Apparently, despite a global pandemic that started about 5-6 months ago, the Saudis and their allies have only just decided to stop bombing Yemen. According to the Independent the coalition is ‘concerned’ about the impact that the coronavirus pandemic could have on an already devastated country.
In other words, after 5yrs of heavy bombing that has left the people of Yemen devastated by famine and cholera and with an almost non-existent healthcare system and with more than half the population without access to clean water, the Saudis have suddenly expressed empathy and declared they want to “discuss proposals, steps, and mechanisms for sustainable ceasefire in Yemen” and they are now searching “for a comprehensive political solution in Yemen.”
What the article avoids addressing is the elephant in the room – that Yemen is a neighbouring country and, as we all know, this pandemic does not respect borders.
The Independent article also conveniently side steps the current devastation being visited upon the global economy by the Coronavirus pandemic and how this has forced many administrations to dig deep into their pockets and borrow unthinkable sums of money from banks in order to support their countries through the global lock down. It also fails to acknowledge that wars are in fact a costly affair.
It surely couldn’t be a coincidence that, on Wednesday this week, the House Republicans threatened to push back against Saudi activity that caused a recent oil market slump could it? Apparently, a Saudi/Russian trade war has flooded the market with oil and sunk oil prices and Trump has even threatened tariffs on foreign fuel sources. It’s also worth noting that, at the moment, because of the lock down and the ban on travel, there’s been a massive decline in demand for fuel, which is also likely to have a massive impact on the allied finances. In fact, the Guardian has just reported that despite US efforts to stabilise the price of oil, it’s continuing to drop.
The House Republicans statement on Wednesday didn’t pull any punches…
“Failure to address this energy crisis will jeopardize the joint efforts between our nations to collaborate economically and militarily… If the Kingdom fails to act fairly to reverse this manufactured energy crisis, we would encourage any reciprocal responses that the U.S. government deems appropriate.”
I guess we’ve come to expect governments putting a spin on things, we’ve even come to expect mainstream tabloids pushing their own bias narrative but for a newspaper like the Independent, which prides itself on having a keener than average insight, to completely fail to dig a little deeper or even to ask a few basic questions, you do begin to wonder whether you can trust any mainstream source at all these days?
