Our Politics

Tag: yemen

  • OurWeek In Politics (8/27-9/2/18)

    Here are the main events that occurred in Politics this week:
    1. Myanmar Government Accused By UN of committing Genocide Against Rohingya Muslims

    The government of Myanmar has been accused of committing genocide against the Rohingya Muslims according to a UN Report issued this week

    Myanmar’s military government has been accused of genocide against the Rohingya Muslims (who belong to the Hanafi sect of Sunni Islam) in a damning UN report released on Agust 29 that alleged that the Myanmar military was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity against minorities across the country. The UN report said it found conclusive evidence that the actions of the country’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, “undoubtedly amounted to the gravest crimes under international law” in Rakhine as well as in Kachin and Shan, states also beset by internal conflicts.

    The UN investigators were denied access to Myanmar by the government but interviewed 875 observers who had fled the country. They found that the military was “killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children and burning entire villages” in Rakhine, home to the Muslim Rohingya, and in Shan and Kachin. The Tatmadaw also carried out murders, imprisonments, enforced disappearances, torture, rapes and used sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, persecution, and enslavement, all of which constitute crimes against humanity. “The fact-finding mission’s powerful report and clear recommendations demonstrate the obvious need for concrete steps to advance criminal justice for atrocious crimes, instead of more hollow condemnations and expressions of concern,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This report should eliminate any doubt about the urgency of investigating those responsible for mass atrocities.”

    Several countries have thus far condemned the ongoing human rights abuses in Myanmar. The US government announced that it had imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar security forces for what American officials said was their role in “ethnic cleansing” against Rohingya Muslims and “widespread human rights abuses” against other ethnic minority groups. Additionally, the government of Turkey has similarly condemned the actions of the government of Myanmar and has reportedly urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take appropriate steps to end the violence within the country. On the other hand, China, one of the strongest allies of the Myanmar military government, has called for a political solution to resolve the Rohingya issue, saying “unilateral accusations and pressure” will not work. Additionally, China criticized the US and its allies of hypocrisy regarding their stance on the plight of the Rohingya Muslims, noting that the US is also involved in efforts to suppress the rights of the Shi’a Muslims of Yemen through their support of the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

    2. Federal Court Strikes Down North Carolina Congressional Map

    A Federal Court decision this week has struck down North Carolina’s gerrymandered Congressional map, arguing that its existence is a violation of the 14th Amendment.

    On August 27, a federal court struck down North Carolina’s congressional map Monday, calling it an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander and throwing the state’s House elections into uncertainty just ten weeks before Election Day. It is unusual for courts to throw out a political map so close to an election, but district court judges wrote that the situation in North Carolina “presents unusual circumstances.” A three-judge panel issued the decision, noting that Republican state legislators had violated the First Amendment and the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment when they drew congressional lines that favored their party in 2011. Currently, ten of the state’s 13 House districts are held by Republicans, even though North Carolina is a swing state at the national level. Circuit Court Judge James Wynn wrote the majority opinion, and District Court Judge William Britt concurred. Former President Barack Obama appointed Wynn and Britt was appointed by former President Jimmy Carter in 1980. District Court Judge William Osteen Jr., a George W. Bush appointee, partially dissented in the decision.y

    The timing of the decision has left the North Carolina state legislature scrambling to come up with a revised election map. The court has given the North Carolina state legislature a chance to draw up a “constitutionally compliant” election map by September 17, less than three weeks away. On top of that, North Carolina has already held its 2018 congressional primaries. The court raised the option of candidates running in general election districts that were different than the ones in which their primaries were held. But the judges also floated the possibility that the state could instead hold primaries on Nov. 6, Election Day, and then hold special general election contests at a later date to be determined. “You don’t know the districts you’re running, and you don’t know when you’re having an election, so that’s my definition of chaos,” said Carter Wrenn, a Republican consultant in the state.

    https://youtu.be/CkAerrIz-48

    The decision also comes on the heels of a competitive election season in North Carolina, with several districts already in play for the Democrats. The DCCC has identified Democrats Dan McCready and Kathy Manning as top battleground candidates, and both of them have raised more money than their Republican opponents. McCready is set to face Republican Mark Harris in the 9th District outside Charlotte, while Manning is running against Republican Ted Budd in the 13th District. Meanwhile, Congressman George Holding’s campaign recently told supporters that he trailed Democrat Linda Coleman in a poll of North Carolina’s 2nd District. Additionally, the midterm election contests in North Carolina also may serve as a referendum on the performance of President Donald Trump, who barely won North Carolina in 2016 and currently has a low approval rating in the state.

