[Music]
I'm George Ellery and I present Cal
Imahara on our my gene television here
we are in London
I speak my words freely either in
Parliament on television here on the
streets of London Cal Imahara means free
work - for ice cream - Cal Imahara in
the two-way conversation check it out on
our Medina television welcome to Cal
Imahara with me George Galloway on Al
mayadeen television coming to you from
London but talking about the Yemen in
fact know also about Saudi Arabia Iran
the United States the biggest flashpoint
currently on the world map today we have
an audience of distinguished experts
even more distinguished than normal and
some enthusiastic amateurs like me when
we established this subject for this
program it was not the case that
everyone in the world was talking about
Yemen five years nearly of incessant
warfare mass starvation polio epidemics
cholera epidemics ports being blockaded
children dying emaciated like sticks and
nobody in the world carrying anything at
all about it in fact some people in the
world making a very fat profit from the
starvation of the children of Yemen
school buses bombed schools bombed
wedding parties bombed brides killed at
the altar of their own weddings and even
funeral parties mourning the dead of the
last air raid being attacked and
creating many more corpses no one gave a
damn a hundred thousand maybe much more
than a hundred thousand Yemenis in the
poorest country on the earth living next
door to the richest countries on the
earth be
decimated by this almost five years of
warfare nobody gave a toss one airstrike
or drone strike or missile strike on an
oil refinery in Saudi Arabia well not a
single person was killed has catapulted
this subject right to the top of the
international agenda 5% of world oil
production was incapacitated at a single
stroke
causing a surge of price rises
throughout the international markets at
one stage the price of oil rose by more
than 10 percent chaos
seemed to loom in the international
economy the question was who to blame
and once you had decided on who to blame
how to explain how to explain that Saudi
Arabia which has spent literally
trillions of dollars on weapons on
missile shields on all the paraphernalia
which ought to have made it impregnable
could so easily be struck and devastated
by the first allegation drones did the
missile shields not work and if they
didn't work what's the point to buying
them what's the point of spending all
this money on defending yourself if
actually you are defenseless against
drones well in the first moments people
accepted that it was the answer Allah
the resistance in Yemen which has stood
up for these five years against the
Saudi Emirati
american-british Israeli attack on poor
Yemen and we were treated to the usual
story that the Houthis could only be as
effective as this if Iran was helping
them then miraculously amongst the ashes
in the oil refinery they found the usual
passports well in this case not exactly
a passport but made in Iran smelling of
halva picture of the ayatollahs on a dud
which never went off and so the Saudis
began to see that this attack did not
come from the south
neither did it come from Iraq it came
directly from Iran itself but there are
problems with that narrative obviously
if it was what they called the Houthis
they like to sectarian eyes this
conflict as a sunni-shia conflict if it
was the Houthis imagine what Iran could
do and if it was Iran that caused this
shockwave across the world with one
drone strike what could it do if it
opened all guns blazing
suddenly the threats of President Trump
were locked and loaded he loves those
Wild West metaphors we're locked and
loaded well if you're locked and loaded
you better fire but you're not gonna
fire are you think about it if you fire
they'll fire back and if that's what
they could do with one strike what about
ten thousand strikes so you're locked
and loaded but you can't fire so in that
case you're going to have to
back down how do you back down from the
kind of threats amplified by the US
media that we saw in the days
immediately following the attack on the
oil refinery if it was the Yemenis why
shouldn't they fight back what what kind
of a war is this we're only one side is
allowed to kill the other side you can
launch countless thousands of air raids
on people as long as they're defenseless
and if they hit back it's some kind of
crime and if they hit back and don't
even kill a single person that is
regarded as a worse crime than killing
children on a school bus you see where
I'm going with this you see the
International geopolitical complications
of all this well they do in the white
house that's for sure so if you ask me
the question right now is the United
States going to attack Iran I'll have to
laugh in your face
because that wouldn't just be a disaster
for the region it would actually be
perfectly absurd it would be the most
ridiculous absurd blunder ever made by
any government at any time because as
