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mpoloton | 6 years ago

Yet, Saudi Arabia is an ally of US and purchases billion dollars of American weapons that kills civilians. You know very well that the sanctions has nothing to do with the democracy index. It is just another tool in the toolbox of the empire to force its hegemony throughout the world.

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jariel|6 years ago

The Saudis are defending their nation from direct attacks by violent forces just across the border, fully supported and instigated by Iran. Iran recently wiped out 50% of Saudi refining capacity (5% of world output), which is basically shocking.

Now - Saudi Arabia is not keen on human rights in general, and does not play very nice with their weapons, but the clear reality is that they would be happy to stay put at home.

The Saudi Government is not actively trying to destabilise the region or the world, they play nice with the West, and work closely with the US etc. to hunt down terrorists, and of course they have Oil which they sell freely on world markets, with no strategic dealings with others (i.e. China, Russia) - that's why they are an ally. So yes, democracy is obviously not the entire motivation for US sanctions, but it's part of the equation.

nootropicat|6 years ago

No, Saudi Arabia is invading Yemen because their puppet politician, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, lost power in a popular revolution. It's a clear-cut war of aggression - which the Saudis are losing. Among other things, they like to use child soldiers [2] and intentionally caused a famine [3], with over 85k starved children:

>Saudi Arabia was reported to be deliberately targeting means of food production and distribution in Yemen[47] by bombing farms,[48][49] fishing boats,[50] ports,[51] food storages, food factories,[52][53] and other businesses[54] in order to exacerbate famine. These actions led to the UN accusing the Saudi-led coalition of committing war crimes and having a "complete disregard for human life"

>On August 3, 2019, a United Nations report said the US, UK and France may be complicit in committing war crimes in Yemen by selling weapons and providing support to the Saudi-led coalition which is using the starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_takeover_in_Yemen

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/27/serious-ques...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_Yemen_(2016%E2%80%93...

peterashford|6 years ago

I'm unsure how bombing schools and hospitals defends them from "violent forces"?