This week professor Isa Blumi joins me for an in-depth discussion of the economic and geopolitical history of Yemen. We cover the period between the mid 1800’s all the way through to the early 2000’s. Isa talks about the forgotten history of Yemen through out the conversation. We discuss Yemen’s role as a bulwark against imperialism, from its earliest days fighting against the British East India company to American oil conglomerates. Isa talks about North Yemen’s role as a progressive nation that supported everyone from the George Habash to Che Guevara. We also discuss South Yemen’s Marxist history as well. Isa also talks about the deliberately obscured fact that Yemen is rich in oil, gas, and other natural resources. Isa describes how work and regional powers have long sough to subjugate and control Yemen’s immense wealth through economic and conventional warfare.
JP Sottile of NewsVandal.com joins me in the first hour to discuss the decline of the US empire. We begin by discussing the continued decline of the US media. JP and I touch on the the ways in which the US media (particularly TV) has become ever more enamored with the cult of celebrity. We discuss the ways in which the TV talking heads will obsess over a single tweet by Trump while actual real news is happening all around us. JP and I speculate over the reasons for this trend, and why the media loves to distract us with “news items” about presidential tweets. We also touch on the lighting speed with which the news cycle now runs at. Later JP and I talk about the decline of US dominance globally and how this may explain why we are seeing so many violent conflicts erupting across the globe. JP focuses on the numerous crises in the Middle East, and how they are being exploited in order to stave of the eventual death of both the US and Saudi Arabia.
I begin the second hour by briefly touching on the arrest and escape of former Georgian President JP Saakashvili. I then turn my attention to the recent murder of former president of Yemen Ali Abduallah Saleh. I give a brief look at the recent history of modern Yemen and how it has continually been used by regional and world powers. I also talk about the Arab Spring which ousted Saleh and his return to power in 2015 with the Houthi movement. I then explore the Houthi’s and attempt to explain some of the complexities surrounding their political movement. The issue of Iranian support for them is also explored. I finish off by discussing my displeasure with some of the political rhetoric from left which appears to be supporting war against Saudi Arabia. I talk about the problems with choosing sides in any war and Yemen in particular. I also talk about how this still fits into the US/Saudi narrative of their being a “good” and “bad” side in this war.
Today I am joined by friend of the show Caram Kapp. Caram was last on episode 42 The Homeland Hackers, and returns to discuss the Egyptian uprising six years later. We start off by discussing the basics of the uprising and some of the behind the scenes actors. Caram explains his own experiences as an Egyptian, and as someone who was there on the ground around this time. We touch on the rumors of Western manipulation and how some of these allegations have overshadowed the real life grievances of the Egyptian populace and their reasons for wanting to get rid of Mubarak. Caram and I then move onto the two most important actors of the revolution (The Muslim Brotherhood and the Army) and how they became the ultimate arbiters of the revolution. Caram talks about his time in Cairo just after Brotherhood leader Muhammad Morsi was elected. Caram describes the parallels between Morsi and his brief tenure as president to that of Donald Trump. We talk about similarities in both personality and demeanor, as well as the ways in which Morsi represented “change” and ran on a campaign of making “Egypt Great Again.” Caram and I also discuss the notion that Morsi or those around him were well aware of the realities and influence of the Egyptian military, and understood that they may have been used as a stopgap to put the military back in place.
We expand on this more in the second hour exploring other parallels between Trump, Morsi, and current Egyptian President al-Sisi. Caram and I look at the ways in which al-Sisi and Trump have managed to normalize the military and the police, even when engaging in extreme behavior. Later Caram and I look at some of the recent geopolitical developments in Egypt and how they mirror actions here in the US. We look at the escalating tensions between Sudan and Egypt over the contested Halayeb Triangle and how this mimics Trump’s rhetoric against Mexico. Caram and I also discuss the current state of Egyptian media which like the revolution has returned right back to where it started. Caram and I finish off by looking at where Egypt may be headed and why it has lost influence within the Arab world, and has become one of the forgotten aspects of the Arab Spring.
16 Egyptian border guards were killed Monday by militants operating in Sinai. This is the latest in a string of incidents involving militants and disenfranchised communities in the peninsula. This latest attack was perhaps the most brazen though. After killing the border guards the militants drove stolen armored cars into the Israeli side of the border before being killed by the Israelis. Israel was quick to exploit the situation in Sinai to their advantage by calling the attack a “wake up call” for the Egyptians. As of recently Israel has been pointing its finger at Egypt and Gaza anytime an attack of this nature happens. The Israelis claim that the security vacuum is the fault of Egypt and is being exploited by Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Many political commentators in Israel also chalk up this violence to President Morsi’s “close” ties to Hamas. While this may play well for the Israeli public and western governments it’s simply not true.
Sinai has always been a region plagued by violence and militancy. In 2004 a 400 pound car bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Taba killing 34 people. A year later three bombs would go off in a coordinated attack that would claim the lives of 83 people in the resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh. And in 2011 the Egyptian oil pipeline connected to Israel and Jordan was attacked a whopping 12 times. All of this violence stemmed from Egypt’s close ties to Israel, something most if not all Egyptians loath, and the abysmal living conditions of the Bedouin communities living in the Sinai peninsula. These are attacks perpetrated by groups that are fed up with the oppressive Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people and the cooperation they receive from the Egyptian political elite, as well as by groups who historically have been neglected by the Egyptian government. The Israeli narrative that this is somehow the work of Hamas or some form of Palestinian resistance group doesn’t hold up. The biggest net loser from this recent attack is Gaza. The Rafah crossing which Morsi promised to fully open is now closed. Politically speaking Israel and it’s supporters are able to use this as further evidence of a global terror campaign directed at the Jewish state. Also keep in mind that Hamas directs their attacks against Israel and not Egypt.