I've been saying throughout this long
crisis Iran is not Iraq in 2003 Iran is
not Grenada a defenseless little island
that you can hollywood-style land your
Marines on the beach Iran is a country
of 80 million people most of them young
people most of them United on at least
one thing that they will not allow
foreigners to attack their country and
with millions of people in their country
for whom they're not just ready to die
would actually be quite an honor for
them too
I fighting the United States of America
believing entirely believing that
paradise is the destination for someone
who dies fighting the United States of
America the Great Satan now these are
not the only problems Yemen has there's
a number of old problems coming back to
haunt Yemen the principal one of those
is secession it has been made abundantly
easy by international Western driven
policy for the idea to return back to
the table of Yemen being not one state
but to tell ya I'm old enough to have
visited Yemen when it was - I quite
liked the People's Democratic Republic
of Yemen I've got to tell you that right
up front but it's been 30 years or more
since Yemen reunified and now there are
people who want to divide it again and
they're not the kind of people that used
to run the PDR why Saudi Arabia would
quite like to see the division of Yemen
I'm personally against the division of
countries but you could see their point
the access to the sea the South Yemen
state would have the importance of that
sea its proximity to the Gulf are all
reasons why imperialism and its local
auxiliaries would want to see that kind
of division those division inside the
resistance itself between people who
were once enemies then friends now
drifting towards enemy status again so
you drop pebble in a pool it becomes a
tidal wave eventually sweeping much away
in its wake
so
we're talking today about Yemen but
about the importance of Yemen and the
conflict there to the region and the
world let me hand over to my first guest
madam welcome back I said we had a
distinguished audience you're one of the
the most distinguished of the audience
please introduce yourself and say
whatever you would like to say it's a
pleasure to be here and it's actually
amazing to hear you speak about the
situation as it really is truthfully and
honestly fearlessly if all people in the
Western Hemisphere spoke about the
reality of this aggression on Yemen in
the way you just did the suffering that
is ongoing to this day wouldn't continue
unfortunately as we have said this
before there is hypocrisy lies true true
is lie and so forth but is good good is
by good is bad and so forth and that's
what's actually what's actually killing
the people of Yemen on a daily basis by
hundreds through hunger through
preventable diseases through airstrikes
through terrorism through assassinations
paid for directly by the Saudi regime
and so that's what's happening let me
introduce myself I am speak I'm wearing
two hats today I'm wearing my hat as a
British lawyer who is familiar with the
laws of this land as well as the laws of
the international law platform and also
my new hat as the rep eminent
representative for the state of the
Yemen at the United Nations elect and
elect because of course the
acknowledgment of the legitimate
government of Sanaa hasn't taken place
yet
for obvious reasons because they want to
pretend or continue to tell the world
the lies that is just a handful of
Houthi rebels which we need to now put
down and get rid of because they are
troublemakers and and so forth when the
fact is and I'm telling you from
knowledge personal knowledge and my
through my work that the government of
Sanaa contains 16 members of the
Congress party that is former president
solace party 16 members they are the
majority
it has about 12 members of ansarullah
okay aka Houthi
has about four communists to
nationalists many other parties that
have grown over the power of the period
from 2011 today so many political
parties have come about in Yemen there
is a vibrant democratic movement of
liberation and freedom from hegemony
from the neighboring countries who have
no idea what democracy is who have no
idea what a constitution is who have no
idea what a republic is son our
government enjoys millions and millions
of Yemenis support who come flock to the
streets of Sun are today in fact they
are celebrating five years of the
glorious revolution of Yemen and you
will see millions of them flocking to
the streets affairs and some of them
buying their homes and their possessions
in order to be able to get their
majority of the Yemenis including those
from the seven provinces and Mareb are
internally displaced people having left
those parts due to the widespread of
terrorism and now I'm going to touch on
the point of the cessation I personally
am originally my family are from Ha the
remote and we know a lot about the
grievances a lot of my family have had
to leave Yemen and go to Africa and to
this day we have no contact with some of
