Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 11, 2015

Karl Sharro, The Atlantic: The Confused Person's Guide to Yemen

It’s simply a Saudi-Iranian-American-Yemeni-al-Qaeda civil/proxy war.

“What the hell is happening in Yemen?” is now one of the most urgent geopolitical questions in the Middle East. Sadly, few people are qualified or knowledgeable enough to answer this pressing question. Most experts agree that most experts can’t give you a straight answer. The reality is Yemen is a complex place that is very hard to understand for outsiders, and even more so for insiders. Indeed, most of the people asking what is happening in Yemen are Yemenis themselves.

Now I am not an expert on Yemen. But being Lebanese, I am an expert on not knowing what is happening in my country, which gives me valuable insight into the situation in Yemen. I have therefore compiled this essential primer for understanding the current conflict in Yemen and what will happen there next. (Experts also agree that anything is possible there next, which narrows things down.)

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 11, 2015

Saudi Arabia's Yemen War Unravels -- David B. Ottaway, National Interest

Saving the Saudis From Their Yemen Disaster -- Bloomberg editorial

Why so many children are fighting in Yemen’s civil war -- Ali al-Mujahed and Hugh Naylor, Washington Post

Is Saudi Arabia's King Snubbing Obama? -- Dominic Waghorn, SKY News

The Gulf Arab snub to Obama isn’t so bad -- M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times

The Inside Story Of The Saudi Snub -- Charles Dickey, Daily Beast

Arabs Need Obama to Guarantee His Guarantee -- Eli Lake, Bloomberg

3 Big Trends That Will Shape the Arab World -- Maha Yahya, National Interest

David Cameron’s Europe -- Carl Bildt, Project Syndicate

A perfect political storm brews in Macedonia -- Matt Robinson, Reuters

Raúl Castro the Catholic? Pope Francis's message resonates in Communist Cuba -- Harry Bruinius, CSM

Apple Could Make Money by Bailing Out Greece -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

'Canada's Texas' just swung hard blue. Here's why that matters. -- Steven Bodzi, CSM

America's Future Got $7 Trillion Worse Since the Financial Crisis -- Kasia Klimasinska, Bloomberg

The many problems with Seymour Hersh's Osama bin Laden conspiracy theory -- Max Fisher, VOX

The geopolitics of Seymour Hersh's Osama bin Laden story -- Peter Grier, CSM

How Much Longer Can The Oil Age Last? -- Gaurav Agnihotri, OilPrice.com