Several layers of ingrained propaganda are exposed in Lara Aryani's 2015 essay "Saudi Arabia and the War of Legitimacy in Yemen." It explains how Saudi Arabia has used its clout within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to wage wars throughout the region, particularly in Yemen.
Since she provides the strategy they used to mark its history as a political and military power from the "Operation Decisive Storm" to the present "Operation Restore Hope," the author's explanation of Saudi Arabia's dictatorship of the war narrative is effectively demonstrated. I like how she describes the manner Saudi Arabia uses the language of legitimacy in disguising its political powers by imposing binaries against its enemies such as right vs. wrong and state vs. terrorists in fighting terror while bringing harm to the region. For instance, the bombing of Mazraq IDP camp in Operation Decisive Storm killed many innocent Yemeni’s (Aryani). Apparently, the writer tries to explain how legitimacy was used to copy the U.S way of handling international matters but not in the right manner.
The article is well much researched and detailed as the author explained the instability in Yemen in its politics, leadership, and dates when specific occurred; however, it fails to offer the citations where she got the materials. Nonetheless, she gives maps that help the reader to understand, Yemen’s regions that describe the all the tribes. Tribalism has been a critical factor in the political instability in the country. I would recommend this article to anyone interested in knowing the history of Yemen but not for academic purposes.
Jeremy M. Sharps’ report “Yemen: Background and U.S. Relations” was published on February 11, 2015. It offers an overview of the United States-Yemeni issues and relations. That includes the current ongoing operations of US counterterrorism against Al Qaeda who are concentrated in the Arabian Peninsula, political transition in Yemeni, and other international measures aimed at improving the stability in the country.
In the report, I found out how the author has managed to explain how the US approaches in the country have managed to bring stability in spite of the recent Houthi conflict in 2014 that ended in February 2015 and saw the US suspending its Embassy operations in Sana’s. For instance, the U.S arrests terrorists who bring chaos to Yemen thereby extradite them to Guantanamo Bay and troops working together.
The report is well organized thereby easy to read for readers. It has the table of contents that highlights what one can expect in the paper with the page numbers given. The tables, maps, and data sheets offered also give it a perfect coherence, for instance, the author offers a United States Foreign Aid Allocations directed to Yemen from the year 2009 to 2014 data (Sharp 29). I also like how the paper gives the 2014 timeline of the Houthi Conflict thereby understanding how it began and ended being easier.
The report is well much researched and offers evidence of its claims. It uses a lot of in-text citations thereby footnotes being used making it easier for the sources to be easily traced. Nonetheless, the author fails to offer the full APA referencing at the end of the paper. For further questions and research by the student’s, the author has provided his contact information in case one needs clarification, for example, his email and contact number [email protected] and 7-8687 (Sharp 33)
I would recommend this report to any student interested in the political, economic, and social aspects of Yemen since it is easy to read due to its short length and well-explained details that have enough evidence. The report is perfect for academic purposes and even those interested in the history of Yemen.
Works Cited
Aryani, Lara. “Saudi Arabia and the War of Legitimacy in Yemen.” Jadaliyya.com, February 2015, http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/21538/saudi-arabia-and-the-war-of-legitimacy-in-yemen. Accessed 15th November 2016.
Sharp, Jeremy M. “Yemen: Background and U.S. Relations.” Congressional Research Service, 2015, www.crs.gov. Accessed 15th November 2016.