    3. UN Releases Report Accusing The  Governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates  of Committing War Crimes In Yemen

    The UN released a report this week accusing the government of Saudi Arabia of committing war crimes in Yemen over the course of the four-year-long Yemen Civil War.

    Individuals at the highest level from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Sunni-led government of Yemen have committed violations of international law in Yemen that may amount to war crimes, UN experts have said in a report issued on August 28. The UN report discusses abuses including rape, torture, disappearances and “deprivation of the right to life” during the almost four-year Yemeni conflict, in which the Shi’a Houthi rebels and their allies are fighting against a Saudi-led coalition that backs the Sunni-led government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. In a particularly damning section of the report, UN noted the Saudi-led coalition routinely failed to consult its own “no-strike list” of more than 30,000 sites in Yemen, including refugee camps and hospitals. They also said the Saudi air force had failed to cooperate with them about its targeting process. “Despite the severity of the situation we continue to see a complete disregard for the people in Yemen,” said Charles Garraway, one of the authors of the report and a former legal officer to the British army.

    The 41-page report, based on visits to many parts of Yemen, said coalition airstrikes had caused most of the documented civilian casualties, with residential areas, marketplaces, funerals, weddings, detention centers, religious sites and medical facilities hit. “There is little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to minimize civilian casualties,” the group’s chair, Kamel Jendoubi, said in a statement. “I call on them to prioritize human dignity in this forgotten conflict.”

    The release of the report has sparked mixed reactions. James Mattis, the US Secretary of Defense, announced that the US would continue its steadfast support for Saudi Arabia in the conflict and that the US has seen “no callous disregard for human life” in the conflict. The government of Saudi Arabia similarly condemned the report, claiming that it has numerous inaccuracies and has mischaracterized the Saudi role in the conflict. Additionally, the United Arab Emirates foreign affairs minister, Anwar Gargash, said the report merited a response, but that the region needed to be preserved from “Iranian encroachment.” On the other hand, the Iranian government has pledged to step up their efforts to defend the Shi’a Muslims of Yemen from Saudi attacks and has urged the international community to put a stop to the War in Yemen and allow the Houthis to play a major role in the post-war settlement in Yemen.

    4. Florida, Arizona Primaries Set Up Fierce Fall Midterm Election Showdowns

    The results of the Florida and Arizona Gubernatorial and Senate Primaries have set up a fierce battle for control of Congress in the 2018 Midterm elections,

    On August 28, primaries in the states of Florida, Arizona, and Oklahoma were held, setting up a fierce fight for the fall midterm elections. In Florida, Tallahassee mayor and Bernie Sanders supporter Andrew Gillum won the Democratic primary by a relatively close margin. Assuming that he is victorious in November, Gillum would be Florida’s first African-American governor. On the Republican side, Congressman Ron DeSantis, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, pulled an upset victory in the Republican primary and credited the Presidents support for him as the primary factor behind his victory, saying that with one supportive tweet, the president “put me on the map.” On the other hand, Gillum thanked supporters who embraced “our plan for a state that makes room for all of us, not just the well-heeled and the well-connected, but all of us.”

    In addition to the Florida Gubernatorial primary results, the Florida Senate Primary was held. On the Democratic side, Senator Bill Nelson was renominated with minimal opposition, whereas Governor Rick Scott easily won the Republican Primary. The Florida Senate race is currently one of the most hotly-contested ones of the election cycle and is one of the few potential bright spots in what is likely to be a bloodbath for the Republicans across the country. Currently, Rick Scott is leading longtime Senator Bill Nelson in the polls, due to his high popularity and broad name recognition across the state. Additionally, many Democrats are worried that Nelson is not a strong enough candidate and that Scott will massively outspend him.

