Conflicts of Interest: Biden Green Lights Saudis’ Increased Destruction of Yemen

On COI #225, Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman break down the latest U.S.-Russia news, the impending “political decisions” that are to be made if the JCPOA is revived, and the U.S. backed Saudi coalition’s hugely increased bombings on the civilians of Yemen.

Kyle covers today’s phone call between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as well as Vladimir Putin’s recent speech on the status of talks regarding Moscow’s security proposals. Putin expressed frustration over Washington’s refusal to take their primary concerns seriously, namely NATO’s “open door” to Kyiv. There is still the possibility of talks on immensely important issues like arms control, restoring the INF treaty, and missile placements. A growing rift continues to widen between Washington and the Ukrainians over the reality of the so-called imminent Russian invasion threat. Unnamed American and European officials in the media are smearing Kyiv’s President Volodymyr Zelensky  for his recent calls for calm.  Both sides, NATO as well as the Russians and their allies, continue to carry out military exercises.

Connor updates the situation with Iran and the JCPOA. The Americans are saying we are reaching the negotiations’ “final stretch.” All participants seem to agree that this is the case and are saying now is the time for difficult “political decisions.” Possibly the best news is that Richard Nephew, who has a dark history of gleefully waging economic warfare against the Iranian people, is no longer a member of the U.S. negotiating team. Connor also discusses the Iranian President’s recent trip to Moscow and his meeting with Putin.

Kyle and Connor detail President Joe Biden’s current policy on Yemen. It is reportedly to allow the Saudis to take the gloves off against the Houthis and Yemen’s civilians for an indefinite period. That is until they feel comfortable ending the war having saved face. The UN says nearly 400,000 people have already been killed or starved to death in the war, most victims are children. In practice, Biden’s policy is quickly resulting in what the UN says are some of the highest civilian death tolls during the almost seven-year genocidal war. Since the recent Houthi retaliatory missile and drone attacks on the UAE, Biden has said they are considering redesignating the Houthis as a terrorist organization and reimposing sanctions on their leadership as well. This would criminalize what little aid is making its way through the Saudi blockade at this point and worsen the humanitarian crisis by orders of magnitude. Hawks in the Senate led by Republican Ted Cruz, have introduced a bill demanding that Biden promptly reinstate the callous Trump policy. The proposed redesignation is strongly opposed by myriad aid and humanitarian groups but Cruz lies that anything less would continue Biden’s “appeasement” of Iran.

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