Author Isa Blumi Discusses His Book ‘Destroying Yemen: What Chaos In Arabia Tell Us About the World’ – EXTENDED INTERVIEW

FEATURING ISA BLUMI – The United Nations has declared the war in Yemen as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” Four years into a war led by Saudi Arabia with advisory and weapons support from the US, UK and other Western nations, the poorest Gulf Arab nation lies in ruins. Tens of millions of Yemenis – about three quarters of the population – are in need of food and/or medical aid. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has pointed out that Yemen’s children are the worst victims with, “nearly half of all children aged between six months and 5 years old chronically malnourished.”

The UN warning comes in the wake of a US visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to the White House where President Trump met with him to discuss selling Saudi Arabia more weapons, even as members of Congress have questioned US support for the Yemen war.

Now a new book puts into historical context the Saudi war on Yemen, tracing back foreign inference in the small nation over several decades.

NOTE: This is the Extended version of this interview, available only to our subscribers, or to rent or buy.

Isa Blumi, Associate Professor in the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Turkish Studies at Stockholm University. He is the author of Ottoman Refuges, 1878-1939, Foundations of Modernity, and Reinstating the Ottomans. His newest book is called Destroying Yemen: What Chaos In Arabia Tell Us About the World.

**This segment was originally broadcast on April 5, 2018.