Peace in Yemen?

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Saudi delegation to hold ceasefire talks with Yemen's Houthis in Sanaa
https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...-more-restrictions-yemens-imports-2023-04-07/
Aziz El Yaakoubi & Mohammed Alghobari (07 April 2023)

RIYADH/ADEN - Saudi and Omani envoys are planning to visit Yemen's capital Sanaa next week to negotiate a permanent ceasefire deal with Iran-aligned Houthi officials and end an eight-year-old conflict there, two people involved in the talks said.

The move signals that regional rifts are easing after rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore relations last month following years of hostility and backing opposite sides in Middle Eastern conflicts, including Yemen.

A visit by Saudi officials to Sanaa is an indication of progress in Oman-mediated talks between the kingdom and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which run in parallel to United Nations peace efforts.

Oman, which shares borders with Yemen, has been trying for years to bridge differences between Yemen's warring parties, and more broadly between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the United States. A permanent ceasefire in Yemen would mark a milestone in stabilising the Middle East.

If an agreement is reached, the parties could announce it before Islam's Eid holiday starting April 20, the sources said.

The Saudi and Yemeni governments did not immediately respond to requests for a comment.

The Houthis, who ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa in late 2014, de facto control north Yemen and say they are rising up against a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

They have been fighting against a Saudi-led military alliance since 2015 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and left 80% of Yemen's population dependent on humanitarian aid.

FERTILISERS AND BATTERIES

The discussions are focused on a full reopening of Yemen's ports and airports, payment of wages for public servants, a rebuilding process and a political transition, the sources said.

Saudi Arabia restarted its direct talks with the Houthi group last summer after both sides failed to renew a United Nations-brokered truce deal.

The U.N. hopes to resume a peaceful political process which would lead to a transitional unity government, if a ceasefire agreement is reached.
U.N. Special Envoy Hans Grundberg met with senior Omani and Houthi officials in Muscat this week and discussed ways to make progress towards an inclusive Yemeni-led political process, his office said.

Following years of a bitter rivalry and armed conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran, their biggest trade partner China recently stepped in to work with both sides and improve relations.

Beijing, concerned with stability in a region that covers most of its crude oil needs, recently brokered a deal between Riyadh and Tehran to restore diplomatic relations.

In an additional sign of progress in Yemen's peace efforts, the Saudi-led coalition lifted eight-year-old restrictions on imports headed for Yemen's southern ports, allowing commercial ships to dock directly there, including Aden, the Saudi-backed government said.

This follows the easing of restrictions in February on commercial goods entering the Houthi-held western port of Hodeidah, the country's main seaport.

Abu Bakr Abeed, deputy head of Yemen's Chambers of Commerce, told Reuters ships would not have to stop at the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah for security checks for the first time since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015.

Abeed said more than 500 types of goods would be allowed back in Yemen through southern ports, including fertilisers and batteries, after they were removed from a list of banned products.

The Saudi-led coalition had since 2015 imposed severe restrictions on flow of goods into import-reliant Yemen, where war has devastated the economy, contributing to what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
 
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Meanwhile ...

CIA director makes unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/06/politics/cia-director-william-burns-saudi-arabia/index.html
Alex Marquardt (06 April 2023)

CIA Director William Burns made an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this week to meet with intelligence counterparts.

“Director Burns traveled to Saudi Arabia where he met with intelligence counterparts and country leaders on issues of shared interest. The Director reinforced our commitment to intelligence cooperation especially in areas such as counterterrorism,” a US official told CNN.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Burns expressed frustration with Saudi officials over Riyadh’s recent rapprochement with Iran through a diplomatic deal brokered by China as well as the kingdom’s openings with Syria.
 
Neo-cons worst nightmare, I half expect bombs to start falling on Beijing in retaliation.
 
Can't have peace breaking out in the Middle East, after all.

Totally unacceptable.

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Mg
 
Meanwhile ...

CIA director makes unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/06/politics/cia-director-william-burns-saudi-arabia/index.html
Alex Marquardt (06 April 2023)

CIA Director William Burns made an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this week to meet with intelligence counterparts.

“Director Burns traveled to Saudi Arabia where he met with intelligence counterparts and country leaders on issues of shared interest. The Director reinforced our commitment to intelligence cooperation especially in areas such as counterterrorism,” a US official told CNN.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Burns expressed frustration with Saudi officials over Riyadh’s recent rapprochement with Iran through a diplomatic deal brokered by China as well as the kingdom’s openings with Syria.

