Exclusive Interview: British expert reveals British-US roles in backing Saudi-UAE assault on Yemen’s Hodeidah port

SANAA, June 20 (YPA) – Marcus Papadopoulos, a political expert and editor-in-chief of London-based Politics First Magazine, told Yemen Press Agency in an exclusive interview that the Saudi and United Arab Emirates’ interference in Yemen are similar to plots being implemented by Israel and Turkey against Syria.

“The mind boggles at how UAE (senior official) Anwar Gargash is telling the Yemeni people to stop resisting foreign aggression, which his country is a part of,” Papadopoulos said in the interview.

On Monday, UAE minister of state for foreign affairs Gargash in a press conference in Dubai urged the Yemeni movement Ansarullah to withdraw from Hodeida port city to allow the Saudi Arabia-and-UAE-led occupation coalition forces and their foreign mercenaries to occupy Hodeida air and sea ports.

Papadopoulos, who has been defending Syria and now Yemen against foreign military aggression, said the Emirates has been intervening in Yemen as hostile as Israel and Turkey in Syria.

“We see that in Syria, too, where Israel and Turkey are warning the Syrian Army on how it conducts its operations to liberate Syrian territory,” he said.

“The UAE, Israel and Turkey are only making such statements because they are backed by the US, and when you are backed by the US, you feel emboldened to do almost anything you like and to say almost anything you like after.”

Papadopoulos slammed Britain and US for their involvement in the Saudi-led assault on Hodeida. “The Saudi-led war on Yemen is being carried out not only with American consent but with American supervision and guidance,” he explained.

Asked why US and Britain have been fighting Houthis (Ansarullah), although they pose no threat to those states? Papadopoulos said “Ansarullah through their resistance to the Saudi military campaign, constitute a threat to American and British dominance of the Arabian Peninsula”.

Papadopoulos, who has been criticized by Labour Party politicians for his regular appearance as an expert and analyst in Russian media and for his opposite view on UK and US policy on Russia and Syria, added that the Houthis, in short, “represent a threat to Western dominance in the Middle East”.

He went on to describe the Saudi war on Yemen as a “proxy war”, saying ” the Saudis and their partners in Yemen are the proxies of the US”.

He confirmed that the “American generals are actually defining the targets in Yemen for the Saudi coalition to go.”

“The British are past masters of deception,” he said, commenting over the Britain’s call on the UN security council to meet on Yemen’s Hodeida assault, although it is part of that assault.

He said if we take the example of Hodeidah, the British, in public, are saying that the attack on the port needs to be addressed by the UN Security Council because the civilians living in Hodeidah must be protected; but in private, he said the British are playing a major role in the Saudi attack on the port, knowing full well of the catastrophic consequences for its civilian population because of this.

“The British understand public relations probably better than any other country in the world,” he said.

Commenting on why the UAE ambassador to London appeared publicly after the assault on Hodeida last week to hold a press conference on the attack, Papadopoulos said “it is to try and deflect attention away from the murderous Saudi-led war on Yemen, and America’s complicity in this. “I suspect that this is the reason why the decision was taken for the UAE Ambassador to Britain – and not the Saudi Ambassador to the UK”.

Yemeni Journalist Naseh Shaker of Yemen Press Agency interviewed Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos on Tuesday. Below is the full text of the exclusive interview:

Yemen Press Agency (YPA): What are the benefits UK and US get from their support to the Saudi-Emirati-led  war on Yemen, other than making money from selling weapons? Are the UK and US happy with destroying everything belonging to the Yemeni people? Why they seek to destroy Hodeidah port?

British and American support to the Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen is not solely on account of financial reasons, though this does constitute a major factor. London and Washington have a strategic partnership with Riyadh that plays a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing the West’s dominance of the Middle East. Alas, a Saudi victory in Yemen would essentially mean that the British and the Americans would be the dominant powers in the country, via the Saudis. Conversely, a Saudi defeat in Yemen could pave the way for Russia, for example, to resurrect its old ties in the country, as the Soviet Union had strong ties with South Yemen. At a time when Russia has returned to the Middle East in a resurgent way, the last thing that the British and the Americans want is to see Moscow achieve a foothold on the Arabian Peninsula.

As regards the part of your question about the destruction of Yemen by the Saudis, since when have the British and the Americans cared an iota about ruining a country? How many countries over the last quarter of a century, for example, have London and Washington destroyed or severely crippled, either directly or indirectly? The list is numerous; from the former Yugoslavia to Iraq to Libya to Syria and, of course, to Yemen. London and Washington have no moral compunctions in using any means, whatsoever, to defend their dominance of the Middle East and the world in general.

YPA: Why do the US and UK have a negative attitude towards the Ansarullah (Houthis), who do not pose any danger or threat to American and British national security?

