Saudi coalition strikes against Houthis

I don't know anyone who drinks in the rubbish that Trump spouts and believes it, Red so can't imagine who you are talking about. Just because people mention Trump or quote from him doesn't mean we believe everything he says - we all know he's a narcissistic liar.

In fact you often quote directly from Truth Social but I wouldn't assume you are drinking in the rubbish he is spouting just because you are repeating it.

It seems to have touched a nerve but it is factually true that there have been posts on MN sharing the IRGC Lego propaganda and saying how funny it is. That's possibly something the mods should keep an eye on now the government has banned support for the IRGC.

Anyway, I thought you were ignoring my posts? (just a gentle reminder).

We might think - what kind of idiots would be impressed by video montages, poems, and animations that promote their disruption of Red Sea shipping and condemn the US and Israel.

Especially from terrorists, right?

But there has been a lot of admiration re the IRGC Lego propaganda - even on Mumsnet!

Houthi Propaganda Finally Reaches Global Audiences ( Feb 24)

Since October 7, Houthi-aligned media platforms have released a remarkable array of video montages, poems, and animations that promote their disruption of Red Sea shipping and condemn the US and Israel. These materials are posted on Telegram, TikTok, and other social media platforms, and then picked up and circulated by international audiences who are impressed by the creativity of Houthi propaganda.

Houthi media evolved considerably in the past decade, in large part due to training and coordination with Hezbollah-affiliated outlets such as Al-Manar and media professionals aligned with the so-called Axis of Resistance. Stylistically and rhetorically, Houthi media productions increasingly mirror those of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other groups receiving support from Iran.

https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/houthi-propaganda-finally-reaches-global-audiences-163934

The only Houthi propaganda I have ever seen is the vid from a couple of years ago where they boarded a tanker using a helicopter.

Beyond that, the only stuff I know about them is from general news and looking up on the web. And re the web, I have never seen anything about the "plight of the poor Houthi", or "see the Islamic Utopia the Houthi are building".

In fact, if I think really hard, and I am thinking really hard.... nope sorry. I can't recall ever seeing anything positive about the Houthi.

And when I say " the west. I say that because looking it up I see other western countries mentioned and not just the USA. So I say "the west" instead of listing them all.

The middle east isn’t the worst though for terrorist groups - although I know it’s not a contest. I feel that it does get portrayed badly though. Africa and South Asia are worse. We hear occasional bad things about Africa, nothing on the scale that we should though. However, the middle east is constant. Maybe because they are Muslim? People only seem to see the extremism. There’s extremism in all religions. None of it good.

oh and the west fucked up really badly in the battle for the port of hodeidah, they prevented what would have been a decisive defeat of the houthis because a bunch of NGO’s hassled Obama and all they achieved was the extension of a war that should have finished years ago. The intervention of the west was supposed to save lives, all it has done is prolong the misery and prevented a resolution. The only interest any western nation has in the houthis is because they interfere with shipping, thats it. Which is why the emirates and the saudis were forced to try to deal with them themselves.

it’s interesting that you even ask where the west slots in, the assumption is that the west is involved in any meaningful way at all. The middle east is full of whackjob fundamentalists who would be like that even if the west didn’t exist.

Am Yisrael Chai

Iranians started backing the houthis in the 90’s they are a branch of shiite islam, then they attacked the government and then saudi attacked them. Actually very similar to the cultivation of hezbollah started as religious exchanges.

Saudis basically been bribing the houthis to not attack them for a while because the US lost interest in these little pirates.

The recognised government of Yemen requested Saudi help to deal with that plane from iran, it obviously still landed.

If anyone is genuinely interested “conflicted” did an amazing wide ranging 3 part history of yemen podcast on the history of the houthis, absolutely fascinating.

Also people must get past this idea that arabs are one block or that some arab countries are acting because they are controlled by america or those zionists. They are acting in their own interests, gulf countries move extremely slowly, decisions are made very carefully (sometimes the wrong ones) they are cautious and they value their stability over and beyond anything else. They don’t do stuff just because, if they actually did what americans wanted them to do there would have been a co-ordinated gulf armed forces response in February.

They are perfectly capable of being rational actors with agency. I dislike this racism of low expectations directed towards arabs. It’s inaccurate and insulting.

What came first ? The civil war, the Saudi involvement, or the Iranian involvement ?

Oh, and where do the US, and the greater west slot in ?

I am seeing something about a Saudi/Iran peace deal brokered by the PRC to stop hostilities in return for Iran to stop supporting the Houthi.

