Professor Isa Blumi joins me for part 2 of our series on Yemen. We pick up in the late 90’s after Ali Abdullah Saleh has come to power in a unified Yemen. Isa discusses Saleh’s strategy of sowing chaos all over the country in order to maintain absolute power. Isa talks about Saleh’s use of extreme violence, and his reliance on US power. We then explore how the so called Arab Spring played out in Yemen. We discuss the orchestrated nature of the movement, and how is sought to control the very real desires of the Yemeni public. Isa touches on people like Tawakkol Karman and her role as a US proxy during the Arab Spring. Isa brings us all the way to Saleh’s assassination and the current state of Yemen.
Later we talk about the role that Al Qaeda plays on Yemen as a bogey man. We discuss how the US used Yemen as playground for their eventual global drone program. We address the fight going on between Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Yemen. Isa also explains the political history of Ansar Allah (Houthis) and how they are not an Iranian proxy force.
Show Notes:
Destroying Yemen What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World
Federation plan should be top priority in Yemen
Three big Yemeni parties reject federation proposal
Porkins Policy Review 
