Yemen: all you want (2011-2015)

[Dayuhan]

So long as Saudi Arabia is broken, Yemen will be broken as well.

I'n not sure Saudi Arabia is "broken", unless we define "broken" as having a government we don't approve of. Certainly they have problems, but if having problems is being 'broken" there's a whole lot of broken countries out there, ours among them. Yemen is certainly "broken", using the traditional definition of broken = dysfunctional.

I think too often we see fixing problems in Yemen as the key to solving problems in Saudi Arabia. I would argue that it is the other way around.

Who is saying that? I don't see any causative relation either way. You could say that Yemen's instability is a problem for Saudi Arabia, but to say that Saudi Arabia's problems stem from instability in Yemen would be absurd. Saudi Arabia has a range of problems, most of them not connected in any way to Yemen. Yemen has a rather graver range of problems, most not connected in any way to Saudi Arabia. If we could wave a magic wand and transform Saudi Arabia into a functioning democracy, Yemen would still be what it is, and the other way round.

In any event we can't "fix" either of them, which makes the discussion fairly academic.

It is only once the Saudi government has committed to the substantive and reasonable reforms desired by the moderate majority of their populace that we will see an end to the disruptive presence in Yemen of their radical minority.

I don't think anyone here is in a position to speak for the moderate majority of Saudi Arabia, or for that matter any portion of Saudi Arabia. I think we'd find that there's a fair diversity of opinion in there, and one of the few things most everyone would agree on is that they don't want Americans messing in their internal affairs.

Yemen's problems aren't caused by Saudi Arabia's radical minority, or any other radical minority. Yemen is a seething mass of ethnic, sectarian and clan conflict with no clear concept of national direction or even nationhood and no cohesive "populace". Radicals may be able to exploit that situation to gain refuge and some influence, but they didn't create or cause that situation and if the radicals were no more, Yemen would still be what it is. We just wouldn't notice or care.

Hopefully Yemen can begin a transition as well to a government that is more responsive to its populace.

Unlikely, not least because there is no unitary "its populace" and the various populaces involved have no unified idea of what they want government to be... or even if they want to be part of "Yemen".

Repetitive, I know... but we can't "fix" either Yemen or Saudi Arabia, and shouldn't try.