them we've lost contact with them so yes
we have grievances and it was this cart
of grievances that the Saudi coalition
has played emotionally on the people of
the south and made them believe that
they will be turned in an independent an
independent state successful rich is
very much like to be 5 years later what
do we find
18 Detention Center detention centers
where women children and men are being
raped with buttons evidence has come out
through ApS everything evidence has come
out through waiters Human Rights Watch
Amnesty everybody has reported on this
but nobody wants to talk about it
because it's too hush-hush second thing
we have got this southern transitional
council which has been upped now as the
the the separatist movement now let me
tell you some basic facts about these
people by the way I am with a Hurok
which is the original article of the
secessionist party and a lot of the
leaders of the secessionist party of the
South are now
actually in sonar supporting the
government of son as part of the
government of Sanaa Deputy Minister for
sports in sana is a secessionist and
quite many others and I myself am part
of that family group of people who want
our rights upheld we have grievances and
we're not going to forget that
now who caused the grievance this is Ali
Mohsen al-ahmar the head of terrorism in
Yemen who is now in Riyadh from the
Islam our team right and instead of
addressing the issue where the person
who caused the grievances they
unfortunately our people in the South
have been manipulated to death to death
literally 1618 detention centers rapes
and pillaging and thefts and all of that
and terrorism every day suicide bombing
everyday human life has become so
meaningless that anybody can be just
pulled into the streets and shot like
that and they photograph it and they put
it in social media now who is the new
kids in the block I call them the new
kids in the block because they are they
are people whose age group it tells you
that they haven't even known anything
about the 1990s war which caused the
grievances right these guys are very
young so they don't know what the
grievances was all about and their
leaders and their leaders are one of
them well-known Hannah Ben break is a
man who was wanted for terrorism by the
u.s. regime for many years he is the
saboteur either so if we allow this
secession which I'm going to say some
more thing about it because there's
legal issues here if they hand over I
can tell you if they by force because
they've been doing everything by force
on lying to the world if they hand over
the south to this new these new kids in
the block which the original
secessionist don't acknowledge it means
basically this strategically very
important part of the world is going to
be satellite because these are Salafi
Wahabi who don't accept anybody else
Hannah Ben break is a well-known a cup
member I don't understand why the US
hasn't picked him up instead the u.s. is
just sending drones killing civilians in
other parts instead of actually getting
the man who's causing all of this
viewers really wants to fight terrorism
this is their man well the US has been
supporting al Qaeda and Isis in many
places and
indeed was the advertently or
inadvertently the father of al-qaeda in
the first place in Afghanistan in the
1980s but you don't have to look further
than Syria to see the United States
arming financing proselytizing for al
Qaeda and Isis and these other Islamist
killers and that's exactly what you're
describing now as happening in Yemen
final point please one final point the
Secession cannot happen by force
it has to happen by process of law and
the process of law is to hold a national
referendum we can't hold a referendum
while there is piracy being committed
against the state of Yemen 13 ships are
being unlawfully detained by the Saudi
regime which contains food and fuel
people are dying and they doing this
deliberately to force the people to
submit this out or which way they will
not do the airport in Sun are continues
to be closed which is claiming thousands
of lives every month this is horrific
like Yemen has become one big
concentration camp we really need to say
this loud I know people don't like to
hear this word but that's what we are
witnessing every day and something has
to be done if it's not done then I am
confident that the government of Sanaa
will be continued to sending drones
everywhere and that is not in the best
interest of everyone concerned secession
is not going to happen without due
process of law it has to happen through
referendum I am from the south and I'm
saying no until after we hold the
referendum let our people choose we have
to have a democratic process gentlemen
here you're itching to respond
my name is Nestle I say I'm come from
South Earvin it's South human know South
human and I speak Arabic because is this
best way for me Seban essaouira philemon
was been a shaman will give up less
protein while Islam Islamic ulama has
