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[–]ageingrockstar[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is quite a long report (~52 mins) by Ben Norton but very informative as a backgrounder on the geopolitics of the region, particularly with respect to the choke that Yemen is putting on the Red Sea. It's also good at dispelling certain myths (e.g. that Yemen is only a proxy for Iran).

It covers matters such as :

  • a proper background of the 2014 revolution in Yemen, the war that followed and the victory by Ansar Allah (Houthis)
  • Israel's strategic vulnerability with respect to marine trade
  • Discussion of Israel's 3 ports, two on the Mediterranean and one on the Red Sea
  • Saudi Arabia's abandonment of Palestine after the assassination of King Faisal in 1975 and its cozying up to Israel in the decades since
  • Venezuela and Hugo Chavez's role in inspiring Ansar Allah in Yemen

And a lot of other detail (the list above is just from memory after listening to it a day ago). And speaking of listening, yes, it's available on the Geopolitical Economy Report podcast, if you don't feel like you need to watch a talking head.