President Biden outlined a sweeping vision of restored American global leadership on Thursday, announcing an end to U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen and vowing to confront Russia and China. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/us/biden-yemen-saudi-arabia.html
This is long overdue, but quite frankly this announcement merely means Biden will no longer be pouring gasoline on the fire that Obama started. Yemen was often referred to as a model example for the Obama administration's counter terrorism policy in the middle east, but in 2014 all that changed when civil war broke out in Yemen, which in 2015 was announced by the UN to be the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world, surpassing the Syrian civil war. Tensions between the Yemeni people and their government were high when in 2013 the Yemeni parliament voted nearly unanimously to end US drone strikes in Yemen, but ultimately in Yemen their parliament works more as an adviser to their president, who is essentially given doctorial power over their governing decisions. Yemen's president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi unilaterally made the decision to ignore the Yemeni parliament's vote, and continue to allow drone strikes in Yemen This didn't single handedly cause the Yemeni civil war, but it certainly played its part in heightening tensions between the Yemeni people and their government. Today Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi still claims to be the president of the Yemeni people, even though he spends his days living in exile in Saudi Arabia. I am glad to see president Biden announce that we will no longer be supporting Saudi Arabia's offensive efforts in Yemen, and am hopeful that this means we will being ending all US arms sales to Saudi Arabia permanently
Agreed, it's the biggest positive shock from the Biden Administration as I largely linked him with the status quo of American politicians. Now, he stresses we'll still "support" the Saudi state, but this is definitely a big wakeup call for the Saudis to actually change course and to be a worthy ally of America. Because Saudi behavior is a black eye on our arguments for "pro democracy' around the world. I'm going to give Biden the fair shake he deserves to get, even if I disagree with most policies, when he does something right I'll applaud him for it. Meaning I hugely disagree with the refugee cap but that's not my call. Just because America had opened itself to refugees in the past, doesn't mean we should always do so and not without careful vetting.
I wouldn't worry about the cap. The previous cap was 15,000. This year it will be 62,500, and 125,000 after that. Everybody is vetted carefully. The point is that if we can vet 15,000 people a year, we can vet 125,000 a year. This is where Biden's knowledge and experience come into play. He knows how government works and how to get things done. Interesting factoid: In general elections, Joe Biden is 10-0. Once for a seat on the Newcastle County Council, six Senate campaigns, two vice-presidential campaigns and one presidential campaign. That's real winning. (general elections, excluding two presidential primary losses)
Our involvement started during the Obama administration, of which Biden was a part. I'm glad he's reversing the policy, but could someone please explain to me why we remain friendly with Saudi Arabia? That's one of the most midieval and repressive regimes on the planet.
I am very surprised that Trump left this win for Biden on the table. I know he is cozy with MBS, but he could have easily taken this approach and not lost much. The move seemed to be in his America First wheelhouse too.
Tulsi Gabbards called Trump out on his Saudi support. I think a lot of our foreign policy can be corrected, just by getting rid of this concept that we can export democracy everywhere. We can't. We can't even run a functioning democracy ourselves. And no, I don't even mean just or simply the orange man. I think we should focus here at home, and our foreign policy should be guided off of exactly what Biden/Harris both said: Does it help the US/Middle class? Hence why the opportunity is ripe to make Hong Kong a 51st state of the Union(if Biden really wants to irritate the Chinese) and to get a substantial port and economic hub engine for Americans.
I agree, and I hope this means we are done selling arms to Saudi Arabia for good. The government of Saudi Arabia is no better than the Taliban in my opinion. I've tried to come up with reasons why the Taliban is worse, but I honestly cannot come up with any. They are oppressive and tyrannical, and they've in the past aided terrorist attacks against us, including the 9/11 attacks. Why were selling them weapons to begin with?
We are friendly with Saudi Arabia because they are friendly for a middle eastern country as a Government to the West(including Israel) , that friendship along with money from oil have resulted in reciprocating investments with the West, and they are considered the leader of OPEC which has an economic impact on the World as a whole. They also allow 5 U.S. military bases for our use in the middle east, and seem to prefer to buys weapons systems from us.
How are we gonna get Hong Kong? Do you mean making Puerto Rico 51st state of the union? For kicks, if we somehow took over Hong Kong, like they revolted and declared they were part of the US, would it benefit the US/Middle class? Would China allow sea and air ports in Hong Kong to operate under that circumstance, you know before they forcefully and easily took it back?
To begin with, we needed their oil. We don't need it anymore, haven't needed it for a long time. Excuses for their behaviors should come to an end, IMO.
Yes, I get all of that. I just wish we didn't support them to the degree that we excuse their behavior towards their own people.
