Ben Cohen, Algemeiner/JNS.org: Could Yemen Be the Start of a Major Middle East War?
Back in Roman times, Yemen went by the name “Arabia Felix”—Latin for “Happy Arabia.” It’s hard to think of a greater misnomer for this Arab state on the southern tip of the Persian Gulf, a few miles across the water from the Horn of Africa.
The Romans actually had a pretty miserable time there. Aelius Gallus, who was the Prefect of Egypt in 26 BCE, tried to conquer the territory and was roundly defeated. Through the ages, Yemen maintained its warlike image, with its various tribes doing battle with the Ottoman Turks and the British Empire. The north won independence from the Turks on 1918, while the south remained under British rule. By 1967, there were two states in Yemen. In the north, you had the Yemen Arab Republic, and in the south you had the People’s Democratic Republic of South Yemen; the north was oriented towards the Arab states, while the south was a run by hardline communist government.
WNU Editor: A brief but good summary on the history of Yemen. As to the possibility that Yemen may be the start of a major Middle Eastern war .... I doubt it .... the war in Syria and Iraq is where the action is. But being apart of the greater Sunni - Shiite conflict .... definitely.
5 comments:
Karwansaray publishes to kick ass magazines Ancient Warfare & Medieval Warfare. It has great scholarship. I believe it is based out of Belgium.
http://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/pw
/ancient-history-magazine/
Issue 5 vol 7
Covers the almost Roman conquest of Arabia.
The Romans won every battle but drunk their AO dry and 1/2 the army was lost to thirst.
http://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/pw/ancient-warfare/previous-issues/ancient-warfare-vii.5/
This is a must read issue. Rome had a port at Aden for a wehile. They also had a naval base on an island at the mouth of the Red Sea.
There were Roman merchants at Socotra.
Rome or Byzantium sent missionaries to Ethiopia to Christianize them in part or in large part so they would become allies. Ethiopia took over policing the Red Sea from the Romans.
They jumped the Red Sea and became involved in the politics of Yemen. It created hard feelings.
Did Arabia arise the same way the Kingdom of Van arose?
Romans had trade contact with India through that area.
Since the "on to Mosul" campaign has stalled and Yemen is hanging fire, the near future should have Iran stirring up something on Israel's northern border.
If a campaign is stalled, the wanna be aggressor must lack something:
- men
- material
- courage
- a plan
If they lack the material,their budget must be tight. You do not stay stalled for weeks and then months because you have money but can't get the stuff.
Obama has just going to have to try harder to lift all sanctions and fix the Iranians economy like he fixed the US
You're very close Aizino. Iran's biggest mid term goal and largest problem is Saudi Arabia. Yes, Iran is short on money and from their perspective lifting the sanctions is not the best path to resolve that shortage. The key for a money fix is Saudi Arabia. They must somehow force the Saudis to cut production and let the price rise. How? They tried talking, hasn't worked. In the meantime their machinations in Iraq and Yemen represented physical pressure from two directions, but have encountered difficulties; 1) That the Iraq's with tacit US air support are not quite up to the job. 2) The recent US actions off Yemen were unexpected, and Yemen itself is just a little too far away to move in a Hezbollah type organization very quickly. So what now? The Saudis are aware of all of this and will not cut production for anything, this is their big throw to stop Iran. In essence it's a giant race and time is running out on Iran. They must make some very big decisions quickly (large scale overt military intervention in either Iraq or Yemen or both) that until now they've judged as politically unfeasible. For those who think Iran would have qualms about doing this, should think twice.
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