Unable to Defeat the Houthis, Time to Negotiate! Geopolitical Trends

All right, hello everybody and welcome to Geopolitical Trends, where truth matters. Excited to be with you on this May 7th. Uh, I have an interesting topic. Of course, it's an update on what I did, uh, on what I talk— on what I talked about on Monday, but this is like with more developments. There's a lot of, a lot of moving parts regarding Middle East, or West Asia has always been, but specifically now dealing with the Houthis and so forth. So, or Ansarullah, that is. So I'm gonna be providing you my own insights, my own analysis about this. I'll share some excerpts with you from my book that pertain to this, and I'm also gonna be sharing with you some clips from a variety of sources. So, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy what I'm gonna be sharing with you. But before I'll, before I'm moving in I like to say hi to our wonderful community as always. Uh, US on a life support, possibility for that. Femi Daimel, good to see you. History Discovery, good to see you. Uh, Lin Yan, good to see you. Matt Becky, as always, good to see you. Taiwan Still, uh, who— Matt Becky down there. Timeline Dunkley, good to see you as always. Truth Seeker, here you are. Who else is here? Afgan Corleone, good to see you. Salam, salam to you as well, my friend. Uh, who else is here? Idris Williams, good to see you. And Jamie Dodger, good to see you here, man. So, all right, Massian Dorcier, as always. And of course, uh, oh, I'm sorry, all the way through, good to see you, uh, man. Belko, greetings from Maryland, good to see you. All right, guys, let's, uh, let's— because I got a lot to cover in this one here. Uh, so as I said, I'm going to be talking about, to a degree, uh, the coordination between the United States and Israel. Yeah, they coordinated the recent attacks. Yeah, don't, don't think that now we're saying, oh, we're gonna— the president is gonna go to the region and all of it's gonna be nice. No. US and Israel coordinated their attacks, the airstrikes, even though it's Israel that took the lead on attacking the Hodeida and later on attacked the Sana'a airport. So, but the US was taking part of that as well. So, and all this Israel claimed that it was in response to the missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport, which took place on Sunday. So now the key question we have to ask ourselves is Will these strikes deter the Houthis? Straightforward, I say no. They will— they just— they meaning the US, Israel, or whomever have no understanding of the historical facts as to what Yemen went through throughout its history as far as fighting foreign invaders, foreign forces, foreign occupiers, foreign whatever you want to call it, let alone now Ansarullah or Houthis. That is, they are fierce fighters, and there is no way that the US is going to be defeating them, or even Israel. Israel has bombed Hodeida more than 5 times way back, to no end. So in any event, this is what I'm going to be detailing with you. And all this comes on the heels of the upcoming trip of, uh, Mr. Trump to the region. What the region? We're talking about 3 subservient countries he's going to: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. So here is the question for you guys: what do those 3 countries have in common? Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. So just think about the answer and, and, and put it on the chat box, and I'll check it out later on. So I have one housekeeping item I need to share with you And thanks to, uh, Desolator 108 for posting the comment. I made a mistake last time, uh, you know, a slip of a tongue. I'm just a human. When I said the speed of sound, uh, when I said the speed of light, uh, regarding the, uh, uh, Palestinian 2 missile, uh, hypersonic, I meant to say the speed of— I said, I said the speed of light. I meant to say speed of sound. So my mistake, and I made that mistake and I repeated it twice. So I guess I was just— my brain was racing for that. So I just want to clear the record. So I meant to say speed of sound, not speed of light. So all right, let's do some headlines here because there are some major development that's going on. As a matter of fact, one of them, when I get to it, I'm gonna tell you what I intend to do. So let's start with the first one. And the first one has to do with— I have some— I, I worked on all this yesterday. I spent the whole afternoon, uh, reading the analysis and, and all that and preparing some pictures for you guys. So, uh, this is a parade in Red Square, uh, an old picture, but there's the upcoming, uh, uh, uh, uh, Day of Victory, May 9th, which is after tomorrow. But in any event, 29 leaders from around the world also confirmed their attendance to the Moscow celebration. And even with this, there are this concern about Ukraine might attack, whatever. I think it will be a big mistake if Ukraine does this because now it's gonna give a justification for the Russians to just to level whatever left. And they might end up doing this. So, so this is what's going to be happening on May 9th, the Victory Day. And this is what, uh, the Russians usually do. And this, of course, for back to May 8th, 1945. So, uh, there are— I, I looked at the list of, at least not a complete list, to be, uh, to be clear. I saw some names there, like for example President Xi Jinping going to be attending the Brazilian president, uh, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, uh, among others. There is also what was interesting, you know what was interesting is that some troops will be participating. That includes China, Egypt, and Myanmar will be also, uh, uh, uh, taking part of the parade into that one. So I have— I found an article that is very, very interesting, and I'm gonna share it with you guys regarding the 1943. In 1943, and here is what happened, and this article was written by Dr. Jack Powell. So I'm gonna share it with you here. What was interesting is that in 1943— let me remove this one Yeah. In 1943, guys, uh, uh, the Americans, the British, and the Soviet back then, all three have agreed, uh, sort of, uh, uh, to move forward that there will be no, no sort of, no separations or, or separate negotiations with Nazi Germany. That was back then, 1943, right? And this is what in response to— with respect to its capitulation, meaning the Germans, that is. And that the German surrender will have to be unconditional. That's exactly what took place back there. And in the early years of 1945, according to the article, the German was as good as defeated. So, and the Allies were