Saudi monarchy untenable dictatorship: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Colin Cavell, an author and lecturer in West Virginia, about the Saudi military aggression against Yemen.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: It seems that the Saudi onslaught on Yemen has become the status quo for many. The bombs continue to fall, the people continue to die and yet there is absolute silence on the part of the Western media and Western politicians. Why do you think that is so?

Cavell: Well, of course, the Arabian Peninsula is very much a strategic area in the world right now and the United States’ main ally, Saudi Arabia, a monarchical dictatorship, is very much trying to maintain its existence against the onslaught of democratic forces in Bahrain, the onslaught of democratic forces in Yemen; and the United States is trying to maintain this ally, this unelected monarchical dictatorship.

But, there are forces in US State Department that realize that this relationship is untenable, and so, what they have done over the last year or two is negotiate a very important deal with Iran to maintain these relations should Saudi Arabia be forced to be jettisoned from the US alliance. Because, as I said, the State Department... there are forces in there... they realized that maintaining this outdated monarchy is untenable. And that is why Saudi Arabia is trying to fight back. They are trying to fight back to push in the exiled president in Yemen, Hadi, and then they are trying to fight back by maintaining the Al Khalifa dictatorship in Bahrain.

But it is a losing battle, because they are a very outdated oppressive monarchy; the people hate them; they are not liked at all, even by their own people.

Press TV: Indeed, speaking of a losing battle, when it comes to Yemen, what is the Saudi game plan? Because even with the most optimistic of outlooks, one cannot expect Saudi Arabia to actually believe that it will be able to put in the Hadi government, as what it calls, back into power and have complete control over Yemen.

Cavell: Well, they have got money and they have committed over $500 million to backing the exiled President Hadi and they have had some initial successes in Ta’izz recently and also in Shabwah and also in Aden.

So, money can buy you mercenaries for a time, but for the long term, the people of Yemen know exactly what Saudi Arabia stands for: dictatorship. Dictatorship from afar, from an external country that is trying to put in a puppet ruler.

So, they will fight because they are fighting for freedom and freedom is what every government depends upon; that is the major fuel source of any government. So they will continue to fight for their freedom against Saudi Arabia.

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