Jim W. Dean interview: Saudi hush money avoids criticism on Yemen war

 by  Jim W. Dean, VT Editor,   … with Press TV,  Tehran

Press TV has conducted an interview with Jim W. Dean, the managing editor of the VT from Atlanta, to get his take on the Saudi aggression against Yemen and the West’s silence on the tragedy.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

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Press TV: Seven thousand one-hundred Yemenis killed and still no outcry from the international community. How many more Yemenis have to be killed before the international community decides to stand up and do something about the atrocities that have been waged against innocent civilians?

Dean: I’m afraid, I don’t think it’s going to happen for Yemen. It’s been forgotten. The Syrian news has completely overtaken them. We have had a lot of time now for the people to see all of these air attacks on Yemen. Saudi Arabia is refusing to negotiate.

And I’ve just felt that with their military power and friends in the region that eventually will get the upper hand militarily and then they would want to negotiate from a position of strength. Read today, the foreign minister has basically said that he thinks the worst is going to wrap up pretty soon.

And but they have no shame whatsoever. We see they brought in an African brigade of mercenaries to try to avoid Saudi and [Persian] Gulf coast casualties. And the world’s biggest surprise is we heard today they moved thousands of ISIL fighters from Syria, where you would think, they would want to keep them and brought them to Aden, have them fight in the final of course to Sana’a.

So, I’m very pessimistic on what’s going to happen to Yemen. It seems that the whole world has basically give up on the poor country.

Press TV: You’re personally in Atlanta in the United States. How much is this story being broadcast on mainstream media? Do people actually know about what’s going on in Yemen?  And what side of the story are they hearing?

Dean: They really don’t. Yemen is a faraway place. I can tell you by comparison even the war in Ukraine has completely dropped out of the news here. Syria is getting all of the attention. And Saudi Arabia knows that they can now do whatever they want to do in Yemen. And they don’t have to worry about public opinion.

A good sign is that they do have another UN meeting scheduled for the middle of November. Maybe that might be the time when they want to do a political settlement or begin one. But so far Saudi Arabia has basically said: “We’ve got plenty of money, time is on our side; so, we’re going to continue with the war of attrition.” And that’s the sad reality.

Press TV: What gives Saudi Arabia impunity?

Dean: Money, money to spend on arms, which Western countries want for their powerful defense industries who donate very lavishly to political groups to help keep selling arms, they want Saudi oil.

Saudi Arabia, even though they’re spending a lot of money with their deficit, and the UN has not done very much. Saudi Arabia has given huge amounts of money to the UN. They want to keep getting that money.

So, I’m afraid it’s the corruption. The all  money – the dollar, rial or whatever currency – or the oil dollar. At the end of the day, those with the money  can do more than the people’s votes sometimes can.

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Jim W. Dean

Jim W. Dean was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022.  He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.

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