I do hope that the readers of this blog are well versed in what can happen after empires oppress people toward a degree of rebellion. The thirteen American colonies stood up to the powerful British army and navy and then formed their own federated republic in its aftermath.
In 2019, on the world stage, we have seen a 4 year war by Saudi Arabia (aided by US arms and the US military) on its neighbor Yemen. The blogger “Moon of Alabama” does a great job of not only covering the events of the evening of 13SEP2019 but also the context for this ongoing war that has led to a humanitarian disaster inside of Yemen:
The war on Yemen, launched by the Saudi clown prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2015, cost Saudi Arabia several billion dollar per month. The Saudi budget deficit again increased this year and is expected to reach 7% of its GDP. The country needs fresh money or much higher oil prices.
How does one country get away with attacking another country without consequences in 2019. Enter the United States of America, the American Empire. The Saudis actually launched the war in late MAR2015 with the full support of the Obama administration. They had that agreement ahead of time that the United States would provide the logistical support, the bombs themselves as well as assistance in targeting. Not necessarily explicitly targeting of each bomb, but sort of the strategic technical assistance in making decisions about how to approach the war. In addition to this, was the assurance the United States government would provide the political and even diplomatic cover for the war.
Is this sick or what? Actually, this is the same guarentee the American Empire has given to Saudi Arabia’s middle east partner (in crime) Israel, but I digress. (I sense another blog post is needed for that one right there)
The Saudis have actually felt that they could get away with not just continuing to bomb civilian targets, infrastructure targets and establishing a thorough blockade, but this economic blockade of Yemen preventing the fuel, food and medicine from coming into the country that this poorest nation in the Middle East needs to have in order to survive is lunacy. Only the US could enable a nation to operate above international laws in this world.
So the continuity from the Obama administration through the Trump Administration is that all they care about is to support the Saudis because the Saudis are anti-Iranian. Human life is second to keeping the US citizens in fear about what the Iranians might do. Millions starve because the American Empire is acting as the world’s bully. This ain’t no shining city on a hill. This ain’t no land of the free, it is a land of sheep who care less about what its masters do across the globe.
Again, I digress.
Back to the events of a few nights ago when 10 drones controlled by Yemeni Houthi forces targeted two major Saudi oil installations, Abqaiq and Babqaiq only 60 km (37 miles) southwest of Aramco’s Dhahran headquarters, and caused several large fires.
The oil and gas conditioning plant in Abqaiq is the largest of the world. It sits at the center of Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas infrastructure. Abqaiq processes 6.8 million barrels of crude oil each day. More than two thirds of all Saudi oil and gas production runs through it. It is not clear yet how much of the widespread facility was destroyed.
Looking at this map and the sheer distance from Yemen, one does have to wonder about these ten drones being this accurate. My own questions include, is this a false flag? Could these have been launched from within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or from Iraq or Iran even?
‘Moon of Alabama’ is on it:
But drones may not have been the sole cause of the incident. Last night a Kuwaiti fishermen recorded the noise of a cruise missile or some jet driven manned or unmanned aircraft coming from Iraq. Debris found on the ground in Saudi Arabia seems to be from an Soviet era KH-55 cruise missile or from a Soumar, an Iranian copy of that design. The Houthi have shown cruise missiles, likely from Iran, with a similar design (see below). After an attack on Saudi oil installations in August there were accusations that at least some of the attacks came from Iraq. Iran was accused of having been involved in that attack. While this sounds unlikely it is not inconceivable.
The August 2019 turning point of this war with Yemen has the Saudi’s on their heels. The Saudi’s have no protection setup to the south of their oil production facilities. ‘Moon of Alabama’ said last month:
Saudi Arabia finally lost the war on Yemen. It has no defenses against the new weapons the Houthis in Yemen acquired. These weapons threaten the Saudis’ economic lifelines.
Blowback is like Karma .. sometimes it is a b****. In my mind, this is partial justice for the Saudi’s decision (along with Israel, UK and US) to create ISIS and all the havoc it did in Iraq and Syria.
The projected Saudi expenses to get protection is expense and takes time and will not necessarily work.
… would require hundreds of Russian made Pantsyr-S1 and BUK air defense systems to protect Saudi oil installations.
In the mean time to shore up their financial state the Saudis recently renewed plans to sell a share of its state owned oil conglomerate Aramco.
What goes around, comes around. For whatever reason Saudi Arabia had for starting a war with the poorest country in the Middle East has coincided with low oil prices which is driving the Saudis to new levels of desperation in order to maintain control of the citizens of their country.
This will not end well.
Stay tuned
-SF1