Emily North human drama so Hadi
Almog listened to Valley Manila group
Essaouira we have a caller who a very
shy man well you know Sarah let me a
betta a black olive oil
alum has a second happy that I know al l
ruthian he had a lover whom to help
madam demon iw main domain Caribbean
movie I will be a hostile volatile hello
GE and and the man in the moon beautiful
babe la huaca Vanek al-islam Ursula
hammer but Hal Weidmann and sorry Cherie
out there H Magdalene develop he'll have
Eva Venezuela have a column per se
l heard he mr. Hollywood malady Canadian
Abdullah Saleh Alice Alice eleven melody
in earnest Manorama knew I give our
Malia fidelity you pull a man humble you
know what can I like there is an
immortal armor
well harmonies Chanel cool Hermes -
Maggie do you know a little Harvey a
smelly gonna be hilarious Olynyk ie help
in Yemen a labradoodle and have a
service or eternity so hey el dólar
mustafa washer module mr. van what about
this and what if he I'm a loser you talk
about German Democratic you know if I
can wear the summer dress and words but
alas Sarah hello it's Fatima well you
know when cupboard normally mention
Molly watermelon League no fear Alma
nove Armenia Manish merrily merrily mph
I the government Afghanistan women :
monitored Phil Phil alum well human
genome Dalek exterminate Elmo comment
gonna be a table and Yeti attend Valera
be Elmo common gonna be oh well I'm
Alyce Correll Huckabee I'm answer me was
allowed to say allocated by the happy -
whaa - Tom Tahrir
our body reacts with Muhammad ibn al
Buddhism how the Valley Bank of America
no beer Elmo gonna be a comma cool Aloha
Chameli can ho t s allahi ta'ala power
Moomba commercials
here Obama ain't no lady whom I should
reply if he is lolly made room in Iran
well Heather Obama and no Annie yeah no
I'm gonna be an important lesson have
you had a lava know how important our
habitable an emotional and fishable
feeha promote wanna Pat alone Ginobili
Ibrahim are happy in Weber home or what
LLL groom
America dalawa head and Tom DiBella
way that Colonel Athena will be shaman
well Elmo tomorrow we should cool
alhamdolillah mashaallah morality in I'm
machine happy group and not so a lie
still and now without listener
while routine yeah any of the
bottom be Iran Adam laugh like a gear
i'll home welcome a hitman era be
whatever bulimia coca-cola she well
there are two issues obviously now on
the table the first is the Saudi
emirati American British Israeli war
against Yemen against all of Yemen
against all Yemenis and as you've just
witnessed there is the issue it's an old
one but it's back as to whether Yemen
should be divided and if divided by whom
on what basis and what will be the
geopolitical result if it is we'll be
back after this break with much more of
this
[Applause]
[Music]
you're watching Cal Imahara with me
George Galloway on Al mayadeen
television coming to you from London
discussing events in Yemen and the
surrounding area earlier we took knee
kalamaja rock camera onto the streets of
London to see what the people thought
take a look
the war on Yemen has been going on for
five years now has the us-saudi policy
been a success or a failure well sounds
like a failure to me if the war is still
going on that probably it's the worst
outcome all I can see through the media
is there's been a lot of children that's
being killed and that if the US and the
UK are actually supplying arms to Saudi
Arabia I think they ought to reconsider
that I'm in my opinion if the war is
still ongoing I don't think it's been
quite successful I think it's been a
failure in the sense that I think it
needs to be greatly improved upon I
think because of the fighting and
devastation i1c it's a complete failure
but it's definitely not a success for
the people of Yemen or I think the
United States my instinct would be to
say no because of who's in power at the
moment and general foreign policy in the
US
[Music]
but why do you think that the proxies of
the allies such as the US Israel Saudi
UAE are now fighting each other in the
South of Yemen oh I don't know a huge
amount about it and I they're fighting
each other then I guess it's for control
of the region it's it may be about trade
trade agreements and and their friends
in the area access to ports possibly
ugly speculation why they're fighting I
think it's all all-round oil basically
that's that's the main thing I don't
know if it's like a divide and conquer I
don't know if it's a tactic from the
other side for them to be fighting I
think because there's so many different
countries taking so many different sides
I think that all the proxies started
fighting each other and I think that
they all need to reevaluate kind of the
end goal for the people of Yemen to make
sure that there's a policy in place that
they as the government can move forward
in a positive direction to make sure
that the government is sound and that
the people have a stable government that
they can rely on to ensure the