getting ready to collectively receive The unconditional submission. But here is the kicker, here is what might shock you guys. And by the way, uh, the question was at that time, where would that capitulation ceremony take place? Was it on the eastern side or eastern front or on the western front? So, and that's what I found very inter— uh, interesting. So I'm going to quote one One short paragraph, if you allow me. And for only reasons of prestige, Western Allies preferred that Nazi Germany will acknowledge defeat somewhere on Western Front. But here is the kicker. That was just a short quote I want to share with you. You know what took place back then? To those who are familiar with the history of 1945, 1947, there were secret talks that took place with the Germans. And who did that with, uh, who did negotiate with the Germans? Not all three. It was British and the Americans because they were having secret conversation or talks with, uh, with the Germans, especially on March 1945 in none other than so-called neutral Switzerland. Well, Switzerland is not a neutral anyway, but that's what we call it. And why is this important? Because there was sort of a violation of the inner allied agreement between the three— Soviet, British, and Americans. And this one thing, again, it highlights to you, you can't trust the Americans, you can't trust the British. So because that agreement, inner allied agreement, under the code name of Operation Sunrise— that was the code name for that operation— promised to be some sort of, uh, be useful in the context. However, the British and the Americans violated that. So anyway, I just wanted to share this with you quickly to highlight to you. So, uh, second thing I want to highlight— it's headlines, not headlights— headline, uh, headlines. This one here, right here from Taiwan. I don't know if you— I'm sure you are aware of what's going on. Taiwan's opposition party plans to recall the so-called— I call him governor. Now they call him over there president. For me, he's not president because I was there and I saw that Taiwan is part of China. You know, that's like, to me, like another state. Uh, do I call the governor of, uh, let's say Florida, the president? No, I call him the governor. So, or even Hawaii or whatever. So anyway, uh, Lei, his name is Lei, the governor or the president. I got a picture here. So that's the guy, which by the way, did you know who posed— who helped this guy move into the ladder of power? That was the US, and it was a particular agency that helped him out. Do you know which one? Can anybody type in in the chat box which one? Yeah, I'm sure you know. I'm not insulting your intelligence, guys. I'm just having you part of the conversation, you know, uh, because, uh, we, we beyond that kind of thinking of, uh, as somebody once said, you treat your community like, like a school stuff. That's nonsense. So Sam, you are right, you're right, Sam. Uh, also I have Taiwan still. You guys got it. You got it, you guys got it. So here's the thing now. Taiwan's largest opposition party, the, the, the, uh, Kuomintang, so says it will start procedure to recall Taiwanese governor Lai Chieh-teh, or governor, president, whatever that is. Uh, let me remove the picture here, so And that is what they're going to be doing. And, and this comes May 20th, about a week and a half from today. So since he took office, that's what it's going to be. And who's leading the charge of this? Uh, it's, uh, an individual by the name of— and I think I got his picture— uh, Eric Chu. He's the party leader for the opposition right here. I got a picture of him right there. He's the one that leading the charge on this. So, so the recall campaigns are heating up against the backdrop of a sharp partisan division in its legislature, meaning in Taiwan, targeting a total of 50 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties. It looks like the, uh, uh, Lei is trying to use some dictatorship procedures here to manage the politics inside Taiwan. So, and they won't have it because recently the Kuomintang held a massive rally in Taipei to oppose this investigation. And that's where the party leader Eric Liu, that's the one you saw his picture right there, or Eric Chu, I'm sorry. Eric Chu. Uh, that's the one that accused the president, or the governor, Lei, of using the judiciary to attack the Kuomintang, uh, party in a dictatorial manner. That's his words. So very, very, very interesting. So, uh, third development, uh, or headlines that's going on has to do with President Xi Jinping. Believe it or not, this might surprise you a little bit. Here is what's interesting about this. President Xi calls on Europe, or the EU, to unite against the US unilateralism. Is he right in that call? What do you guys think, yes or no? So, so President Xi Jinping issued an explicit— that's a measured word— explicit call to the European Union leaders to strengthen cooperation with his country in face of what he describes as unilateralism. He's right on that, you know, an indirect reference to the policies pursued by the administration of none other than Mr. Trump, which threatens to reshape the global order on unilateral basis. Yeah, well, I'll say good luck to the US for that. I ain't gonna succeed in doing that. Let me see your answer here quickly. Yeah, Hongwan, you say yes. Taiwan still, you say yes. Uh, who's the— Al Stalokin, be careful. She— uh, Marco, you say nah. Okay, yeah, it's good to read your feedback, guys. It's very, very important. And the last thing I'm gonna share with you has to do with Pakistan. Yes, I'm not forgetting about it. I'm I am going to do a live stream for you in light of what India just did, uh, last night or the night before. So, uh, India— I think India needs to be taught a lesson, in my opinion. Yeah, I think India is misunderstanding that because it has the largest mass population, that's going to give it an advantage. No. No, I, I think it's going to backfire on this. But anyway, here is what happened, uh, uh, in, uh, Pakistan. 