Radio War Nerd EP #421 — Yemen Redux

Also just sharing appreciation. Subscribed for several years now and like you more and more.

I was wondering why Egypt didn't seem to be involved in the Fight against the Houthis, after all they are losing the income from the Suez canal. Probably they did learn from their last disaster in Jemen

In the 60's, the proto-Houthi's were assisted against Nasser by the British - see Adam Curtis's The Mayfair Set ep.1 It is only incidental to the episode though.

I was wondering about the role of Saudi Arabia. Has their involvement changed since they stopped the war in Yemen and reconciled with Iran? Especially regarding the current attacks, the Saudis seem conspicuously absent. Is that genuine, or is it just to spare them Palestine related disgrace in the Arab world?

I hate to be an actually guy but there's a major mistake in this episode. John is confusing the North/South Yemen divide with the civil war *within* North Yemen. Before decolonization, Yemen was split between the Imamate in the north and a British colony in the south. The Communist NLF (a sister organization of Habash's PFLP) won independence for the South and established a Soviet-modeled socialist state there. In the North there was simultaneously a Nasserist Free Officers coup which caused a civil war between the Egyptian backed Nasserist stratocracy and Saudi-backed counterrevolutionaries, which the former won at great cost. To add to the confusion, there were several mini-civil wars within South Yemen, two or three small wars between the North and South, and then a brief civil war right after unification when the former Southern elite realized that they were being sidelined from the government.

It's worth emphasizing just how massive and nationally shocking the 3 January attacks in Iran were, leaving 94 dead and (at least – the number seems low) 300 injured. Western media stories on the retaliatory strikes have downplayed this when they have not ignored it. This was the biggest terror attack in Iran since before the 1979 revolution. Iran has seen terror bombings, including ones with similar MO, but the casualties from this one were more than double the average. Any state, I think it's fair to say, would have "freaked out" and reacted similarly to Iran to the extent its power allowed (although I do wonder why they didn't notify the Pakistanis first).

The comparison of questioning NATO to saying the true name of God is hilarious

just want you guys to know subscribing was so worth it. Very thankful for what you do. Wondering if you could update us on more DRC/west African news in the near future

Hmm. It hasn’t shown up on the feed yet.

Houthi and the Blowfish

Save Genghis! My avatar photo is a short hair Pitty mix who enjoys ‘rassling with Husky mixes on the frozen tundra of a central IL dog park. Good ep, fellas. I feel like an old Yemen hand these days because I’ve followed RWN’s consistent focus on Yemen and the Houthi movement.

I feel like RWN has the highest strike rate of a podcast arriving right before I need to do a terrible chore. Thanks fellas!