Radio War Nerd EP #645 — A Brief History of Yemen, "Houthis" and Saudi Conflicts, feat. Shireen al-Adeimi + Aamer. Also: John Reports on the Kiwi Marathon
Guest: Dr. Shireen al-Adeimi
Recorded: October 22, 2026
We talk to Dr. Shireen al-Adeimi about the past 200 years of Yemen struggles with imperialism and politics, from the British-Ottoman invasions in the 1800s, to the wars in the 1960s against the British and the North Yemen monarchy, through the era of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen which Shireen was born into, the formation of Ansarallah ("The Houthis"), and up to the US-backed Gulf wars of the 21st-century. Mark is joined by friend-of-the-show Aamer for our talk with Shireen. Afterwards, John checks in to talk about the 70km marathon around the North Island's crater lake, Maori, library manners & more...
First - Shireen joins Mark and Aamer to discuss Yemen history up to the present.
At 2:11:00 - Music interlude by Brendon Anderegg. Check out music from his group Mountains here
At 2:12:56 - John on the 70k marathon, Maori-British land wars, sepsis and more...
Follow Shireen on Twitter. Read her articles in In These Times, Responsible Statecraft & elsewhere.
*Shireen's pet sparrow, Pip
Total time: 2:32:15
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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John's new essay collection, To The Crows, is available to subscribers. You can also order a hard copy on Amazon - read it, know it, review it!
Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd
Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (32)
Great episode so far
What was the name of the documentary mentioned?
Brilliant episode, as always! Thank you RWN for your work, it is truly a joy to experience it!
I love how John is such a loving sin eater for his wife, soaking up all her share of infirmities so that she can go be a superathlete.
Shireen al-Edeimi - terrific guest. Btw is there anywhere else other than RWN we can hear/read your occasional guest Cyrus?
This episode was fantastic. Amazing guests. Also, I gotta say that Catherine is such a badass. Training for a 70k while traveling the world is hardcore.
Awesome guest. Would love to learn more about AA
Needs to be just really plainly spoken that Ansar Allah are literal Good Guys fighting actual demons
the Québécois nationalists are a bunch of pussy ass wimps who will never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever do another referendum and will just do racist shit in the word of protecting french rights and are well underway to becoming yet another MAGA-ified boomer constituency and I can tell you that because I used to be one of them
just today our new bird brain premier is denouncing the troubles of the extreme ultra-left in france, let's fucking go
Top notch guest - knows her stuff and also has that deep connection being from Yemen that is invaluable
Amazing interview
About an hour and two minutes in there’s a rebellion mentioned that has an episode about it but I couldn’t make out the name of the rebellion. Can anyone help me out?
Dhofar Rebellion. Episode #215
Great discussion. I learned so much. Glad to hear John’s voice again. And always a pleasure to have Aamer weigh in on strange foreign lands (Alberta).
Fantastic episode! Thank you and your guests for all the hard work!
in re: Shireen's comment about Yemenis probably being more well armed per capita than Americans, the thing about the growth in American gun ownership is that it is increasingly growing amongst a smaller portion of the population. Basically the reason why there are more guns in America than people isnt because everyone has a gun, its because like 30% of people have one or 2 guns, and then a small group of cranks and nerds have like 30-50 guns each. I'm sure Yemenis probably feel more well armed (and from a certain perspective, effectively are more well armed) because guns are probably much more equitably distributed throughout the population.
I have a coworker who can’t run a mile that owns perhaps hundreds of firearms because they are toys to him.
"This uninhabited Island is off Cape Gardafui. By the beaches of Sokotra and the pink Arabian Sea. But its hot, too hot from the Suez for the likes of you and me. Oh, ever to go in a P&O and call on the cake Parsee"
Great. Evil Morty lost the elections in Brazil.
Great guest, great insights. Monarchy truly is a disease.
That "an estimated 10,000 dead" shit is driving me out of my goddamn mind with Gaza. It's a million slaughtered, starved, dead for lack of medicine, buried in rubble, or simply divided into small unrecognizable pieces, it cannot be less than a million, but hey, be a good chap, all things in the spirit of drollery and sport, set the over/under at 800,000
This is the very clear truth which seems to be completely overlooked in all media circles
Although we lack some reflection 🍁. We didn't have to look in a mirror to know who we are dealing with. Cold War , NAFTA , GWOT.... always the sense big bro was crazy and if he ever turned on us...
Wow, what a great guest. No offense, but sometimes these academics you guys have on bore me to death with their parlance and rhetorical "right?" at the end of every statement they make (you all know what I mean). I appreciated her direct language and encyclopedic range of knowledge, none of that smarmy academic-industrial complex shtick with her! P.S. — John, while we hope you've enjoyed your PTO, we need you back in the office
Hear, hear
Great episode
Yaaaaay Lula wins!!!!!!!!! The good guys win, and I get to make some money too because I bought some too-cheap puts on PBR in hope of a Lula victory. Even better, Petrobras (already arithmetically cheap, happy to share the forwards earnings math for any stock-trading nerds) got cheaper, giving me a great opportunity to buy as much as I can afford. It will be the free-est $$ on Wall Street since those same 'creative' Wall Street clowns sold me the company at $6 a share the LAST time Lula got elected. I love Petrobras, get to make money off the backs of 'creative' capitalists by buying too-cheap shares of a socialist-government owned corporation xD Something deeply sinister about Wall Street punishing Brazilian markets when Brazilians vote for their own interests, nonetheless it's nice to be able to offer some (tiny) support as a buyer while making money off of great Brazilian companies being sold at absurdly low prices.
damn that was a good tip my guy 🫡
Petition to have ambient bird music every episode.
This was awesome, as was the episode on Yemen with the OSINT guy. Would love to continue hearing more about the history and current events in Yemen.
Seconded. Every time my browser opens it pulls up LiveUAMap for Iran and Yemen, but I would love more information.