7 Pakistani soldiers were killed. Yeah, and of course you all know what happened with India cutting off, uh, the water to, to, to Pakistan. So what Indian, Indian Prime dozens killed and wounded in mutual shelling. And Pakistan, in retaliation, announced that the downing of 5 Indian fighter jets— so this is what the Pakistani, uh, military spokesperson announced yesterday, as a matter of fact— that at least 26 civilians were killed and 46 others wounded in an Indian Army strike on 6 sites. In Pakistan. And I even read one report that it was a 3-year-old girl, she was killed. So, and this is once again, I think what Modi is doing, uh, this, uh, this, uh, uh, uh, ethnicity of Hinduism and all that, he's gonna be dragging India into a major war. I hope it never gets to that. Because when he announced the cutoff of water, which by the way, you all know that this one was under a treaty. So it was under a treaty that was signed. And makes you just wonder, what is Modi thinking? So, and of course Modi said in a speech, India suspended its participation now of the 1960 water sharing treaty with Pakistan. Well, who he thinks he is, he can just do whatever. And that's why I'm at— I'm, I'm just thinking out loud here, guys, you know, maybe India need to be taught a lesson. I don't know. But anyway, I am reading some, uh, analysis about this, and I'm going to do a live stream for you about it. So I don't want to get ahead of myself. So, all right, let's get into our topic. What are we going to be talking about today, which is very, very interesting? And the questions that I keep going back to is that, can the US and Israel defeat the Houthis? I don't think so. I don't think so. If, you know, look how long we've been now conducting air raids and so forth. And by the way, the Houthis just launched another missile about 2 days ago. We're not talking about the one on Sunday. So, so like I said at the beginning, the question that looms large is, will the bombing of now the Israelis in conjunction with the Americans, uh, sort of change the deterrence equation with the Houthis? So, and I read and I listened to some people who have an in-depth regarding this. For example, I remember reading a statement by a military expert, Brigadier General retired Elias Hanna, who ruled out the possibility that Israel missiles attack on target in Yemen will deter Ansarullah. In other words, the Israelis did this before, 5 or 6 times they targeted the Hodeida Airport. No, because it's not gonna work for one reason. And that reason, according to the retired general, and I couldn't agree more with his assessment also, is because there is no strategy into this. What Israel is doing, it's just bombing buildings. It's all for a show. The same thing we are doing. American people have no idea about the cost involved. How far we have spent so far and what have we achieved? Nothing. And he's right about this idea. I mean, in general, uh, retired general rather, Elias, that there's no strategy for Israel. So, and this is now, as I said, like the 5th or 6th time Israel has bombed targeted previously, uh, that they, they did a year before in, in Yemen. So no, so, and, and in my opinion, Houthis or Ansarullah would not be deterred. This is once again the problem we do not understand. We have no understanding of the historical facts regarding this part of the world. So, and if Israel conducting all this, and if the US conducting all this, if in response to one missile that the Houthis fired inside Israel. And this was enough to have strategic and geopolitical repercussions. They didn't need, Houthis didn't need to fire 100 missiles. I mean, can you imagine if they would've done that? So, and the problem within Israel is that the lack of this reality The geopolitical reality, that is, when it comes down to dealing with the Houthis or even addressing the Houthis dilemma for that matter, is that the presence of the US forces also within few kilometers from the Houthis' theater. In other words, they are in the vicinity. And that's why it gives you an idea there is no strategy on both the Israelis and and the Americans. So Israelis did say we're gonna retaliate. They did retaliate in response to the attack or the launching of a missile by the Houthis on Ben Gurion. And the Israeli retaliation was in coordination with the United States. So once again, makes you just wonder, the Israelis told the Americans, hey, you need to come with that. The Americans said, sure, yes sir. I'm not laughing out of laughing because it's problematic, and this could lead us to a much bigger problem, which what Israelis wants us to do on their behalf by fighting Iran. As a matter of fact, one of the viewers sent a comment, I, if I remember, a really perfect question. Asked, you know, could it be that the Israelis allow the missile to go through so they'll have justification for pulling the US into a war against Iran? I don't think so. So in my response, I don't think so. It's because the missile, the hypersonic, was able to penetrate all the defense, uh, uh, missile defense systems, and it shows that the missile defense systems were incapable of stopping the hypersonic. And we're not talking yet the types of the Russian hypersonic or the Chinese hypersonic, which by the way, just for the record, we Americans so far, we have nothing to counter that. And I remember statement by the commander of the Strategic Command in the Pentagon saying so. So, and this is why you're gonna now see that the cooperation between the Israelis and the Americans, it's a foregone conclusion. But do you know why? Not only because the Israelis pressure American politicians, which it does. No, no, no, no. It's because Israel is part of the US Central Command. If you know about Central Command, Israel is part of it, which means what? Basically, that means Israel have access to information, aid, and even ammunition. So there is another element that you need to understand is that Israel is linked by radar to the US, uh, uh, all US military units. So, and this is why, and I'm going to take you back to one of the video that I did few weeks ago when I talked about when Israelis tried to conduct an op inside Iran, but they couldn't go further. They, they stayed on the outskirts, per se. Why? It's because all their communications were, were jammed. So, so I need you to understand this reality here, guys. Why that is. So, so, so far, you know, you're looking at over 800 raids that were conducted against the Houthis for the past 2 months. What have we achieved? Nothing. So, and again, it's because despite the US involvement, we weren't able to defeat the Houthis. So, and this leads me to something Moving forward, we just, uh, makes you just wonder why Mr. Trump now is wanting a halt to bombing in Yemen. Do you think this is coincidence? I don't think so. So because Mr. Trump is saying, here it is, and I quote here, and I'm gonna play a clip for you. As a matter of fact, uh, it's what he's saying. The Houthis haven't— now actually, I'll let you listen to it yourself. So this way you guys, uh, this is during his meeting with the new Prime Minister of Canada, Carney. So take a listen here, guys.

