UN Has Endorsed Yemen's Death Warrant: UK Analyst

“What is happening in Yemen should not come as a surprise to anyone especially to the UN because on one hand it is the very same body that has endorsed Yemen's death warrant and on the other hand it is predicting how many deaths are going to take place,” Riaz Karim, the director and co-founder of the Mona Relief Organization, said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

“When a country's infrastructure is completely destroyed and they are deliberately denied the very basic of human rights such as shelter, clean drinking water and proper sanitation, cases of deadly conditions such as Cholera are bound to spread like wildfire,” he noted.

Karim is a consultant for Veritas Consulting of London, UK. He is also a commentator for a number of media outlets around the world and a political expert on Yemen and the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: As you know, the Saudi war on Yemen has caused a human tragedy. According to the World Health Organization, Yemen is facing the "world's worst cholera outbreak", with about 1,310 people dying from the disease since late April. More than 200,000 suspected cases of cholera have been recorded in the war-torn country and as many as 300,000 people could become infected by the end of August, Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general, said in a recent statement. Why has the international community remained passive in the face of the ongoing Saudi crimes?

Karim: Yemen is one of those cases where a bunch of bullying countries led by Saudi Arabia have come together and completely disregarded a country's sovereignty in order not only to bomb them but starve them to death. Most of the international community is not passive but complicit in the crimes against humanity. When a country's infrastructure is completely destroyed and they are deliberately denied the very basic of human rights such as shelter, clean drinking water and proper sanitation, cases of deadly conditions such as Cholera are bound to spread like wildfire. What is happening in Yemen should not come as a surprise to anyone especially to the UN because on one hand it is the very same body that has endorsed Yemen's death warrant and on the other hand it is predicting how many deaths are going to take place. In the real world that is called hypocrisy.

Tasnim: Some Western countries that claim to be champions of human rights are pursuing double standard policies on Saudi Arabia's atrocities. Last month, US President Donald Trump signed a nearly $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. How do you see Washington’s role in the Riyadh regime’s heinous crimes against Yemen?

Karim: Let's be clear about one thing, the very countries that are so called champions of human rights are the very countries that supply Saudi Arabia with arms, so in this day and age Human Rights and greed do not belong in the same sentence, they can only pick one of the two and they pick profits over human life. Pure and simple. President Donald Trump goes to Saudi Arabia and never once mentions “radical Islamic terrorism” which has been his mantra throughout his campaign, this was the very thing that he condemned President Obama for, and then he does a 180 turn and signs the biggest arms deal in American history with the Saudis — the same people he insisted were behind 9/11 it makes one wonder about the route he chose to take in order to make America great again doesn't it?

As for the role in the engineered destruction of Yemen, it serves a multitude of purposes, firstly profits, secondly it's instrumental in redrawing the Middle East map for the benefit of a greater Israel, thirdly the Saudi's do want an alternative for the Strait of Hormuz for their oil trade, besides historically the Saudis have been "Land Grabbers" and old habits die hard. The difference is now they have bought the services of powerful allies and the world governing body in order to collectively commit crimes against humanity in Yemen.

Tasnim: Since the start of its war on Yemen, the Saudi regime has reached none of its objectives. In 2015, the kingdom had a record budget deficit of almost $100 billion, prompting it to rein in public spending in a bid to save money. Why is the regime continuing its attacks on the Arabian Peninsula country despite its failures and cash-strapped economy?

Karim: The initial idea was a "shock and awe" that was supposed to last a short time in order to speed up Mohammed Bin Salman to the throne, nobody expected a small nation like Yemen would stand up to the might of the world's most powerful nations. This defied all predictions and logic, and to date the Saudis and their allies are continuing to fight a lost war in order to save face. If anything Yemen has taught the most powerful nations a lesson in warfare and resilience. None of the wars the Saudi Regime is supporting or fighting are winnable, manufacturing, supporting and fighting wars is a very expensive business, the world is unaware that almost half of the Saudi population was living below the poverty line even before the war in Yemen started, now with the crunch in Public Spending, these people are going to be worse off, but who cares as long as the royal family stands to make money, so what if they have to borrow money from the market, fight unwinnable wars and offer Saudi Aramco as a Public Offering.