Whilst the Houthis do not pose any danger or threat to the national security of the US and the UK, they do, through their resistance to the Saudi military campaign, constitute a threat to American and British dominance of the Arabian Peninsula. That, therefore, is a cardinal factor in accounting for why Washington and London are blaming the Houthis for the war in Yemen and subsequently portraying them in a very negative way so as to justify their support to Saudi Arabia’s actions in Yemen. The US and the UK fear the domino effect; if Yemen falls out of their control, then this could result in them losing control over another country in the Middle East and so on and so on. In short, the Houthis represent a threat to Western dominance in the Middle East.

YPA: How do you read the scenario of the UAE applying for a request to the United States for a permission and direct involvement to help attack the port of Hodeidah?

The Saudi-led war on Yemen is being carried out not only with American consent but with American supervision and guidance, too. When the Saudi coalition considers opening up a new front in Yemen, this will be conveyed to Washington for the Americans to either give it the green light or the red light, so to speak. In effect, the Saudis and their partners in Yemen are the proxies of the US, which is arming and training the Saudi coalition and providing it with intelligence and logistical support, as well as, of course, political support. However, I suspect that American generals are actually defining the targets in Yemen for the Saudi coalition to go after. Indeed, that is what happened during the wars in the former Yugoslavia, when American generals were the brainchild of many of the major campaigns by the Croats and the Bosnian Muslims. Therefore, there is no reason to think that the same is not happening in Yemen.

YPA: UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, in a tweet called on the Houthis to withdraw from Hodeidah. What right led that foreign man to direct orders on the Yemeni people?

We live in an inverted world, thanks to the US. The mind boggles at how a politician from the UAE is telling the Yemeni people to stop resisting foreign aggression, which his country is a part of. And we see that in Syria, too, where Israel and Turkey are warning the Syrian Army on how it conducts its operations to liberate Syrian territory. But we must bear in mind that politicians from countries like the UAE, Israel and Turkey are only making such statements because they are backed by the US, and when you are backed by the US, you feel emboldened to do almost anything you like and to say almost anything you like.

YPA: Why did the UK recently ask the United Nations Security Council to meet on the Saudi-led coalition attack on Hodeidah, while it fully supports the coalition and sells weapons to it?

The British are past masters of deception. They approach foreign affairs in a righteous way, speaking in an eloquent, polite and calm manner, ensuring that they are seen to be complying with international law and the mechanisms of the United Nations. But that masks their malicious and violent objectives. If we take the example of Hodeidah, the British, in public, are saying that the attack on the port needs to be addressed by the UN Security Council because the civilians living in Hodeida must be protected; but in private, the British are playing a major role in the Saudi attack on the port, knowing full well of the catastrophic consequences for its civilian population because of this. The British understand public relations probably better than any other country in the world. They are supreme in the communications arena.

YPA: How do you see the role of the UAE Ambassador to the UK when he held a press conference in London to comment on his country’s attack on Hodeidah. Why the UAE Ambassador in London and not the UAE Ambassador in the US?

Today, as a result of Donald Trump’s extensive ties to the Gulf Countries, especially Saudi Arabia, there is a tremendous amount of focus on US ties to this region and therefore to the appalling conduct of the countries there. So to try and deflect attention away from the murderous Saudi-led war on Yemen, and America’s complicity in this, I suspect that this is the reason why the decision was taken for the UAE Ambassador to Britain – and not the Saudi Ambassador to the UK – to hold a press conference about the attack on Hodeidah. And I suspect that it was the ever public relations savvy British who were behind this.

YPA: Do you think that UK and US are moving to establish a new colonialism by occupying Yemen through its oil-rich Arab Gulf states proxies?

Please allow me to say this first of all: As a British citizen, I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart, for what my country is doing to Yemen and the Yemeni people. I am infuriated, disgusted and ashamed by the support of the British Government and British media to the Saudi Arabian-led war on Yemen. And the indifference to Yemeni children being slaughtered by the Saudi military, on a daily basis, is another example of the moral bankruptcy and rancid nature of both the British Government and British media.

The US and the UK, which are the two leading colonial powers today in the world, are intent on securing Yemen for themselves, through their mutual friend and ally, Saudi Arabia. Washington and London are lusting after Yemen because they wish to secure their dominance of the Middle East and exploit, to serve their own selfish ends, strategic places in Yemen such as the port of Aden, which the British are historically associated with. Should the Saudi coalition overcome the resistance of the Yemeni people, then Yemen would become a colony of the Americans and the British, overseen by the Saudis. In such a scenario, Yemen would be nominally independent.

I would like to end by saying this: The resistance of the Yemeni people to the barbarism of the US and the UK-backed Saudi coalition is inspirational to all oppressed people in the world. Every day, the Yemeni people contend with a monstrous juggernaut – and they prevail against all odds. I am not going to try and imagine what the abject suffering of the Yemeni people is like because, by doing so, this would be offensive to them. But know this, Yemeni people, you have justice on your side, and many people across the world are aware of your immense bravery, sacrifices, achievements and suffering. I, and others in the West, will not stop fighting for the Yemeni people’s cause and nor will we stop telling people about the murderous and depraved war being waged against Yemen by the Saudi coalition, backed by the US and the UK. To the Yemeni people, I have these final words: You are true heroes, each and every one of you.