Uh, we had some very good news last night. The Houthis have announced that they are not— or they've announced to us at least that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight.

Are you going to trust what Trump is saying?

And we will honor that. And we will stop the bombings. And they have capitulated. But more importantly, they—

I don't think so. I don't think so, Donald. They didn't capitulate. You're just exaggerating the word. This is where you play on people's emotions.

We will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that's what the purpose of what we were doing. So that's just news.

They didn't say that.

We just found out about that. So, uh, I think it's very, very positive. They were, they were knocking out a lot of ships going as you know, sailing beautifully down the various seas. It wasn't just the canal, it was—

which canal are we talking about? There's no canal involved. We're talking about Red Sea. We're talking about a major economic artery of the global economy, a lot of other places.

And I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, uh, effective immediately. And Marco, you'll let everybody know that.

Okay. All right, I'm gonna stop right there because we don't need to listen to what Marco has to say anyway, because we all know— you, you, you all know what he means. So, so the fact that he's saying that the Houthis have announced to us that they don't want to fight anymore, uh, it just It makes you just wonder. As a matter of fact, I had a chance to read in Arabic language, and I'm gonna share the picture with you of this individual. His name is Muhammad Ali al-Houthi. Now, Muhammad Ali al-Houthi is a supreme, uh, member of the political council, and here is what he wrote. And I'm going to read it in Arabic and, and translate it for you. Uh, it said, basically we're saying Muhammad Ali al-Shuti, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, wrote in a post on X that Trump's announcement of a halt to America's aggression against Yemen will be evaluated on the ground first. That doesn't say anything about the Houthis stopping completely. And here is what he continued. You know, I read it word for word. You know, I know things can get lost in translation. But again, when I read it in Arabic, made more sense to me when he added that Yemen's operation— meaning that's what Muhammad Ali al-Shuti is saying— Yemen's operations were and still are in support for Gaza to stop the aggression and bring in aid. He added, suggesting that the group will not— here's the keyword— will not hold its attacks on Israel. This is what he said. So for what Mr. Trump is saying versus what the facts on the ground, uh, they are on, on the opposite side of the spectrum. Just doesn't make any sense. So because here is the thing, it wasn't the Houthis that, that begged, as Mr. Trump saying indirectly, begged the Americans to stop. No, no, no, no, no, it was the United States that initiated that. Of course, like I always say, optics. Remember, Trump is going next week, and I'm gonna talk about this one, uh, uh, uh, soon. He's going next week to the region, to the three subservient countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. So now the thing is that for the Houthis They're not going to lie. If they say they're going to attack, they will attack. If they say they're going to halt the, the, the attack, they will halt the attack. At least they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't lie. They don't go on double standards. So far, at least from what I've been observing, observing for the last decade or so about the Houthis. So, but here is the thing. When Donald Trump saying, oh, they're not going to be shooting at American vessels, whatever, in Well, there are no American vessels in the Red Sea to begin with. Look what we just did when we moved the USS Harry Truman way up north. So what is he talking about? And of course, this is almost reminds me of history. Once again, we learn from history. You all remember, you all remember, of course, to those who read the history and in Vietnam, how the United States declared the victory in Vietnam. You remember, right? At the same time, the North Vietnamese took over control in Saigon. It's no different than what we had in, uh, in Iraq. Let me play a clip for you here, guys, because I need you to hear this yourself. Take a listen, please. Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans. Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the The United States and our allies have prevailed. Yeah, I'll stop right there because no need to listen to the rest. You all know what it means. So it's the same argument about Afghanistan also, you know. And to me, this is where when you hear statements emanating from Washington, you always have to take a step back. Because you know they are not 100% accurate. So when Trump saying the Houthis came to us asking for— it's a lie, you know. And, and I'm starting to wonder about Mr. Trump. Is he inherently a liar? You know, sometimes maybe his genes are messed up. I don't know. I don't know. You know, you know, humans, we are We are known for fallacy, we lie sometimes or whatever, but when you become, you know, consistently lying, that brings the question to the fore: is he inherently a liar? So, and all this comes now on the heels of another F-18 that fall into the sea. Let me share a picture with you here, guys. Right here, another F-18. It was reported that an F-18 Hornet, uh, that, that fell into the sea. So you guys decide. I'm not saying it was shot down. I, I— so far what I read is that there was some mechanical error. But for second F-18s within a week to two weeks, That's just bad. That is bad. So once again, I, I'll, I'll let you reach your own conclusion for this. So now let me go back to the attacks of Israel on Hudaydah and Sana'a Airport. Do you know how many, how many fighter jets they conduct between the US and Israel? 30. 30. And they used about 48 bombs. So now just think about the cost. And if you know any idea how much it costs for each hour the aircraft is flying, the fighter jets is flying, it's about $40,000 to $45,000 an hour. An hour. So, so just think about the cost and so forth to all this, what it means. And all this, that's why the reason why the Israelis end up attacking, uh, the airport, Sana'a Airport. It's because the consequences of the Houthis' attack on Bir Gurion was significant. You know why? Because international airlines now are suspending their flights to Israel after the Houthis' attack. Like I always say, the optics matter. So, and this is from a military aspect, because you're going to have to think also about the geopolitical front of all this. So, so I got a clip for you, I'm going to share it with you here. Now take a listen and I will, uh, I will translate for you guys. Uh, let me, let me get to it here first. Sorry, I didn't have it open earlier, so— okay, here it is. Let's take a listen here quickly, and I'll, uh, I'll provide some— I'm not gonna play the entire because it's a little bit long. I just want you to hear the beginning, the first few minutes of that and we go from there. By the way, guys, this is a conversation. This guy on second from right is Dr. Lekha Mekhi. He is— I'm aware of him. He's a researcher at the