Connections, Episode 16: Whither Yemen? With Helen Lackner

On Tuesday, 21 September Jadaliyya co-editor Mouin Rabbani spoke with Helen Lackner about the war on Yemen and prospects for peace. This episode of Connections examines the multiple dimensions of the Yemen conflict and the agendas of the main powers involved.

Connections offers timely and informative interviews on current events and broader policy questions, as well as themes relevant to knowledge production. It combines journalism, analysis, and scholarship.

Guest
Helen Lackner is a leading authority on Yemen who has been conducting research and writing about Yemeni politics and society since the 1970s. A former resident of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, the Yemen Arab Republic, and the Republic of Yemen, her most recent books are Yemen in Crisis: The Road to War (Verso 2019), and Yemen, Poverty and Conflict (forthcoming). A regular contributor to Open Democracy, Arab Digest, Oxford Analytica, Orient XXI, and others, she is currently Research Associate at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Visiting Fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR), and Associate at the Transnational Institute (TNI).

[ethanb]

"US and UK support would drop like a rock if there were no counterterrorism threats". This is laughable. Why? Well because ISIS and al-Qaeda fight on the same side as the Saudis, who the US is selling millions of weapons to. Furthermore, Ansar Allah has been the only group capable of fighting the jihadists. They were so effective that they were reportedly working with the US, which is why Gen. Lloyd Austin was angry when Saudi launched its invasion. I would argue that US and UK support has nothing to do with "counterterrorism" and rather with an actual fear of a powerful Yemeni state which sits on the Bab El-Mandeb, one of the most important waterways in the world, and has control over its own resources.