Scholar:

Saudi Arabia, UAE are loyal servants of US imperialism

The simple fact is that no matter who rules in Washington, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are loyal servants of US imperialism and serve as its surrogates in the Persian Gulf region, according to Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.

News ID: 446272

Date: 01 August 2019 - 15:18

RNA - Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV after the US Senate failed in its latest bid to block the controversial sale of $8.1bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia.

The US Senate on Monday fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to override President Donald Trump’s veto earlier in the month of three congressional resolutions aimed at blocking the country’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

However, a first vote on trying to overturn one veto on a measure passed by Congress to block the sale of certain weapons to the Saudi kingdom was backed by 45 senators against 40. The Senate’s Republicans shunned the bid en masse, with only five supporting the vote. Fifteen senators, meanwhile, withheld their votes.

“Although the Democrat-led House and the Democrats in the Senate voted in favor of overriding Trump's veto of a bill stopping arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, how sincere are they really in wanting to end the Saudi intervention in Yemen?” Professor Etler said.

“The humanitarian crisis in Yemen brought on by the war led by the Saudi coalition and supported by the US was inherited by the Trump administration as was the war in Syrian. It is rather disingenuous for Democrats to now feign concern for the Yemeni people, as it was under their watch that the crisis began,” he stated.

“No, the only reason that Democrats have become humanitarians is to politically challenge the White House in the upcoming presidential campaign,” he noted.

“Nonetheless, anti-imperialists and friends of the Yemeni, Syrian and Iranian people must support all efforts to curtail arm sales to Saudi Arabia even if it means holding ones nose while supporting Congressional Democrats. It must be cautioned however that the US will remain an enemy of the world’s people no matter who resides in the White House or which party controls Congress. It's a matter of playing both sides against the middle to ones advantage while recognizing that neither side is your friend or ally,” he concluded.

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