well-being of all the citizens in terms
of most war it would be for some sort of
control over the area and there will be
probably some sort of financial benefit
to whoever wins
but I think this situation with with
Iran certainly has to be escalates
because that's very very serious for
everybody I mean the Middle East and
surrounding countries the UK everybody I
think that's a you know that that's a
very serious situation that's going on
at the moment
[Music]
well that was the view from the streets
of London let's continue to hear what is
here in the studio yes sir
Salam aleikum Salam CEO sol madrid
Philemon will harp he her vocal for
coolin Atrato Sarah are here to our
leader well hello Hoffy at lock I'm
Elliot Salaam let Stephanie I hadn't
dalamud Ania Sania Oh Shelia alia -
Tehillim at any attack Ivana Jimmy well
and that lock had he'll homily I'm
Elliot Salaam the module hired to kill
Hakam edenia that whoosh Erica shamila
Wafaa treinta Delia literally Fatima had
a de uma theater giggle Adela integrally
Familia de demócrata yeah was so naughty
clearly talk here let it heal Hakam the
hair had a little bull on a door fee
hello comma forever
lalala stock bubble had mineral a gleam
in do a lily lilium Iran who do not walk
up our man Billy of a felon ruler - mata
haru SIA Cunha homeopath our own della
Yemen well cool homey up my own faith
heartily Emanuel motala strategy Liam
O'Neill a human own Annie Rococo and
Tocqueville a duel masala historical
monument Molokini Kuna delicacy fear
filled majolica to Saudi with ten office
anomia Posada only feeble Ida nobody man
a banana no me de Muro balada now with
the moral authority now is the more
cattle market arashiyama really valid no
diamond mr. Dooley
Felix Salaam with ten years he hurdle
ballad mm la allakum lucky no no good we
had al khali metal no just a kid you
know I was a little fickle
thank you they did in the middle row hi
my name is Sofia
I've been living in the UK for four
years and one of the examples that
I can't go back to my country because of
sauna Airport closure and this is one of
the most important humanitarian issue
that lead to all the many thousands of
Yemeni are stuck outside and thousands
of Yemeni are injured inside Yemen they
can't go to outside the broad to receive
the necessary medication because of the
saudi-led coalition hit and bombed most
of the Yemen's infrastructures as you
know so hospitals schools everywhere
have been bombed so this is under the
humanitarian law that you cannot prevent
the citizens to move from place to
another so this is one of the most
important issues that must be discussed
and that Sanaa
Airport closure must be lifted as soon
as possible and you you said in the
beginning in your introduction that is
the United States going to hit Iran
definitely not because they are going to
hit human so all of them agreed to hit
human how did they do that if they say
that the attack on Saudi Arabia came
from Iran so Iran bombs you so you bomb
Yemen so the Yemen Yemeni people are
asking the same questions as long as the
Yemeni are defending themselves and this
is the legal right to defend themselves
why they are hitting Yemen not hitting
Iran so this is my my question why it's
a very good question international
community is doing this hypocrisy
so this yeah so this is the question is
raised by every Yemeni sitters thank you
very much gentleman in the middle thank
you George
my name is Sal Ali and political and
social commentator of many failures in
the Middle East and East Africa I like
to say the conflict has entered into a
new territory a territory dominated by
the effectiveness of drone attacks which
I believe would change not only the
people settle their differences in this
region but in many parts of the world we
have witnesses that the Houthi rebels
relying regularly on these drones and
this year alone we have seen drones used
to attack oil facilities in Saudi
Kingdom on May the 14th and August the
17th this year alone and the most
effective attack came on the 14th of
September the question many are asking
is despite Saudis investing heavily and
build in building their own military and
buying a lot of weapons from world's
most powerful nations their
sophisticated satellites have failed and
could not detect 10 drones freely
rooming over the skies of Saudi Arabia
reaching their tagged targets after
traveling 1,000 and 200 kilometers
hitting the two oil facilities and
damaging the Saudi oil protection that
means have shown us that the weapons
that they have put became useless and
ineffective and also the anti-missile
missile ready support the Patriot the
Patriots have become also useless I this
reminds me the current the conflict
reminds me that you have relied on the
big powers United States and the weapons
they gave you but now you have realized
that this is not enough to protect you
you are totally exposed to an endless
danger from the Houthis and the whole
dream that this conflict could have been
brought to an end in matter of monthlies
