus Hou Yu-ih, who favors continuation of the ambiguous status-quo that has maintained China’s peace for decades. A less likely third option in this contest is Ko Wen-je, who could draw off enough votes away from Hou Yu-ih so as to throw the ‘election’ to Lai Chin-le, much like Ralph Nader in the 2000 U.S. Presidential ‘election’ drew off enough votes away from Al Gore so as to throw the U.S. Presidential ‘election’ to George W. Bush (which caused the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and might even have caused the successful Saud-Bush 11 September 2001 attacks that Bush blamed on Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden and used as the ‘justification’ for invading Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003).

Taiwan’s Election On Saturday Will Decide War Or No-War In China