Institute Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He's by training a journalist, but also a political commentator and analyst, that is. And he's been doing this for over 2 or almost 3 decades. So somebody who knows what he's talking about. Basically, the question was, now we have the commentators saying, Now we have attacks in Beirut— attacks in Lebanon, I'm sorry— attacks in Yemen, attacks in Syria. So what many have feared, that we're going to have a regional war, we are already in it. And Dr. Lekaa is saying, no, we are already in a regional war. And the big problem is that Israel is the major problem into this. Like, it's the most responsible one into all this. No one is condemning it. No one is able to talk to Israel to stop, uh, because Israel does not have this kind of concerns or fears. And that's been a problem for a long time. And by the way, just to highlight to you guys, he brought up an interesting point which makes you think about Why we never wanted to allow any regional power or a country to expand militarily, but we couldn't control Iran regarding this for this reason, because we wanted to have Israel the only major power in the region because Israel is our ears and eyes in the region. That is so. So Dr. Lekha was right regarding this aspect here. So, so let's continue here quickly. Israel doesn't have like boundaries, even legal boundaries. And I'm sure he's a reference to what's— what they are doing in Gaza doesn't have boundaries regarding conduct, conduct rather, in a war or whatever, because you saw the massive destruction that it took place or is taking place in Gaza. And there is nobody to face it militarily. Of course, Iran now can. And this is why it doesn't have any reason for why it needs to back down because there is no force. I mean, do you see the Saudis standing up? The Jordanians, the Egyptians, nobody, nobody except the Iranians for that matter. So for this reason, he's asking, so why not Israel will not continue in doing what it already is doing? Originally, that's the movement he's referring to. The movement of the ideology of Israel is sort of, uh, uh, what's the word? I couldn't think of the word right now. And not offensive, but sort of edges on firing most of the time. So they can take whatever. But however, after October, sort of the thinking starts to change in Israel because they were faced with something they didn't expect. Because their objective was always to prevent anybody who might have the capability not the ability, the capability. The capability of attacking, that's what he meant to say. It's not just the will, but rather the, the, the capability to, to conduct an attack, whatever that might be. The problem now is that regionally, all the targets within the region that Israel have come to realize is that no other location will be able to retaliate against Israel. That's the thinking that still persists inside Israel. But also Israel understand that there is no commonality among those region, those countries. He's referring to the Arab countries, for example, the Egyptians, the Jordanians, Saudis, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, all of them, they couldn't unite. And Israel understand that. We're talking about big countries in the region like Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Jordan, Egypt, of course. So what have they done? If they could have had a united front to stand up to Israel. And by the way, guys, I do remember saying this back then. Most of the Arab countries not even condemned what was going on, and that tells you the story right there. So I found— I find he, Dr. Lekha, he's spot on on this point here. And with this, on the international stage, that the Middle East is not, or West Asia, that is, is not accepting this status quo as it is. Of course, there are disagreements among countries, but now you look at the whole region as being some sort of the victims. For all this. Because what you have now, you have, for example, Iran and its access has been impacted. It's a reference to Syria and Lebanon. Even Turkey, it's being impacted, even though Turkey is not coming forward and saying that. Syria has suffered. Syria has achieved victory in the revolution, but now they are suffering because Israel is bombarding them. The Gulf states are always been impacted, but they are useless anyway. And Iraq is at the eye of the storm. Because Iraq now, what the prime minister is doing, and this is, uh, he's not saying this, I'm saying this one. Iraq now is playing, you know, that's Sudan, the prime minister turns out to be a very, very weak leader. Because here's the thing, according to Dr. Lekawa saying, if Syria now is experiencing attacks from Israel, that means next is going to be Iraq. So now— oh, I have the siren going on here. I don't know what's going on. Uh, now that everybody is suffering now and in the future, and this is why Israel has no, no fears now if it's not being deterred. And if that doesn't happen, they're gonna keep— they're gonna continue in what they are doing right now. Because here's the thing, he's referring to the Israeli firings now. So far in Lebanon, it has not been conclusive. You have also the— in Gaza, it's still open. In Syria, still nothing conclusive. In other words, the Israeli conflicts in these regions have not— it's not— it's open, it's open conflict still going on. And even they're gonna try to expand to other countries like Iran, for sure. And of course Iraq, because it's been— okay, I'm gonna stop right here, guys. And, and it's a long one, it's— but, but very, very interesting, uh, perspective to understand, uh, that, you know, he was right that, uh, Israel faces no legal, no moral, no, uh, military deterrent whatsoever. And this is why it's gonna be expanding its whatever it's doing. I mean, look, can the US say, no, you can't do this, or no, do that? No, even the US couldn't tell the Israelis no. I mean, 30 fighter jets against the Houthis. So, and this is why you have— and by the way, the United States, the US, Washington, that is, he was aware ahead of time Because it was an anonymous source inside Washington confirmed that the raids were coordinated with Washington in advance, the raids that Israel conducted in Hudaydah and Sana'a Airport. So, and this is again, that gives you an idea. So, but that becomes the question of this deterrence, you know, and, and again, I go back to Dr. Maki's point, he's spot on because what Israel has adopted now is this so-called prevention, not deterrence. He wanted to prevent any entity in the region from developing capabilities. Of course, they stay short of going all the way to Iran because they know Iran is no small game. Iran is not Iraq. Iran is not Syria. Iran is not Yemen. That's what they— so because what the Israelis trying to do is to— that's the way of undermining the capabilities of the adversaries, whomever that might be. So, and they're not going to confront them. But also they want to make sure they don't have any capabilities. And this is why you see the Emiratis are establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. You see the Saudis, what the Saudis gonna do? Saudis cannot lift whatever, they can't do a squat without the US. You know, their whole survival depends on the US. So Jordan, well, you know, Jordan, you know, just the size of New Jersey for that matter.