has evaporated because we are all
witnessing that it entered it is 50th
and the Hootie's in my opinion are
psychologically and militarily gaining
momentum at the moment so what is best
if I am if you put me into a ring again
is Mike Tyson
you know I will not we cannot talk about
winning we will talk about when this
gentlemen the thing
slim Somalian is going to be dying
violently because there is a world of
difference between me and the person I
am fighting the Saudis and the Emirates
are now beginning to feel the heat
they are beginning to realize and I have
no doubt they both looking away out the
merits have already taken their troubies
5000 out of Yemen and the Saudis have
got their feet into the medal the only
solution is agreement of ceasefire and
Yemen is to be left alone to decide
their own future themselvess I think he
the idea of inventing the map and
dividing Yemen is totally upset and
unjust Yemen have become United and they
were developing without these
intervention which is started by the
Saudis getting the support of the merits
and other money driven nations their
interest driven nations is gonna fail it
now and I hope that the world support is
a way to end this conflict as quickly as
possible well let's hear from security
and intelligence expert Charles
Shoebridge Charles I'm not going to ask
you to walk us through the labyrinth of
internal Yemeni politics because we
don't have time but what's your overview
of the military and geopolitical
situation now in the wake of the attack
on the Saudi oil fields yeah George
we've heard a lot about
internal politics just some aspects and
of course there very many more and in
many ways even though people are
disagreeing of course that's very
encouraging the fact that there will be
internal political discourse and that
that can be resolved in the course of
internal Yemeni politics in due course
but of course what's needed for that
happened is an end to the war the war
needs to end the blockade needs to end
so that some stability can at least
return and so that then politics perhaps
in some civil way can take place and
we've also heard comments which is
absolutely accurate that of course the
real crux of the problems in Yemen the
axe' exacerbates the situation as it has
done in Ukraine as is done in Syria
Libya and elsewhere is that you have
these domestic internal divisions which
are absolutely ruthlessly and endlessly
exploited by outside powers and we've
seen that desperately so in the case of
course in Yemen and that has been
covered and is now actually quite
apparent also even in Western media
coverage which after many years of
largely ignoring these incidents if they
take place against Yemeni civilians by
carried out by British and American
allies the Saudis in particular by their
airstrikes using of course British and
American supplied weapons and logistics
and so on that has largely not been
covered by the British and American
media now it's inescapable it is being
covered and so even there externally
there is a pressure for this war to come
to an end it has been proved an
embarrassment to the British and
American governments and I think Trump
particularly of course Annie's made
reference to this Trump in his instincts
while of course he continues to want to
sell billions and billions of dollars
worth of arms at did obama perform as
there's our own government to the Saudis
their use in this way has become a
distinct embarrassment and it's made the
supply of these weapons more difficult
in the future of course they would like
to remove those difficulties um our
colleague here also made very good point
that the use of drones and it's just one
example is an excellent illustration of
the way in which the playing field is
being leveled in in Indies conflicts
especially what would have been in the
old days called a low-intensity conflict
in other words a largely guerrilla
campaign that it can be go on to the
strategic level with the use of drones
and basic cruise missiles which I think
probably certainly the forensics that's
been presented so far suggests were used
in its attack it's use worth relying
worth was remembering as well that
whilst there's been lots of discussion
about whether these were launched for
example from from Yemen itself and we
have the precedents for that I mean
there have many attacks using drones
noise yeah their distance is greater but
that distance is greater but the
principle is the same the principle is
the same but also there has been some
yourself potentially longer range drones
by their hooters but also of course it's
possible that these could have been
launched from sympathetic forces in Iraq
the other option of course that's been
put about particular by the Americans is
that it's been launched from Iran again
without any specific evidence so far but
one that has been discounted or not
mentioned largely but was mentioned by
the Houthis in our original claim was
that it's possible that at least some of