    In Arizona, Congresswoman Martha McSally fended off a pair of conservative challengers to win the Republican Senate primary to fill the seat vacated by retiring Senator Jeff Flake, a prominent “Never Trump‘ Republican known for his Libertarian positions on many policy issues. The Arizona primary was shadowed by the death of John McCain, a towering figure who represented Arizona in Congress since 1982. Even though John McCain has received praise from both Democrats and Republicans this week, the three Republican candidates running to replace his retiring seat-mate Flake, including establishment favorite McSally, aligned themselves more with President Trump than the longtime senator.

    The results of both primaries show that Florida and Arizona continue both closely watched states, featuring growing minority populations that have bolstered Democratic candidates and Republican electorates that have become older and more conservative. The fall face-offs could well signal how both states will vote in the 2020 presidential election.

  • OurWeek in Politics (12/2-12/9/17)

    Here are the main events that occurred in Politics this week:

    1. President Donald Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as the Capitol of Israel

    President Donald Trump announced this week that he would be ordering the US to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, much to the ire of the Palestinian people.

    On December 6, President Donald Trump followed through on a key campaign promise and announced that the US would recognize the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Defying dire warnings, Trump insisted that after repeated failures to form a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine it was past time for a new approach, starting with the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of the Israeli government. He also said the United States would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, though he set no timetable. In his announcement of this new policy, Trump stated that “We cannot solve our problems by making the same failed assumptions and repeating the same failed strategies of the past.” Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a powerfully symbolic statement about a city that houses many of the world’s holiest sites. For example, Jerusalem is sacred to both Christians and Muslims, as the city is home to the al-Aqsa Mosque where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven to receive his revelation from God, as well as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was both crucified and buried.

    2. Trump Tax Reform Proposal Passes Senate, Likely to Become Law
    President Donald Trump scored a major legislative victory this week with the passage of his tax reform bill.
    President Donald Trump’s tax reform proposal passed a major hurdle this week as it cleared the Senate by a 51-49 on December 2. In contrast to prior efforts to reform the US tax code, the Trump tax cut does not lower the top marginal tax rate of 39.6% and instead elevates the bracket to income greater than $1 million per year. The bill also eliminated the 33%, 28%, and 15% tax brackets and instead adds a 12% tax bracket. Additionally, the bill reduces the corporate tax rate by 15% and eliminates both the Alternative Minimum Tax and the Estate Tax (over a 6-year period).
    President Trump has praised the tax reform bill as a huge step forward for economic growth and as beneficial for the middle class. Despite President Trump’s rhetoric, most observers are pessimistic regarding the overall effects of the bill. For example, Nobel-Prize winning economist Paul Krugman notes that the bill will do little to spur economic growth in an already strong economy and that it will have the net effect of shifting the tax burden from the wealthy towards the middle class and poor. Additionally, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget notes that the bill will add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a ten-year period. These allegations only served to contribute to the overall unpopularity of the bill and add to the perception that it is a giveaway to the wealthy donor class that helped to elect President Donald Trump.
    3. Two Members of Congress Resign Amid Charges of Sexual Misconduct
    Senator Al Franken was one of two members of Congress to resign this week amid charges of sexual misconduct.

    The national debate regarding sexual misconduct reached its peak on December 7 with the resignations of Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), a Tea-Party allied Conservative. Additionally, the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into the allegations that Congressman Blake Farenthold (R-TX) used taxpayer dollars to pay an $84,000 sexual harassment settlement to a former aide. These events reflect the rapid pace of powerful individuals being held accountable for alleged past sexual misconduct in the weeks after Senate Candidate Roy Moore was accused of molesting three underage girls between the late 1970s and early 1990s.

    In an emotional speech from the Senate floor, Franken disputed some of the accusations and suggested he is being held to a different standard than President Trump and Roy Moore. In announcing his resignation, Franks stated that he feared he would not receive a “fair” ethics investigation “before distorted and sensationalized versions of this story would put me, my family, my staff and my noble colleagues in the House of Representatives through a hyperbolized public excoriation.” Both the Republican and Democratic Party have devised different responses to the emergence of such allegations. The Democratic Party leadership appears to be determined to grab the moral high ground in an environment in which they hope sexual harassment becomes a wedge issue in the 2018 midterm elections. On the other hand, Republican Party leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan have attempted to deflect much of the blame and attempted to frame the scandals as more situational as opposed to indicative of a wider problem of sexual misconduct and harassment at the highest levels of government.