Matter.

I mean, what, what's it going to do? Qatar, what's it going to do? Qatar that has the largest American military base in the region. So, and all they do is we're going to be talking about ceasefire in Gaza, whatever, because they couldn't, they couldn't confront the Israelis. They won't be able to anyway.

No.

And this is where I agree with Dr. McKee, McKee, that because he criticized, and like I do, when he described the absence of the Arab unified position or the unified Arab position. And that's why I put in for the community right there, while Arab and Muslim leaders watches from the sideline. You know, this is the Hudayda targeting. And that's where you have countries like Turkey, like Saudi Arabia, Egypt. I mean, Jordan, I won't consider it a major player. In the region are unable to form some sort of an alliance or so. They just won't be able to do so because they are so weak. Liking this video so far? Don't just be a watcher. Go ahead and hit the like, share, and subscribe button. And don't forget to tap the bell so you will not miss any of my videos or livestreams.

Streams.

This way you will be supporting a channel that stands for the truth and objective reporting. The choice is yours. Thanks for your support. Now, uh, part of that clip which I just— I told you I'm not going to play it in its entirety because it's long. It was also another guest and who used to be a former national security advisor. His name is Mike Pfeiffer. So, and, uh, he was asked the question because I had to listen to the entire, uh, uh, uh, interview there and so forth to learn more about this one. And his question, the question for him was about the upcoming, uh, uh, visit of Donald Trump to the region. So, and, uh, I can— there are some key points he addressed. It's because one of them is that the US The reason why, the reason why they are going to this extreme, uh, as far as visiting, because the US wants to see, uh, which other countries could take on the role of a mediator. Because now you're looking at the complications on multiple fronts. You know, remember, Qatar still have some influence with Hamas to a degree. Because of the financial. Egypt still have some influence. Saudi Arabia because of the financial donations and so forth. And all this made us think about, for me, I don't look at it from this perspective. I'm looking at it from the perspective of why did Trump decide to go to those 3 countries but not, let's say, Jordan, not let's say Turkey. How about Egypt? It shows Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates, which by the way, the trip is going to be from May 13th through the 16th. So, so, but one of the key things that we need to think about, you know, because when you do analysis regarding you, you have to address the, the, the points that is not being talked about completely. So all we hear about is the upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, but there is no conversation as to Israel, which makes you— begs the question, why is Trump avoiding going to Israel altogether? What does it mean, you know, why Israel is not part of this tour? So it's because there are some vexing issues regarding the war in Gaza, of course, of course, the Iranian nuclear program, because Israelis will pressure the United States regarding this, regarding this, and let alone one big one. And this one has to do with the increasing tensions with the Houthis in the Red Sea. Because remember, Houthis are saying, we don't care what you say, as long as Israel is still imposing blockade on aid, uh, from getting into Gaza, we will still going to target Israel. In return, The Israelis are pressuring the US to tell the Houthis, we need to come to some sort of ceasefire here. And that is why it's becoming now a challenge on the ground, let alone the military cost associated with this for the United States. So because so far When a Houthis— now I'll let you think about this, whether the plane, the fighter jet was shot down, the first one, or was it just mechanical error, it's beside the point. When you shoot down, or when you bring down, whatever way it goes, a $60 million fighter jet, it start to be a reflection on the cost associated with the whole a campaign against the Houthis. Ask any average American, but most Americans will even know where Yemen is. They're not going to know. Americans are not— sad to say, it's my country and so forth, but we are poor readers of history and poor in geography. We just have no idea where the rest of the world is. So here is what I wrote. Back then regarding this front. Meanwhile, the United States' role has been more limited and regressive. These developments will affect the political and economic future of the Desert Kingdom— my reference here to Saudi Arabia— specifically whether the international community can still perceive Saudi Arabia as a regional leader given Iran's growing political economic, military, and ideological expansion in the Middle East. For its part, Iran is uncertain what to make of Saudi Arabia's ongoing failed military engagement in Yemen, its support of Sunni rebels in Syria, and the latest conflict with Qatar. Saudi Arabia accuses Qatar of supporting terrorist groups —an accusation criticized by Iran. Iran's criticism comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's recent trip to Saudi Arabia, which set the stage for the desert kingdom's aggressive behavior. Iran argues that the trip provided Saudi Arabia, along with its allies in the conflict—United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain with unrestricted power to act as its own, at its own discretion, in spite of international law, legal norms, and cultural tradition? Will it benefit Saudi Arabia that the United States could provide it further opportunities to provide clandestine financial and logistical support to Sunni groups with a penchant for radical views and violent activities in the region and beyond? That's the question that I asked back then. Remember, that was during the time of the Saudi-Yemen conflict, which, by the way, we were the one providing weapons, intelligence targets, and some other countries, including Europeans, were providing weapons also. So that just shows