these weapons the drones were launched
from within Saudi Arabia itself bearing
in mind that there are forces within
Saudi Arabia political and military
forces to some degree there are against
the regime there particularly of course
in eastern province one might talk about
that so it looks as though this attack
on this refinery could actually rather
than be an escalation point could
actually be a critical point path on the
path to actually ending this conflict
because it's raised the stage to such a
level that now this continuation of this
conflict threatens the West's economic
interest particularly of course in
respect of oil Trump might say as he has
don't know we don't care about Saudi or
oil anymore
that's completely not true for the time
being at least and so if this disruption
to the international economic economic
order can be threatened and also if the
same can be threatened perhaps not with
drones in a syllable with cruise
missiles against the UAE itself as the
Hooters of indicated may be the next
step this is going to cause pause for
thought amongst the Saudis and the UA
Emiratis themselves because we've
already got this split that is taking
place between the UAE and the Saudis
it's becoming increasingly difficult to
hide where basically the UAE
pretty much wants out yes they are
encouraging different forces there co
engineer proxies and they would like to
have
some control over the riches of the
south the strategic importance of Aiden
and so on that's absolutely understood
and this is consistent with what we've
seen over the last decade at least of
the involvement of the Emiratis the
Qataris and so on in the internal
affairs of other Arabic and Middle East
and North African countries so it may
well be that this actually can prove a
turning point indeed very recently we've
course had following up from the attack
we've had the hoot is actually offering
to end these attacks so long as the war
ends and of course it's going to be very
interesting to see how the Saudis bear
in mind that the pressure matrix from
the West is differing now because of
this threat that is now apparent to
their economic well-being and it's
possibility now perhaps more than ever
that at this very moment at is
escalating that fairly escalation may
prove may may prove to be a really act
of strategic genius on a part of the
Hootie's to bring this to a close so
that these political developments and
discussions that we've had very
eloquently Illustrated here can take
effect perhaps internally so the new
takeaways are that nobody in the right
mind would buy a Patriot missile let me
let me talk that's a very good point you
see the problem is and we're going to
come back to the commenter our colleague
here said that the Patriot missile is
designed to defend against ballistic
missiles like the Scud missiles that the
Houthis have used quite effectively into
Saudi Arabia for some time and of course
these Scud missiles haven't come from as
the West likes to presume or likes to
pretend from Iran they've confirmed the
remnants of the Yemeni army that is
actually with the Hootie's or has been
allied at different points and so large
parts of the army of course are against
the government of Haryana against the
Saudis as you might want to be yourself
if your country was attacked in a way
and so the Patriots are of some
effectiveness not full effectiveness
against ballistic missiles such as this
good missile but and they have been used
by the Hootie's so far but they are
absolutely useless against low tech low
cost quite especially large numbers of
drones and that's why in so many ways as
kated they are an absolute equalizer
changer a game-changer but the second
the second game changer is that as I
hope I demonstrated in my opening
remarks the United States cannot
actually attack Iran and therefore
anything that ineluctably draws them
towards an attack on Iran is something
that is against their interests let's
assume another three drone attacks on
another three oil refineries this is
going to provide tremendous pressure on
the u.s. to attack Iran but it can't
attack Iran because it will lose it it
will lose because it doesn't have the
stomach and quite rightly doesn't have
the stomach because it's not in the
interests of the US any lot of years
people to have what undoubtedly would
not be as he's being suggested by some
Hawks in the US media and for security
establishment a series of limited
punishing short term strikes applause
well if said if you attack us it's
all-out war and the history shows that
that actually those remarks by him are
sustainable they are probably true and
if you attack Iran you are going to
engage in an extremely long term
conflict there's no question that us
would ever invade Iran the cost would be
phenomenal in blood and money and so
they're talking second world war two
levels of and does stabilize the entire
region and of course caused massive
problems for the global economy because
of their impact on oil prices the u.s.