[h/t [MENTION=2727]devil21[/MENTION]: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...-of-the-US-dollar/page6&p=7166140#post7166140]

CIA Director Tells Saudis the US Was Blindsided By Iran Normalization
Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to reopen their embassies on Thursday after their foreign ministers met in China
https://news.antiwar.com/2023/04/06...-the-us-was-blindsided-by-iran-normalization/
Dave DeCamp (06 April 2023)

CIA Director William Burns visited Saudi Arabia earlier this week to express frustration over Riyadh’s surprise normalization deal with Tehran that was brokered by Beijing, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday..

According to the Journal, Burns told Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the US “has felt blindsided” by Riyadh’s rapprochement with Iran as well as Syria, two nations under crippling US economic sanctions.

Following the deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia is poised to normalize with Syria. Riyadh is expected to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to an Arab League summit it’s hosting in May. The Biden administration is against regional countries upgrading ties with Syria as it prefers to keep the country isolated as US policy is to prevent reconstruction.

A US official told Reuters that Burns also discussed intelligence cooperation with Riyadh. “The director reinforced our commitment to intelligence cooperation especially in areas of counterterrorism,” the official said.

Also on Thursday, Saudi Arabia and Iran’s foreign ministers met in Beijing, marking the highest-level meeting between the two countries since when they severed diplomatic ties in 2016. At the meeting, they agreed to reopen their embassies and to work toward other forms of cooperation.

At a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said Beijing was ready to continue mediating between the two sides. “We are ready to keep playing a mediating role, support both sides in building trust, dispelling misgivings and realizing good neighborliness, and contribute China’s wisdom and strength to promoting security, stability, and development in the Middle East,” she said.
 
...Following years of a bitter rivalry and armed conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran, their biggest trade partner China recently stepped in to work with both sides and improve relations.

Beijing, concerned with stability in a region that covers most of its crude oil needs, recently brokered a deal between Riyadh and Tehran to restore diplomatic relations.
...


All you need to know...
 
Peace Is Breaking Out in the Middle East — and Washington Is Not Happy

Ron Paul
April 10, 2023


While we were being distracted by the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war — and Washington’s increasing involvement in the war — tremendous developments in the Middle East have all but ended decades of U.S. meddling in the region. Peace is breaking out in the Middle East and Washington is not at all happy about it!

Take, for example, the recent mending of relations between Saudi Arabia and formerly bitter adversaries Iran and Syria. A China-brokered deal between the Saudis and Iran has them re-establishing full diplomatic relations, with the foreign ministers of both countries meeting in Beijing last week. It is the highest level meeting between the two countries in seven years.

Additionally, Riyadh is expected to invite Syria back into the Arab League and Syrian president Assad may attend the next Arab League summit. Syria was suspended from the Arab League 12 years ago when then-US allies in the Middle East signed on to Washington’s “Assad must go” policy that wreaked havoc across the region.

And the nearly decade-long war in Yemen, which has devastated that population, appears to finally be ending, as Saudi Arabia is expected to announce an end to its US-backed war on that country. Troops from the United Arab Emirates are leaving Yemen and a Saudi delegation is arriving to negotiate a peace deal.

To normal people the idea of peace breaking out in the Middle East is a wonderful thing. But Washington is anything but normal. President Biden dispatched his CIA Director, William Burns, to Saudi Arabia in a surprise visit last week. According to press reports, Burns was sent to express Washington’s surprise and frustration over the peace deals going through. Biden’s foreign policy team “has felt blindsided” by Saudi Arabia’s sudden move to get along with its neighbors.

Washington is angry that Saudi Arabia will start trading with Syria and Iran because those two countries are still under “crippling” US sanctions. One by one, as these countries begin ignoring US-demanded sanctions, the entirety of US foreign policy is being exposed as a paper tiger — just bluster and threats.

Middle East developments have revealed a dirty secret about US foreign policy. Washington has for a long time used a “divide and conquer” strategy to keep countries in the Middle East — and elsewhere — at each other’s throats. Sanctions, covert operations, and color revolutions have all been used to make sure that these countries do not get along with each other and that DC controls who runs the show.

As unlikely as it may seem to some, China has moved into the region with a different policy. China seeks business partners, not to manipulate the internal politics of the Middle East. They may be ruthless in their own way, but it is suddenly clear that the countries of this region are tired of US meddling and are looking for new partners.

We non-interventionists are often attacked as “isolationists,” but as I have always said, it is the neocons and interventionists in Washington who are really isolating us from the rest of the world. Nowhere is that more evident these days in the Middle East. It didn’t have to be this way, but if this is the end of US meddling in Middle East affairs then ultimately it is a good thing for the American people … and for peace.

//
 
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