you, and, and United Arab Emirates and all those. So, but this leads us to ask the key question regarding Donald Trump's upcoming trip, because you have to put that in perspective as to what should we expect. And once again, he's going back to Saudi Arabia. I just think about the outcome for this one here. So, so you start to ask about what are the— what will be the top priorities for him? Going there to those 3 countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. So what they will be on 2 aspects, and I agree with the former National Security Advisor regarding this point. So because here is the thing, what, what, uh, Donald Trump wants to do, he wants to isolate Iran because remember the relationship between those 3 countries and Iran have improved especially after China brokered the deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. And the reason why Donald Trump wants to isolate Iran, because he wanted to push it back to the negotiating table regarding Iran's nuclear program. Iranians are saying so far there will be no direct negotiations. It's the same arguments that China is making now. There will be no direct talks with the Americans till the Americans lift the tariffs. So it's a lose-lose situation for Trump, whatever way he looks at it. So that was the first. The second one, it has to do with the possibility of achieving a sustained ceasefire in Gaza. And the third one has to do with giving an ultimatum in ensuring the loyalty of those 3 countries to the Americans and the Israelis. So there is another possibility. I thought about it too, but I am not leaning more towards it, even though the possibility of it. And this one has to do with the continuation of Donald Trump from his first term in office. In his first term in office, he started to work on the so-called Abraham Accords regarding the Palestinian-Israelis, which he launched during the end of his first term. So what he wants to do, and that one, by the way, you all know what was about, is about promoting, was about promoting normalization of ties between Arab countries under the slogan of ending chronic wars. And achieving regional stability. And this is where you see United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and what was the fourth in addition to Egypt? Jordan. They all have diplomatic recognition with Israel. So if you think about Donald Trump going there, you know, this has nothing to do with stopping the war. No, no, it's not. Or even protecting the civilians. This is why we were asking the Houthis for a ceasefire. No, because for Trump, more the focus will be on economic and investments, because that's how he thinks. He thinks in terms of geopolitics as a transactional And that's— that, that, that just doesn't work. Doesn't work. He is betting— Donald Trump, that is— he is betting that when he travels over to those Gulf states, especially Qatar and United Arab Emirates, is that because he wants these countries to persuade, uh, the Hamas to accept ceasefire. And to accept the ceasefire before he visits the region. I will say before the end— I'm sorry, before the end of his visit, which means he will come up for a photo op and say, see, I told you I went to the Middle East and I achieved the ceasefire. A big photo op because that's what Trump is all about. Trump does not have an understanding, doesn't possess a depth when it comes down to international affairs. So I'll say to him, good luck with that. And that's when he wants to secure political achievements. But that's why Houthi is not going to buy this. So, and I don't think so his trip is going to bring about anything sort of a fundamental shift if we are to use the term. Unless it is coupled with recalibration of the US position on unconditional support for Israel, because this is what the region is witnessing right now. So when Trump said, I will be traveling to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, he should have added our subservient states. So, but he's not going to, uh, uh, uh, he's not going to Israel for that matter. So, and there is a reason for that. So once again, I recall arguing that positive attitudes, however short-lived, took different directions in Riyadh and Washington once President Trump was sworn in. How ironic, because here is why. Before becoming a president, Donald Trump criticized Saudi Arabia, directing harsh words at the Saudis when he said, and I quote, "The US should not be working to support Saudi terrorists," end of quote. All this All this was water under, under the bridge when President Trump took office. Why? Because his first trip was to Saudi Arabia. So that begs the question, was that his way of saying, I am sorry, used the wrong word, didn't measure my word? I don't know much about global affairs. Did the president's first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia betray his awkward grasp of foreign affairs? You know, those are questions that I asked back then. So, and whatever the case may be, it became evident that the president, Trump, at that time, and it seems to be repeating the mistake again, made to the Saudi serves Saudi Arabia's interest very well. In other words, the Saudis used the naivety of Donald Trump. And my reference here is how Trump received, how Trump sort of made, when he made the trip to the Saudi, serves the latter interest. And this is how, given how Trump's lack of credibility, you know, gobbled messages, inconsistencies, so, and of course the bashing of all Muslims. So the Muslim world received his speech in Riyadh with low expectations back then because instead of focusing on what matters, Didn't. And this is why the Israelis are playing this differently. What the Israelis are saying is, oh no, no, no, no, no, it's because Mr. Trump's focus is on Ukraine and nuclear talks with Iran. However, that's not the— that's not true. Is the tensions that exist between between Netanyahu and Donald Trump. So, and of course, Mr. Trump said that, oh, we will deliver, we will work on delivering food aid to residents of Gaza Strip because he will use it as a tool, as a weapon. And this is, again, you need to understand that as long as you have a head of state that does not, has never acquired the necessary