The biggest net winner is of course Israel. Netanyahu and his partner in crime Barak can now blame Egypt and Gaza for all their foreign policy failures. The two of them can present this to other western nations as further evidence of how weak and ineffectual Morsi is as a leader. How can Israel expect to work with Egypt if it’s president can’t control his own people? This is the same tactic that the Israelis have used time and time again. The pro-Israel warmongers here in America will start screaming bloody murder soon enough, claiming that Morsi shouldn’t be president because poor defenseless Israel who never hurt anybody might be attacked.
This recent attack is a wake up call to Egypt as much as it is to Israel. Morsi has to address the Bedouin situation in the Sinai. He can not solve the militancy problem the way Mubarak did; round up and torture every Bedouin and man with a long beard. The Egyptian military must also come to understand that they are a catalyst for much of this violence. The breif love affair that those in Tahrir Square had for the military is now over. The military’s domination of the economy must cease so that those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder can have a chance to get ahead. President Morsi may also have to examine whether a close relationship with the Jewish state is really in Egypt’s national interest. This doesn’t mean tearing up Camp David or going to war, but it may mean asking the Israelis to put their money were their mouth is on the question of peace with the Palestinians. For Israel this should be the wake up call that they can no longer expect to do whatever they please to Arab peoples and not expect a response. Israel can no longer rely on their dear friend Mubarak to slaughter his own population; which of course was the major cause of discontent amongst Egyptians critical of Israel. The Arab world is changing and Israel needs to catch up. Gone are the days of relying on secular dictators like Mubarak to help imprison the Palestine’s in the Gaza Strip. For too long Israel has relied on the fact that Arab dictators are as afraid of Arab democracy as they are. Israel never really had to make peace with the Palestinians because no Arab leader actually cared about the plight of their Palestinian brothers and sisters. And the populations living in Arab countries had no real voice or means to press their unelected leaders. For the first time now those in Gaza have a real ally in Egypt. It is time for Israel to wake up and see that their hegemony over the Middle East is slowly ending. The easiest way to prevent violence spilling over into Israel is to stop implementing a foreign policy doctrine that oppresses Arabs. And the first step in this process is to begin a real dialogue with those nations neighboring Israel. As more leaders are democratically elected in the Arab world the less leeway Israel has to do whatever they want in the region with out serious repercussions.
Blowhard racist, Newt Gingrich, has a wonderfully moronic OP-ED in Politico in which he defends Congresswoman Bachmann’s witch hunt against the Muslims Brotherhoods supposed infiltration of American politics. In the article he urges the American people to open up their eyes to the fact that radical Islam is infiltrating American politics. Gingrich claims that our political correctness has made it impossible for us to ask the hard hitting questions about Islamic infiltration. According to Newt it is the goal of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood to destroy Western civilization. But this supposed student of history fails to understand how Americas historical role as an oppressor of Muslims has led the Muslim Brotherhood to dislike America.
No where in the article does Newt mention why Muslims groups like the Brotherhood or Hamas hate the West. Newt uses the same idiotic argument that all neocons use; Muslims hate the West because of our freedom. He claims that “Munich in 1972, New York City on Sept. 11, Hasan at Fort Hood, the Times Square car bomber, the bombings in Iraq this week” are all the result of Islamic fundamentalism, not the result of decades of American oppression and murder of Muslims worldwide. The killing of Israeli athletes in Munich was a response to Israel’s murder of Palestinians, and colonization of their land. 9/11 happened because America had been killing Muslims for decades. Fort Hood and Times Square happened because two individuals were fed up with Americas attitude towards the Muslim people. Newt later makes this point as more justification of the Brotherhoods evil plans against the West and our cronies:
Just Friday, the Dubai chief of police warned about a Muslim Brotherhood effort to take over the emirates and seize their oil and natural gas wealth.
The UAE is an undemocratic human rights abusing monarchy. What is so terrifying about the Brotherhood taking control of the oil and gas reserves? Might it be that Newt doesn’t want to disrupt the flow of oil to America. The man who attacked Obama for bowing to the Saudi oil kings seems fine with bowing to the Emirati oil kings.
Newts whole argument revolves around the fact that he does not like that Muslims democratically elect groups like the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood has not seized power in Egypt. The Egyptian people voted them in to office. While Newt is to much of a coward to simply admit it, he does not like that free people freely elect their leaders. Neocons like Newt bemoaned the Palestinians for not being democratic enough. But when they democratically elected Hamas the West turned of them. Countries like Tunisia and Egypt elected Islamist political parties as a direct response to Americas oppressive policies in the Arab world. If you don’t want the Brotherhood to come to power than stop oppressing Muslims.
It is a real tragedy that a decade after the 9/11 attacks politicians like Newt Gingrich are still espousing this kind of false rhetoric. It seems that our elites, yes Newt your an an elite, are still trying to trick Americans into thinking that Muslims hate us because of who we are, not because of our actions. The sheepish American public need to actually understand how our policies effect the rest of the world. If they don’t, and instead listen to racists like Newt Gingrich, then we are destined for another terrorist attack on American soil.
Porkins Policy Review 
