Having projects in Rosh Ha Ayin, a neighboring town peopled by Teymanim (Yemenite Jews), I got interested in the current Yemeni war. From a report:
The conflict between the Shiite al-Houthi rebels and the predominantly Sunni government may be taking place on a small stage in a country whose role in international politics is usually as a contender for aid dollars, but the implications of this conflict will have an impact well beyond Yemen’s borders. At a regional level, the battle has the potential to emerge as an all-out proxy campaign between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.Probably, a war between Iran and Saudi Arabia would be bad for world economy, as high oil prices could send it back to recession. It is frightening that the world is dependant on barefooted "soldiers" like in the pic. The machine gun mounted on a jeep seems to be the standard weapon in the Horn of Africa, yet I dont understand how it works, the gunner is salient and unprotected, he is easily taken out by a protected sharpshooter. Saudi Arabia has attacked the rebels with F-15 bombings, it must have been the most useless thing to do. The Saudis used to have a disciplined beduin army, like Jordan's Arab Legion. Will they fight?
3 comments:
The machine gun mounted on a jeep seems to be the standard weapon in the Horn of Africa, yet I dont understand how it works, the gunner is salient and unprotected, he is easily taken out by a protected sharpshooter.
I remember reading an account of a US soldier attempting to train recruits in Iraq for the new national army. Some of the men who claimed to know how to use an AK-47 would put the butt of the rifle against their hip and begin spraying gunfire with only the crudest of aiming. The account was in a gun magazine, and was second hand, so what I just posted is only third hand-hearsay.
I have seen the occasional picture of a rocket launcher on the back of a truck too.
Religious friction is just an excuse. I think the real cause of this conflict is the ongoing malthusian trap. For some reason it seems less honorable to declare that one is fighting for resources and land to continue their pointles proliferation. These people have a fertility rate of 6.5 acording to wikipedia. Its just a matter of time before yet another war would break out.
No doubt western intervention will occur to continue this demographic increase. It's depressing that these people have huge families while high IQ countires like the Netherlands and Japan have below replacement fertility rates. There is noo evidence that there is selection for higher IQ in Yemen.I am very pessimistic about the future.
PLF
Disagree. Yemen and Saudi Arabia are sparcely peopled and they are oil-rich.
RFegarding selection, I assume your knowledge of Yemen and Saudi reproductive pattern is weak or none. I think that poligynous warlike peoples are subject to strong selection for something related to intelligence.
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