does not want that so of course it's
absolutely restricted and what it can do
despite the fact that of course Hawks
now departed such as Bolton but even
Pompeyo
do seem to believe in perhaps at the
best of other countries in the region of
course notably Saudi Arabia but Saudi
Arabia remember doesn't want a full
conflict but countries such as Israel of
course of which is very powerful at the
Washington Lobby to actually punish
their main enemy which they see as Iran
blended overview gentlemen next year my
name's Schramm alikum cybersecurity
expert and student of history how this
man that's what we need a cybersecurity
expert there at so having worked in
technology for the past 15 years there's
one thing I'd like to mention
and get out the way straightaway
Hootie's do not have the technology or
the know-how to get 1,200 kilometres
into Saudi territory and bomb it I've
read up indeed how were they able to
attack air bases several of them several
several of those air base attacks were
limited you got to remember to control a
drone 1,200 kilometers away you need the
technology you need satellite access to
a satellite to be able to control that
drone they do not have that and then
number three they use Lockheed Martin
air defense systems you need to have
stealth technology to get that for
Hootie's do not have that Iran does not
have time to be very very clear who does
that leave that okay so that's one thing
four months ago
intelligence sources from within
Pakistan said that Saudis were warned
that there's a Black Swan operation
about to happen to trigger conflict
between Saudi Arabia and Iran both
countries were warned that there's a
Black Swan operation about to happen
this is a Black Swan you mean the
mercenary force something was going to
happen so it's an event that's going to
cause a change in the policy country's
policy straight away so they were warned
four months ago and it was on TV and we
all knew about it we were just waiting
for it to happen
now it's quite strategic that they use
cruise missiles now that's another point
cruise from only five countries in the
world have cruise missiles Iran is not
one of them well it's a cruise type of
missile cruise type of masada of cruise
right on it
no but the point is you would have to
have stealth technology to bypass the
air defense system to begin with right
does Iran have stealth technology you do
think you do need it so you get that far
into Saudi Arabia so that's one thing
then what you've got to figure out is
who benefits from the conflicting you
have a higher we're running out of time
you
have a higher appreciation of Saudi
defense capability than I do and a lower
appreciation
no no I don't offensive capable no I
appreciate what the Houthis have done
over the last five years to defend
themself the Saudis were all asleep but
but the point the point I'm trying under
this there's also the very strategic
point that we are weren't missing it
even though the drones are there for
example right every all this technology
is there who benefits that's the key
question Saudis don't benefit from it
Iran doesn't benefit from a conflict who
benefits in the long run from the
conflict that's the question we have to
ask ourselves what's your answer yeah
and my answer is from a conflict between
Iran and Saudi Arabia right Israel
benefits the most
Israel benefits the most look at the
election results look who's who's
eventually going to be the prime
minister former chief of army stuff look
at what he said about declaring they're
basically annexing large parts of the
Jordan Valley large parts of West Bank
and extend Israel's sovereignty over
those areas so you have to look at and
then you have to look at and not another
as well we don't have time for that I
want this lady to speak and she'll have
to be unless she's extraordinarily brief
the last speaker thank you thank you I'm
dr. Siana Shafi I'm a recently a
humanitarian GP so and I'm nearly in my
fifth decade of life just touching on
your reference to age there and although
in the West we've lived in utmost peace
thankfully I was not born here I was
born in Sri Lanka but my ancestors come
from possibly Yemen so I have an
interest in kind of human preservation
and I just wanted to say one at least
one point which is this observation I
think everybody touches on is the
cowardice of leadership and how they the
proxy war thing on on you can you can
kill from a distance you don't have to
be involved it just has to
push-button control and devaluation of
life and absolutely no bravery
whatsoever
I mean how will our history books look
in the future to describe our current
leaders we know how we think of our
current leaders but there is no heroism
and so this thing that that human life
means nothing and that leaders play no
legitimate games I mean there are rules
for wars they used to be rules for us
and people don't stick to those rules
anymore so in my current job I see all
the victims from Syria from Iraq from
Yemen actually not many from Yemen
because people are trapped there and it
how do you divide a country and and what
what's the purpose of it and I think
it's amazing your skill sir as a cyber
technologist but I'm really pleased that
you asked the question about who
benefits and I think that is the
rhetorical thing dr. Troy finally yes so
I think that according to what I've
heard today is we all know who is partly
responsible in all the chaos we see
today in the air men especially we the
West European countries and and the
United States but I'm sure that next
year we will have the same thing a new
war starting and our and asking the same
questions the reason is this one in my
opinion we are all responsible because
of the way we we behave which means that
we do not denounce we do not condemn
what all there D what the United States
are doing what the UK is doing what
Frances to be when they commit crimes
and they kill other people so that's the
sad part
that's a very sad part well the show has
to come to an end which is a pity
because we could have discussed this for
very much longer
I've been George Galloway you've been a
marvelous audience thanks very much for
watching
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]