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Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA), a member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, delivers remarks during the briefing 'Women's Human Rights Defenders in Saudi Arabia,' on May 23, 2019. Photo credit: April Brady/Project on Middle East Democracy https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Original article: https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/ro-khanna-yemen-war/ Burgess COMMENTARY I did a World Bank assignment in Yemen in the 1980s. At the time Yemen was split into a Soviet backed People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) with its capital in Aden and the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) with its capital in Sanaa. Both parts of Yemen were very poor, but some development progress was being made and the region was peaceful compared to what has been going on in recent yearts with Saudi intervention. One of the World Bank projects our mission evaluated was a new fishing port in the North of PDRY at Nishtun. While the fishing port was not yet completed, there was enough port infrastructure already built and it was already being put to use by Soviet landing craft offloading heavy military equipment very efficiently ... not the planned use of the World Bank's funding. I have the impression that much of the military equipment in Yemen that has the Saudi's concerned originally came from the Soviet Union and not so much from Iran. When I was in PDRY in the mid 1980s, the Soviet Union was actively involved in gaining more control of the sea-lanes leading to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal through which a very large amount of crude oil and 'Western' commerce flows. Peter Burgess | ||
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'This is big': House passes amendment to cut US complicity in Saudi bombing of Yemen
Andrea Germanos and Common Dreams September 24, 2021 Anti-war groups on Thursday welcomed the U.S. House's passage of an amendment to the annual defense bill that would cut off the flow to Saudi Arabia of U.S. logistical support and weapons 'that are bombing civilians' in Yemen. 'This is BIG,' tweeted the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) following the afternoon 219-207 vote, which fell largely along party lines, with just 11 Democrats voting 'no.' At issue was Rep. Ro Khanna's (D-Calif.) amendment to H.R. 4350, the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). It's one of dozens of amendments to the NDAA under consideration by the House this week. According to Khanna, the vote 'sent a clear message to the Saudis: end the bombing in Yemen and lift the blockade.' Speaking on the House floor Wednesday, he made a succinct case for why the measure is so needed. Khanna said his amendment 'would end all U.S. logistical support and transfer of spare parts for Saudi warplanes that are bombing Yemen, that are bombing schools, that are killing children, that are bombing civilians in the largest humanitarian crisis around the world.' 'We're not going to use taxpayer dollars to give them equipment for their planes to bomb Yemeni kids,' Khanna added, urging his colleagues to help 'finally begin to end this war.' The California Democrat's effort is being buoyed by anti-war groups like FCNL, which joined a coalition of progressive groups this week in a statement declaring that 'by suspending the sale of arms and ending U.S. participation in the Saudi coalition's war and blockade, Congress can prevent a humanitarian catastrophe from spiraling further out of control as it reasserts its constitutional authority on matters of war and peace.' Another signatory to the letter, CodePink, argued Thursday that while the House vote was welcome, the NDAA still needs broader changes. 'If this amendment makes it through the NDAA conference with the Senate,' the group wrote in a Twitter thread, 'it would end logistical and spare parts support to the Saudi-led war on Yemen that's left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis on the brink of death and millions more on the brink of starvation.' 'While we support Khanna's amendment, we do not support the NDAA (as a whole) without a significant cut to the Pentagon budget,' the group added. 'Regardless, the amendment remains a strong message to the Biden administration that Yemen can't wait.' The vote came on the heels of the United Nations food agency highlighting the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, where 'people are suffering immensely.' 'We're literally looking at 16 million people marching toward starvation,' World Food Program executive director David Beasley said Wednesday at a high-level meeting on the humanitarian situation in Yemen. 'We need this war to end, number 1, and if donors are getting fatigued, well, end the war,' he added. 'World leaders need to put the pressure on all parties involved to end his conflict because the people Yemen have suffered enough.' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES
| The text being discussed is available at | https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/ro-khanna-yemen-war/ and |