political, social, religious, and cultural knowledge of West Asia, which is a volatile region that would ever change in dynamics because that's how it works. If you don't have grasp of this, it's not going to make sense, and the policies will be nothing but reactionary. This is the reality of, of, of how Washington now operates, because sadly we have amateurs that deal with the faith of our country, at least for me. So, so, and I believe Mr. Trump needs to acquire the necessary knowledge. So now all this comes on the heels of one more thing that I'm going to share with you Wow, we already crossed an hour here. So, and this one has to do with a special type of missile. This is ballistic missiles from Iran that they just tested. So I'm going to share some, uh, uh, uh, info about, about this one. This one called, uh, is called Qasem Basir, which is, which is an Iranian ballistic missile that is— get this, guys— that is resistant to electronic warfare and challenges the US THAAD system. Yeah, is this one right here. So this is an Iranian surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range exceeding 1,200 kilometers. And this one is an upgrade of the Haj Qasem missile. Qasem, it's in reference to Qasem Soleimani, that is. And they do have a missile named after him. So the interesting thing about this missile is that it is equipped with a thermal imaging guidance system, enabling it to hit targets with greater accuracy. It also— it is another key that I need you to understand— it also resists jamming and electronic warfare attempts. And of course has the capability of bypassing US air defense systems. So let me, let me, allow me to play a clip for you here, guys, quickly. All right, let me see which one is that. Yeah, take a listen here quickly and I'll do a translation for you guys briefly. This is a short one here anyway. Basically, the Iranians disclosed the— I'm gonna share with you, by the way, since I have the screen open here, I want you to see the date when this was announced right there. I'm highlighting it, which was yesterday. And to my knowledge, the info came up yesterday, but the test, the launching of it, was the day before. To my knowledge, it was on the 4th. So, so I just wanted to share this with you so you know. Basically, the defense minister of Iran said that this, this missile is capable of, of surpassing, uh, the defense, the air defense systems. And by the way, this missile does not fall under the guidance of GPS, doesn't use that, and has the capability of maneuverability and the targeting, the precision of targeting, uh, its target. And the military conducted the last testing of this missile in mid-April of this year. Okay, and that was now the— sorry, let me close this one here. Is that now this been deployed officially? That is why. So, so the reason why I'm saying this one here, guys, you have to put this in perspective because you need to understand as to what the message Iran is also sending, given that the upcoming trip of Donald Trump to the region. So, and this is why to Donald Trump it makes more sense to focus more on having a ceasefire with the Houthis than to even talk about the Iran nuclear program and so forth. So, and that's why the Iranians were ahead of it by unveiling the ceremony of the launching of the Qasem Basir missile. This is what's important about it. So, uh, and, and again, it's very, very interesting type of missile. I read the characteristics. I, I am not— I don't deal with the tech stuff of missiles, whatever. I know some basics, but I wanted to learn more about this one. What surprised me the most is that this was done quietly. They've been working on this missile since last year, by the way, quietly. But in mid-April, to be exact, on the 17th of April, that's when they conducted the test. But this, what they did on the 4th of May, was the last test, the field test, that is, and, uh, sort of, uh, now is deployed to all the locations. So the interesting aspect of it is that, uh, the upgrade version of it, uh, and all this comes during also the time, 3 days, only 3 days after, uh, uh, Marco Rubio, uh, called for a halt to uranium enrichment on Iranian soil and urged Iran to abandon the development of the long-range missiles. What arrogance! What arrogance, thinking we can dictate to other countries how to behave and what to do. It's under international law. They have the right to do whatever they want to do as far as the enrichment for civilian use. And even for the nuclear ones, you know, Begs the question, why aren't we saying anything about North Korea? You all know the answer to that. So anyway, that's all I have to share with you guys. Uh, I am going to be working on the Pakistan-India. Uh, I might do it tomorrow, I might do it Friday. No decision is made yet till I cover all, uh, uh, uh America. Uh, let me see this, this statement here. Saleh, yeah. Dr. Uh, basically we're saying that there will be an agreement between the Saudis and the Americans regarding nuclear, uh, a nuclear agreement, because the Saudis also wanted to have civilian nuclear technology. I, yeah, I, I don't know. I didn't think about that. I'm gonna be doing some reading more, uh, uh, so we'll see, we'll see, we'll see how it goes. So in any event, uh, I am going to be working on some other stories for you, and the one is the India-Pakistan war. And of course, uh, it's of concern to me personally. Let's hope it doesn't get out of control or out of hand, because here's the thing, guys, the scary part if nukes are deployed, you're looking at 100 million people vanishing in no time. So anyway, uh, please make sure to support the channel because this analysis you are receiving, the information you're receiving, it's unique to this channel. So I'm very, very grateful for your support. This is for my upcoming Asia trip, and thank you to those who already, uh, bought me tea in support of the Asia trip. This is for the channel if you want to support the channel. If you like the analysis you hear, I will be very, very grateful for your support. Remember to hit the like button and share the video with others. As always, remember, geopolitics impacts your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, guys. Bye-bye.