    4. Former Yemen President Killed in Battle With Houthis

    Former Yemen President Saleh was killed in battle with the Houthis this week, signaling a new phase in the War in Yemen

    Yemen’s ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by Houthi rebels near the city of Sanaa on December 4 in a move that is expected to have major implications for the ongoing Yemen Civil War. The death was announced by the Sanaa-based interior ministry, controlled by Saleh’s allies-turned-foes, the Houthis. In a statement read out on a Houthi TV network, the interior ministry announced the “killing” of “Saleh and his supporters.” The statement also mentioned that the killing came about after “he and his men blockaded the roads and killed civilians in a clear collaboration with the enemy countries of the coalition.” The interior ministry also said its forces had “taken over all the positions and strongholds of the treacherous militia in the capital, Sanaa, and the surrounding areas, as well as other provinces in order to impose security.”

    The killing of Saleh likely came about in part due to his recent overtures to Saudi Arabia, who is currently leading a sustained military campaign in Yemen meant to destroy the Houthi movement and suppress Yemen’s Shi’a majority. These moves were unacceptable to the Houthi leadership and added to the perception that Saleh was a traitor to their cause of political reform and independence. Additionally, the Death of Saleh represent a fatal blow to the Saudi-led efforts in Yemen and may signal the end of the conflict and the formation of a government led by the Houthis.

  • “Origins of the crisis in Yemen” Video Response

    This video by CaspianReport discusses the background of the current political crisis in Yemen. Yemen is located in the Southwestern part of the Middle East and is evenly divided between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims. This central location, the lack of strong governmental institutions, and disputes between both religious sects made a conflict within the county inevitable. The conflict in Yemen began in 2011 and was part of the Arab Spring wave of protests against corrupt and authoritarian governments (often backed by Western powers) within the Middle East. The protests were led by both secular and Islamist opposition groups. Longtime rebel groups such as the Houthis (a Shi’a group primarily supported by Iran, Syria, Russia, and Lebanon) and the Southern Movement participated in the protests. President Ali Abdullah Saleh (who assumed dictatorial control of the country in 1978) responded with a violent crackdown that destabilized the country and made his downfall inevitable. Saleh was almost killed when a bomb went off in a mosque where he and other top government officials were praying in June of 2011. During Saleh’s time receiving medical treatment, he left Vice President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. As acting president, Hadi met with the opposition and expressed support for political reforms. Saleh agreed in late 2011 to resign from power, and the opposition groups subsequently agreed to allow Hadi to stand unopposed for the presidency in 2012.

    Hadi’s election was one of the first democratic transfers of power in Yemeni history and was an encouraging sign for Yemen’s political future. Despite the initial optimism surrounding his presidency, Hadi struggled to deal with numerous issues, such as attacks by Al-Qaeda, separatist movements, corruption, unemployment, and food insecurity. The Houthi movement, which champions Yemen’s Shia Muslim community (which has been the victim of much governmental repression despite their near majority in the country) took advantage of the new president’s weakness by taking control of their northern heartland of Saada province and neighboring areas. Disillusioned with the transition, many ordinary Yemenis, including Sunni’s, began to side the Houthis and in September 2014, the Houthis entered the capital, Sanaa.

    In January 2015, the Houthis reinforced their takeover of Sanaa, surrounding the presidential palace and other key points and placed political figures under house arrest. The Houthis and security forces loyal to Saleh then attempted to take control of the entire country, forcing Hadi to flee abroad in March 2015. Alarmed by the rise of a group they believed to be backed militarily by Iran, Saudi Arabia and began an air campaign aimed at restoring Hadi’s government. Even though the Saudi-led campaign has received widespread logistical and military support from countries such as the US, Israel, UK, and France, the tactics used by the Saudi military in Yemen are subject to widespread internal condemnation. Many international observers accuse the Saudi’s of indiscriminately targeting civilians, committing a religious genocide against Shi’a Muslims, and leading the country to the brink of widespread famine. Much like with many other conflicts in the region, one can argue that the primary goal of Saudi Arabia through their intervention in Yemen is to weaken the regional influence of the Iranian government and prevent any indigenous political movements in support of independence and political freedom from emerging.

