World Ignores Yemen War and Famine

FEATURING ISA BLUMI – The Trump Administration last Friday announced that the US would stop the refueling of Saudi warplanes used in the brutal years long war in Yemen. The move came after months of pressure over mounting civilian casualties in the Gulf Arab’s poorest nation, and a United Nations warning of a catastrophic famine. The apparent American slap on the wrist is also a response to the brutal Saudi killing of dissident Jamal Khashoggi. But critics point out that the move will do little to stop the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia has led a massive air and ground assault on the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah just days after the US called for a ceasefire. The latest reports on Monday from that assault claim that 149 people have been killed in just 24 hours. That number includes civilians. There have been about 600 deaths since the assault on Hodeidah began on November 1st.

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 latest book is called ‘Destroying Yemen: What Chaos In Arabia Tell Us About the World’.