• n2burns ( n2burns@lemmy.ca ) 
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    3 years ago

    Can someone explain to me how this is “A Breach of Yemeni Sovereignty”? It seems like these actions are supported by the internationally recognized government in Yemen. (I’m not asking about the validity of these actions, or the horrendous effects of them. Just the sovereignty question)

    Also, is this the interviewee? It appears she is a language and literacy assistant professor who happens to be Yemeni American, not an expert on the Yemen war, international law, or anything else relevant to these events.

    • This is the same “international recognition” that doesn’t consider Taiwan to be a legitimate government?

      International recognition isn’t worth shit. Ansarallah has de facto control over the vast majority of Yemen’s territory. Just as the ROC is the government of Taiwan, Ansarallah is the government of Yemen.

      • n2burns ( n2burns@lemmy.ca ) 
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        3 years ago

        Thank you for providing a good example! I’m really not sure what the status of Taiwan’s Sovereignty would be, but it’s definitely something to think about.

      • n2burns ( n2burns@lemmy.ca ) 
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        3 years ago

        That’s not really an answer to my question. “Control” does not get you sovereignty, and neither does “representing the people”. It comes down to governance and international recognition. Mexican cartels control large areas of the country, but no one is arguing they have sovereignty. Similarly, there are many repressive regimes in the world that do not represent their people, but they maintain their sovereignty.

        • cecinestpasunbot ( cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml ) 
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          Your analogy falls flat because, while powerful, cartels are rarely looking to supplant state control. Instead they seek state complicity which is a different thing altogether.

          Ansar Allah on the other hand has set up its own governance structures. As I said, most of the populated regions of Yemen are governed under these structures. That’s despite a US backed campaign to bomb and starve them out over most of the last decade.

          If the US doesn’t want to recognize the sovereignty of the Ansar Allah led Yemeni government then the US concept of sovereignty is effectively meaningless.

          • n2burns ( n2burns@lemmy.ca ) 
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            Your analogy falls flat because while powerful cartels are rarely looking to supplant state control. Instead they seek state complicity which is a different thing altogether.

            Okay, what about IS? Did they have Sovereignty?

            If the US doesn’t want to recognize the sovereignty of the Ansar Allah led Yemeni government then the US concept of sovereignty is effectively meaningless.

            If you/anyone else thinks sovereignty is meaningless, that’s fine but it’s not what I asked about. My original question was how is this “A breach of sovereignty”? You don’t seem to be arguing why it is a breach of sovereignty.

            • cecinestpasunbot ( cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml ) 
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              3 years ago

              Again that’s a terrible analogy. ISIS was an international insurgency that went so far as to explicitly reject the very concept of modern day nation states. Of course they didn’t deserve to be treated as a sovereign power.

              Conversely Ansar Allah is a domestic organization. It’s commonly referred to as the Houthi movement because it has many leaders who are Houthis, a Yemeni tribe. They rose to power after the previous Yemeni government faced a crisis of legitimacy during the Arab spring.

        • LibertyLizard ( LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net ) 
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          3 years ago

          The issue is that the sovereignty of nation states is a somewhat nonsensical idea that has little to no solid philosophical backing. Nations aren’t living things and shouldn’t have rights in the same way people have. They are imaginary constructs, and the consequences of this are inevitable debates over what is or is not a nation. But there is no clear dividing line or definition—and in this ambiguity, powerful nations are free to recognize or ignore nations as they choose.

          If you support the US action, you can claim that the Houthis are not a sovereign nation, the action was at the invitation of the legitimate government of this region against an terrorist organization, and was entirely legal and justified.

          If you oppose the action, you claim that Houthis are a group of freedom fighters who have established a new separate nation that should be recognized, and this action was an illegal violation of that newfound sovereignty.

          Neither can be said to be completely correct or incorrect because there is no solid basis for this idea of sovereignty.

          • n2burns ( n2burns@lemmy.ca ) 
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            3 years ago

            That doesn’t answer my question either. I wasn’t the one who brought up sovereignty, it was the article. It seems to ridiculous to say, this is “A Breach of Yemeni Sovereignty” but no one seems to able to assert the Houthis have sovereignty to start with.

          • HobbitFoot  ( HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ) 
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            3 years ago

            I look at it more like this.

            If you treat the Houthis as a non-sovereign entity, they can be attacked freely under international law by the international community as pirates.

            If you treat the Houthis as a sovereign entity, they can be attacked under international law by affected nations as the attacks can be interpreted as an act of war.

            So it doesn’t really matter if they are sovereign or not.

            • n2burns ( n2burns@lemmy.ca ) 
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              It matters because if the Houthis are a non-sovereign entity, then POTUS can order an attack under prior congressional approvals. However, if they are a Sovereign State, then attacking them would be an act of war, requiring congressional approval.

              • HobbitFoot  ( HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ) 
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                3 years ago

                If the issue is with American law instead of international law, then you need to use the American list of recognized sovereign nations. Does the USA recognize the Houthis as leading a sovereign nation?

    • bartolomeo ( bartolomeo@suppo.fi ) 
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      3 years ago

      these actions are supported by the internationally recognized government in Yemen.

      Do you mean the US attacks are supported by tye Yemen government? Do you have a source for that handy?

      And great investigation into the interviewee, that kind of critical thinking is extremely important.

  • bartolomeo ( bartolomeo@suppo.fi ) 
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    3 years ago

    Israel: bombs and invades Palestine

    Palestine fighting back is wrong.

    Yemen: bombs ships serving Israel

    America fighting back is... right?

    I feel bad for American voters. The last time military action was taken without congressional approval it led to a 20 year war resulting in a million dead Iraqis and the Taliban government back in power in Afghanistan (among other completely preventable atrocities, like this).

    The hypnotism of American exceptionalism is requiring an almost lethal dose of ignorance to continue to work.

    Edit: Wrong. Congress approved military action against Afghanistan and Iraq. They were lied to by the Bush administration but they did in fact approve both.

  • citizen ( citizen@normalcity.life ) 
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    3 years ago

    “Yemen has been targeted by U.S. military action and bombings over the last four American presidencies — of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, now Joe Biden.”

    Red and blue are the same party, stop voting for them.