  • “They Die Strangers” Book Analysis

    “They Die Strangers” Book Analysis

    The book They Die Strangers: A Novella and Stories from Yemen is a fiction book written by Mohammad Abdul-Wali and published in 2002. The book is a series of thirteen short stories which cover a range of topics that are unique to Yemen. The stories showcase the struggles that the average Yemeni goes through daily. The book also includes sections that describe the author and some history of Yemen, which illustrates the overall context of the short stories shown throughout the book. Some of the themes in They Die Strangers: A Novella and Stories from Yemen include deep poverty, civil conflict, police, culture, masculinity, among others. This paper seeks to explore several of the sections and discusses the major themes that they address.

    The book begins by discussing the North Yemen Civil War, which lasted from 1962 to 1970, and how the country was divided because of the war. This historical background is relevant today due to the current Civil War in Yemen and the fact that the war is fought along religious lines between the Sunni-dominated Yemen government and the Houthis, a Shi’a rebel group that seeks to put in place a new government in Yemen. The book also gives some background on the author, who was born in Yemen but lived in Ethiopia for most of his life and how he was viewed as an outsider in Ethiopian society. The theme of the individual’s being perceived as outsiders and as disconnected from their culture is shown throughout his writings. The opening chapter also talks about the fact that the divide between religion in both Yemeni politics and the author’s own personal life. The author also mentions being married to a Swedish wife, having an administrative position as director of the aviation authority, and spending two years in jail for political activism. As such, one can conclude that the author attempts to tell his life story in an indirect way through fictional story-telling.

    One of the more notable parts of the book was entitled The Last Class. The Last Class follows the story of a group of young students who had a passionate, young, and energetic teacher in his 20’s who inspired them to expand their knowledge and take an active interest in what was being taught in school. The teacher would come in, and the students would always be excited about everything that he discussed in their lesson because he taught with such passion and brought the school lessons to life. For example, the teacher would go over lessons not included in the curriculum such as the history of Yemen, which is often ignored by the government and glossed over by the media and society of Yemen. The writing in The Last Class was very realistic even for a work of fiction and left a personal mark on the reader.

    Another section called The Slap is about how a small boy gets disciplined by his father through physical punishment. The boy gets hit once in the side of his face, and his cheek turns bright red. His father says that he hits him because that is the only way that he will learn right from wrong. Additionally, a man with tuberculosis is depicted in this section, which is a disease that was all but eliminated in the developed world during the latter half of the 20th Century. This portrayal makes one remember that much of the world remains under-developed and poor to the point in which diseases considered to be eradicated in the developed world are still present and represent an existential threat to the lives of numerous people.

    Abu Rupee is another interesting passage in the novel. It follows a boy who talked with an old man who ran around painting people as donkeys or dogs. It is an amusing section and can be applied to society today how people are afraid to speak together, so people are forced to mock each other through art. Abu also discussed how the papers only care to print lies to make money and support the rich. That is akin to how the media slants news stories in the Western world and similar to the themes discussed in Noam Chomsky’s film The Myth of the Liberal Media which details how the media is only there to serve corporate interests. The man would go around painting pictures of people and talk about returning to Yemen and how it important his homeland is to his identity. Abu Rupee takes place in Ethiopia and then back to Yemen. The man in Abu Rupee eventually went to back to live in Yemen, and the people there would call him “Madman.” Even though he would speak the truth about how things were, he was regarded as crazy. The man made the young boy want to become an artist instead of a businessman. Abu Rupee is one of the better stories he wrote which shows class issues, poverty, and the migration of Yemeni residents to other countries, which has only increased in recent years.

    In conclusion, They Die Strangers: A Novella and Stories from Yemen was a well-written book despite being primarily fiction. Many of the themes Mohammad Abdul-Wali touches upon in this work include rampant poverty and inequality, civil conflict, masculinity issues, and the role of government in society. The main strength of the novel is that is mirrors the daily lives of people in an increasingly important area of the world and gives them a voice that they would have lacked otherwise.