Houthis Are Changing the Rules of the Game

The issues and battles between the Americans and the Russians are interrelated and intertwined, beginning in Ukraine and ending in Yemen. Each is trying to belittle and limit the influence and role of the other. The United States interfered in Ukraine and wanted to put pressure on Russia by softening the Russian position toward the Syrian crisis in exchange for protecting Russian interests in Ukraine. However, the United States knows well that Ukraine and Syria are within the red lines that cannot be crossed when it comes to strategic Russian interests in the region. Both countries give Russia access to the Black and Mediterranean Seas, thus the dominance of the West in any of them is a serious threat to Russian interests, especially of oil and gas pipelines. The United States has waged a war in Iraq and created the Islamic State to stop the Russian alliance expansion from Moscow to Palestine. America feels that the success of such an alliance constitutes a serious threat to its interests and those of its allies in the region. It is therefore closely monitoring the events in the Gulf region, which is a crucial ground for American military bases, and most importantly, a crucial artery for oil resources and the wellbeing of its people, as well as for its command and control of the Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea. Yemen, which was swept by the so-called “Arab Spring,” was undergoing divisions fueled by sectarian and tribal conflicts at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood group and the rotten Alkimberadoria, and the non-patriotic bourgeoisie, which had ties with Saudi Arabia. They looted the riches and wealth of this country, impoverished its people and increased rates of corruption, hunger, unemployment and underdevelopment.

Saudi Arabia wants Yemen to remain poor, divided and dependent on it. The Houthis were in the meantime leading a popular and democratic mass revolution to reform and fight corruption and change, and stop the ferocious and corrupt vultures who were encroaching on the country’s institutions and looting its wealth. America and the rich oil sheikhs did not think that the Houthis might be able to control Yemen.

It was tangibly proven that the Yemeni population stood by the Houthis and helped them, along with the army, to take control of the capital, Sanaa. Their control over Yemen meant that the Russians and Iranians are on the doorsteps of Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea. This constituted a real threat to American and Saudi interests in the region. Aside from that, the Houthis may have stopped and obstructed the possibility of dividing and breaking up Yemen, but what happened there could spread to Bahrain and Kuwait and could pose a new threat to American allies like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Therefore, we found that America, which has been working on forming an international alliance to fight the terrorist Islamic State group — their own creation, in Iraq and Syria, has instead decided not to strike them in Iraq but in Syria first. It will do this with the cooperation of the Gulf oil sheikhs, in a clear message to Russia and Iran that Yemen will be in exchange for Syria.

What’s striking is the extent of Saudi fear of what is happening in Yemen. Their foreign minister asked for an urgent meeting with his Iranian counterpart, while at the same time they were insisting against any reconciliation between the United States, Europe and Iran concerning their nuclear file. They have been urging the United States to strike Iran and to forbid any agreement between them. Saudi Arabia even instigated the Arabic and Islamic world against them by way of playing on faith. It portrayed the real and serious threat to their country and wealth as stemming from Iran, not Israel. However, things changed after the Houthis took over Yemen. Saudi Arabia then caved in and announced, after the meeting of their two foreign ministers, the start of a new relationship between them and Iran. The new period will mark the presence and essential participation of Iran in the entire region’s affairs including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain and so forth. The fallout of the events in Yemen will surpass its boundaries and those of the Gulf countries to have an impact on the whole region. They could pave the way for a total regional reconciliation between Russia and Washington and the start of a resolution of the Syrian issue.

Things could move toward a broad settlement or the situation could escalate to widespread war. The major question remains: Will Saudi Arabia admit defeat after the Houthis took over Yemen? Or will they ignite the situation and drag Yemen into a civil war? Does what happened there mean the downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood and the tumbling of their ideology after the spike of the so-called “Arab Spring” in many Arab nations like Egypt, Tunisia and Libya? The failure of the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology in taking over Syria and its total devastation in Egypt and Libya has driven this project into oblivion since its inception at the hands of Sayyid Qutb in 1928. From its beginnings, their ideology relied on the concept of an oppressed and persecuted resistance and the support of popular demands. Come to find out, what they really wanted was to seize control of power and serve their own interests, and to make society, the nation and the rulers follow their ideology.

Many questions remain unanswered, and the stormy developments might cause a geopolitical change in the region. What’s remarkable is that the Arabs do not decide their own destiny, or have their independent choice, or even have any weight to defend their interests. Instead, they are controlled by others and dragged to the slaughterhouse like cattle. America defines who their enemies and friends are according to what suits it and demands that they do as it wishes; at times it instigates them against Iran, telling them it is their key enemy, and after their reconciliation together the Americans demand that they spend their money and pump human reserves to fight against the Syrian regime; and then, to fight the terrorist and takfiri groups nurtured in the Gulf countries, supported and provided for by America and the colonial West to serve their goals and interests.

It is not surprising now that the war will turn against the Houthis on the grounds that the country is on the brink of civil war, and the Houthis will persecute the other components of Yemeni society. However, it is clear that the changes which took place in Yemen will be followed by other changes in the region that would end the rule of the oil sheikhs who have transformed their nations into farms and fiefdoms and private kingdoms, starving and impoverishing their people, plundering their resources and wealth, and passing them on to their children. The situation in Bahrain, Kuwait, even Qatar and Saudi Arabia will not remain the same. Change is inevitably coming. Those that created the terrorist and takfiri groups will be burnt by their flames and terrorism will backfire on them.

The engine of change has begun in Yemen and will continue to end decades of domination, dictatorship and humiliation of the people and denial of their most basic rights at the hands of kings, sheikhs and princes who have enslaved and humiliated them for a long time.