The US War on Yemen Is an Exercise in Futility
Joe Biden has launched yet another US war in the Middle East with his air strikes on Yemen. The bombing campaign won’t stop attacks on Red Sea shipping — but an end to Israel’s war on Gaza will.
12 Articles by: Helen Lackner
Helen Lackner is the author of Yemen in Crisis: The Road to War (2019) and Yemen: Poverty and Conflict (2022). She worked in rural development and lived in the three Yemeni states for fifteen years.
What Yemen’s Houthis Want
In a wide-ranging interview, Yemen scholar Helen Lackner examines the Houthis’ politics, their support for Palestine, and the long history of a country torn by civil war.
Joe Biden’s Air Strikes on Yemen Are Reckless and Wrong
The Biden administration has chosen to open up a new front in Yemen instead of pressuring Israel to stop its onslaught against Gaza. Air strikes are unlikely to deter attacks on Red Sea shipping, but they could undercut a deal to end Yemen’s bloody civil war.
Political Economy, Not Culture, Explains the Arab Spring
The Arab Spring was an inspiring explosion of democratic energy that ended tragically in autocracy and violence. Understanding the protests’ ultimate failure requires concrete analysis of political and economic factors, not superficial cultural explanations.
Yemen Has a Long Tradition of Solidarity With the Palestinian People
Yemen’s Houthi movement attracted global attention by seizing an Israeli-linked ship in the Red Sea and firing rockets toward Israel. They felt obliged to act because of the strong, historically rooted support for Palestinians among the Yemeni people.
There’s Still No End in Sight to Yemen’s Catastrophic War
Ongoing efforts to negotiate a peace agreement in Yemen haven’t brought an end to fighting between the Houthi movement and a Saudi-led alliance. Even if those efforts bear fruit, Yemenis will suffer the consequences of a humanitarian disaster for years to come.
Yemen’s Socialist Experiment Was a Political Landmark for the Arab World
South Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arabian Peninsula, gave birth to its most radical government in the 1960s and ’70s. The achievements and failings of Yemeni socialism are a vital case study as Yemen seeks to recover from a catastrophic war.
Yemen Could Have Peace — If the Saudis Stop Demanding Victory
Yemen’s rich and complex history was upended by its catastrophic civil war beginning in 2014. A peace agreement could help Yemenis recover the frustrated hopes of the 2011 uprising — if Saudi Arabia stops demanding victory for its allies.
How Yemen’s Old Order Snuffed Out the Country’s Hopes for a New Dawn
Ten years ago, inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, Yemenis challenged an authoritarian ruler and dared to dream of a new future for their country. But a backlash by Yemen’s old guard and interference by foreign powers crushed those hopes and plunged the country into war.
How Yemen’s Dream of Unity Turned Sour
Thirty years ago today, Yemen united as one country in a mood of optimism about the future. Those hopes were to be cruelly disappointed, thanks to the destructive, self-serving record and rivalry of Yemen’s political elites.
What the Saudis Have Wrought
The Saudi-led, US-backed war in Yemen has produced a humanitarian hellscape. And there’s no end in sight.
Yemen’s Disaster
Yemen had the longest and deepest Arab Spring — why did the country collapse into civil war?