Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Congress is finally pushing the US to withdraw from Yemen. It's about time

"Donald Trump Is Dropping Bombs at Unprecedented Levels"

Yep, that is a huge expense. And it's not right that so many are not aware of Trump's escalated bomb fetish.
This one doesn't include bombs, but does deal with Trump's servile involvement in that disastrous war.

Mark Weisbrot

The Senate’s vote this week to push the US military to withdraw from Yemen is historic for a number of reasons

Fri 30 Nov 2018 11.43 EST
Last modified on Fri 30 Nov 2018 17.01 EST

[...]

Democratic Senators such as Murphy, Lee, and Dick Durbin of Illinois were unusually frank in the Senate debate. They used words like “involvement” and “participation” to describe the US military role – in contrast to the fuzzier descriptions of “support” and “complicity” that are often seen in the media.

In a recent interview .. https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/05/there-is-an-american-imprint-on-every-single-civilian-death-inside-yemen/ .. Senator Murphy said:

"I think there is an American imprint on every single civilian death inside Yemen. We sell them the bombs, we help them with the targeting, we fuel their planes in mid-air, and we give them moral cover. So I don’t think there is any way around complete American culpability for the humanitarian nightmare that is happening there."

In addition to the public educational benefits of this kind of honesty, it’s important as a legal matter because of another historic, path-breaking feature of this senate action. The vote represents the first time that the US Senate has invoked the 1973 War Powers Resolution in an effort to end unauthorized US military participation in a war.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/30/congress-finally-pushing-us-withdraw-yemen

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Yemen ceasefire resolution blocked at UN after Saudi and UAE 'blackmail'

* Britain had drafted resolution to avert famine
* Security council threatened with boycott of Stockholm talks

Julian Borger in Washington
Thu 29 Nov 2018 02.00 EST
Last modified on Thu 29 Nov 2018 11.50 EST

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, leaves after meeting with the leader of the Houthi Revolutionary Committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, in Sana’a, Yemen, at the weekend.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/29/un-yemen-ceasefire-resolution-blocked-saudi-uae-blackmail

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Prisoner swap deal adds to hopes for downplayed Yemen talks

DAVID KEYTON, BRIAN ROHAN Dec 6, 2018 Updated 4 hrs ago

3 min to read

[...]

U.N. officials, however, have sought to downplay expectations from the talks, saying they don't foresee rapid progress toward a political settlement but hope for at least minor steps that would help to address Yemen's worsening humanitarian crisis and prepare a framework for further negotiations.

Some Yemeni voices on both sides fired off last-minute demands, sniping commentary and finger-pointing, while combat continued on the ground in some areas.

[...]

"We here in Taiz have been three years without salaries, and still we are here in the street, looking for an income," said local Faisal al-Asali from a street cafe.

[...]

Griffiths said the talks would address several main points mentioned by both sides: broader prisoner exchanges, the release of funds to the central bank to pay civil servants in rebel-controlled territory, a possible handover of the port at Hodeida to the U.N., and rebel calls to lift the coalition's blockade of Sanaa airport to commercial traffic.

https://www.newsandtribune.com/cnhi_network/yemen-peace-talks-start-in-sweden-with-prisoner-swap-deal/article_cbce405e-fa5f-5919-be14-c2eebde0ac23.html