Joe Biden Takes Two Small Steps Toward Ending Yemen War. Keep Up The Pressure! by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!
(2021-01-28 at 01:46:48 )

Joe Biden Takes Two Small Steps Toward Ending Yemen War. Keep Up The Pressure! by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!

The Joe Biden administration has taken two small steps toward ending the horrific United States-backed mass atrocities in Yemen, with temporary holds placed on both a murderous sanctions measure and on arms deals with Saudi Arabia and the UAE pending review. Both items being reviewed are unconscionable decisions made by the previous administration.

"The Biden administration has imposed a temporary freeze on United States arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as it reviews billions of dollars in weapons transactions approved by former President Donald Trump," The Wall Street Journal reported today, adding that "United States officials said it is not unusual for a new administration to review arms sales approved by a predecessor, and that despite the pause, many of the transactions are likely to ultimately go forward."

This follows an earlier announcement of a one-month pause on the Donald Trump administrations designation of Yemens Houthis (Ansar Allah) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, an unforgivably brutal measure which would cut off badly needed aid to an already starving populace and potentially kill millions. Like the arms sale hiatus, this measure could easily still move forward, and its temporary nature has provided insufficient assurance to companies that are backing away from trade with Yemen for fear of future United States sanctions.

The United Nations is still hearing from companies that are suspending trade in Yemen despite Washington,D.C. issuing a temporary waiver for trade with the Houthis. Until a complete reversal of the terror designation, people will starve because of it.-Dave DeCamp (DecampDave) January 26, 2021

So it is not much; a brief pause on an arms sale which appears to be standard procedure between administrations, and a brief pause on a sanctions measure that is still effectively starving people anyway.

But it is also not nothing.

"Wow. I have been organizing to end United States arms sales to the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition in Yemen since their disastrous intervention began and we have never been this close to potentially permanently banning these sales," tweeted activist Kate Kizer in response to the latest news. "Let us pocket this victory and keep organizing!"

Wins are few and far between for those who support peace and justice in this world, but it does look like we might maybe possibly be approaching a tipping point in the general consensus on Yemen in the United States of America. Which is encouraging, because it is one of the easiest ways the United States government could make the world a lot less horrible very quickly. The American Conservatives Daniel Larison explains:

Yemen is the most urgent and dire case, but it is also the one where changes in United States policy can have the most immediate positive effect for the civilian population. Joe Biden should reverse the Houthi designation, resume the funding for aid that had been suspended last year, and end all United States backing for the coalition. There are already some promising signs that the administration intends to do all of these.

The main reason why Yemen has to take precedence over the other crises is that it is the worlds worst humanitarian crisis and it threatens to become even more appalling in the coming weeks and months. It is in danger of becoming a full-blown famine that could claim millions of lives, and the people of Yemen have been put in this terrible position in large part by the actions of our government and the governments in the Saudi coalition.

We are responsible for much of the harm that has been done to Yemen since 2015, and the Joe Biden administration has a special obligation to end the disastrous policy that began under Barack Obama. At the very least, the United States must stop driving Yemen deeper into famine, and ideally our government should be working to pull the country back out of the abyss into which our policies have pushed it. Reversing the Houthi designation is the most pressing action that Joe Biden needs to take, but he also has to put a stop to United States involvement in the war as soon as possible.

So we have got a fighting chance at this, but we also can not rely on the DC swamp monsters to make the moral and ethical call every step of the way. We have got to keep making noise about this the whole way through, because the Joe Biden administration reversing its decision on either the arms deals or the Yemen sanctions will translate directly into a mountain of human corpses.

Your voice matters. Speaking out makes a difference. Keep pointing at Yemen and forcefully demanding the United States government end this terrible atrocity it helped start. Call your senator, call your representative, email the White House, use social media, do whatever you can to skillfully get the word out and make sure it is being listened to by those in power.

We really do have a chance to make the earth a better place here.

Thanks for reading!!
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