And that ties in with last weeks Saudi attack after an Iranian plane was detected flying to Yemen.

Also good for saudi but they will struggle, they struggled with the Houthis before, they basically need help from the Israelis on targeting. Houthi air defences seem to be difficult for the Saudis to cope with.

Saudi was never acting a proxy for obama (bwahaha lol) the Houthis attacked the recognised government of Yemen, they are an insurgency group that believe that only the direct descendents of hashemites should be able to govern Yeman (i.e. themselves). They are basically a bunch of Jihadis waging war on other Yemenis, freedom fighters they are not. They are anti democracy, anti equality, basically believe in inflicting a caste system on Yemen. The information is out there.

Saudi attacked them because they are an Iranian proxy destabilising a neighbouring country. Oooh lookie…doesn’t that sound familiar. Again with the third worldist thinking which flattens complex histories in the middle east to …”it must be the wests fault some how”. Sorry but the Houthis have been around for an extremely long time, and they have been head bangers all that time.

What does it matter if they are proscribed or not ? They are a religious cult with guns in one of the poorest nations on earth, with neighbours who are one of the richest countries on earth.

I don't know the pre conflict history of the official Yemen Government, but I know they did have PRC anti ship missiles that the Houthi captured and used a couple of years back. So if the official Government was PRC aligned, that maybe explains why Obama asked the Saudi Government to act as proxies against them. If that is what happened. My memory might be wrong; it very often is.

Lets check. Doing this as I write this post...

Yes. It was Obama. Sample link here.

How U.S. Policy in Yemen Went Tragically Wrong - Yale University Press

A quick scan of that. Yemen was soviet aligned. Then PRC, then Houthi happened, and instead of dealing with the armed cult directly, it was passed onto Saudi Arabia.

Why does it always come back to US foreign policy ?

I say that in exasperation. Not as a challenge to your good self.

I reckon these threads should be about finding out.

I do remember there was a thing with Saudi Arabia awarding Rolls Royce cars to pilots who killed Houthi. There was a bit of a scandal about that. About 2014 I think. Lets check... No, I am wrong. It was Bentleys in 2015.

You are underestimating the relationship between Iran and the Houthis:

Iran is the only country who recognises the Houthi government in Sana'a, and according to the Council of Foreign Affairs (CFR) "Iran is the Houthis' primary benefactor", providing them with weapons, training and military intelligence.

This relationship has been a significant factor in enhancing the group's military capabilities. Through this alliance, the Houthis have gained access to advanced weaponry, including sophisticated missiles and drones, which would have otherwise been impossible for them to manufacture independently.

Iranian support has played a crucial role in strengthening the Houthis' ability to assert military dominance within Yemen. However, analysts suggest that the strategic impact of this support extends beyond the Yemeni conflict, influencing regional dynamics and altering the balance of power in the broader Middle East.

According to Gulf analyst of the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies "The role of Iran has been decisive in providing the Houthis with smuggled weapons and expertise to project power into the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_support_for_the_Houthis#:~:text=Iran%20is%20the%20only%20country,weapons%2C%20training%20and%20military%20intelligence.

Update on last post. The link did open, just took a long time.

I was wrong to say they were a tribe. They are a cult. But I do not see anything in that article that is shocking to me. It is standard cult with guns stuff. And quoting from the article :

"EK – Yes, ultimately, the drivers of the Houthi movement were domestic. They were domestically generated: they were about having access to power, territory, and resources. And even today, what do the Houthis really want? They want money and power, and for that, they need access to energy resources, oil and gas, and they need to control coastline, because they need imports; they need customs, they need taxes. And, of course, they’ve got leverage by hanging onto Yemen’s coastline, as we’ve seen.
Now, Iran has been a useful ally for them, and they have been a useful ally for Iran, but it would be wrong to see them as nothing more than a direct proxy of Iran. Iran does not have direct command and control over the Houthis. Right now, that’s almost a moot point, because they’re aligned in their animosity to Israel, and to America. So they’re heading in the same direction, currently. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t diverge, and it doesn’t mean that, if Iran withdrew all of its support, they wouldn’t be able to continue."

It is a domestic cult in a civil war. I bolded the parts that I think are important in this context.

As I said above, I am very rusty on this, but what is in that article is familiar.

That's blocked for me sorry.

So this is really a thread about people in the UK who support what the Houthi are doing and not about the Houthi themselves? So it's more about free speech, and specifically speech you do not like ?