this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024

85 points (100.0% liked)

World News

45492 readers

3058 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]

Recommendations

How to spot Misinformation and Propaganda

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

US military strikes Houthi targets in Yemen (abcnews.go.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

91 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yemen has been undergoing a US-Saudi backed genocide for years

Guterres put the crisis in stark perspective, emphasizing the near complete lack of security for the Yemeni people. More than 22 million people out of a total population of 28 million are in need of humanitarian aid and protection. Eighteen million people lack reliable access to food; 8.4 million people “do not know how they will obtain their next meal.”

Besides Saudi Arabia, the coalition attacking Yemen includes the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Qatar was part of the coalition but is no longer.

Based on the information available to it using open sources, YDP reports that two-thirds of the coalition’s bombing attacks have been against non-military and unknown targets. The coalition isn’t accidentally attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure – it’s doing it deliberately.

The air and naval blockade, in effect since March 2015, “is essentially using the threat of starvation as a bargaining tool and an instrument of war,” according to the UN panel of experts on Yemen.

The coalition’s genocide in Yemen would not be possible without the complicity of the U.S. This has been a bipartisan presidential effort, covering both the Obama and Trump administrations.

U.S. arms are being used to kill Yemenis and destroy their country. In 2016, well after the coalition began its genocidal assault on Yemen, four of the top five recipients of U.S. arms sales were members of the coalition.

The U.S. has also provided the coalition with logistical support, including mid-air refueling, targeting advice and support, intelligence, expedited munitions resupply and maintenance.

US complicity in the Saudi-led genocide in Yemen spans Obama, Trump administrations

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I do not disagree.

However, the Houthis are using child soldiers on their front lines.

So fuck them too.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/13/yemen-houthis-recruit-more-child-soldiers-october-7

There is just no "good guy" involved in this particular conflict.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Which is worse: using "child soldiers" to fight genocide or genociding children including those too young to be soldiers?

B/c the "both sides" argument is just obvious BS.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (9 children)

I would say killing children in large numbers is a form of genocide.

load more comments (9 replies)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

That's not my point. This isn't about good guys or bad guys. This is about an entire population subjected to a genocide. There are plenty of reasons to not like the Houthis, but that doesn't change the reality that they only exist as a resistance to the ongoing genocide. The point isn't that the Houthis are good, it's that the genocide, facilitated by the US and our Ally Saudi Arabia, is significantly worse by multiple magnitudes.

The root cause of the problem is still the genocide, that's a much bigger concern, especially to the people of Yemen, than to stop or reform the Houthis themselves. They can only be addressed in a realistic way, by the people of Yemen, once the genocide ends.

As of February 2018, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the coalition had killed 6,000 people in airstrikes and wounded nearly 10,000 more.

Yet, according to the OHCHR report, these counts are conservative. Tens of thousands of Yemenis have also died from causes related to the war. According to Save the Children, an estimated 85,000 children under five may have died since 2015, with more than 50,000 child deaths in 2017 alone from hunger and related causes.

If you're concern is the well-being of the children in Yemen, which is a completely valid concern, then you can clearly see that the genocide is a far greater threat to them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

How is genocide any greater a threat than putting them on the front lines? They'll be killed either way.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Are you seriously asking how Genocide is a greater threat? Over 5 times as many children have died to starvation alone

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If the child is going to die either way, it isn't a greater threat. It's an equal threat.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That's not how Genocide works. It targets children regardless

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

So do people shooting at child soldiers. The child will die either way.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (9 children)

I don't understand, are you upset that they choose to fight back instead of sit back and die regardless? Again, the genocide has killed over 8 times as many children. How is your focus not on the genocide.

load more comments (9 replies)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

There's a reason why they were able to recruit children. Because the US and their allies have created an environment in Yemen where children would rather be soldiers than actual children.

Houthis offer salaries and food baskets for families of those who are willing to join them, which works well given the deteriorated humanitarian and economic situation,” said a female human rights activist in Sanaa. You see the same circumstances in a lot of third-world countries America has decided to fuck up.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Because the US and their allies have created an environment in Yemen where children would rather be soldier than actual children.

And the Houthis could tell them no. Children's brains are not developed enough for them to consent to being sex workers or soldiers.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Underage Western men fought in the world wars

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

And?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If your perspective on both is consistent, more power to you, but putting that out there for others who may judge things differently in that case.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Of course my perspective on both is consistent. There is no moral justification for sending a human who's brain is as undeveloped as a child's to war. I doubt most people would say it was justified to send intellectually disabled adults to war either. I sure wouldn't want to see guys with Down's Syndrome in body armor and carrying a rifle, not having a true conception of the actual danger they're in or maybe even what they're fighting for.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I think that's a fair perspective and one I generally agree with. But I also see a compelling argument for "self defense." Children are victims of war, maybe they need to be able to defend themselves in times of war at home.

It's one thing to use child soldiers as cannon fodder or in wars of aggression, but maybe another when they're defending their homes and themselves. I'm not sure

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You're making this argument from a place of moral privilege. Yes, child soldiers are bad. But this has become a necessity for them and their survival based on foreign countries to deciding to screw them over because of their ethnicity and what side of a border they were born on. How effective or even necessary would this recruitment tactic be if Yemen wasn't facing the struggles they currently are. Who is directly responsible for these struggles?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

No, I am making an argument based on human rights and international war crimes.

There is no justification to equip children with weapons and put them on battle lines. They do not have consent to be there.

And I am not alone on this-

The Arab Center agrees- https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/child-soldiers-in-yemen-cannon-fodder-for-an-unnecessary-war/

Human Rights Watch agrees- https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/13/yemen-houthis-recruit-more-child-soldiers-october-7

Amnesty International agrees- https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2017/02/yemen-huthi-forces-recruiting-child-soldiers-for-front-line-combat/

ReliefWeb/OCHA agrees- https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/militarized-childhood-report-houthis-recruitment-yemeni-children-during-war-february

If all of those organizations disagree with you, maybe you should rethink your position?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (44 children)

I'm not advocating for the use of child soldiers. I'm advocating for the elimination of actions where children feel the need to stop becoming children and start becoming soldiers. Putting the full blame on just the Houthis who are stuck between a rock and a hard place is being very disingenuous.

load more comments (44 replies)