Saudi Arabia has played a very minor part in this war.

Submitted by MIchael S. (United States), Apr 24, 2015 at 21:58

There seems to be a disconnect in today's culture, concerning the reality of warfare. On the one hand, groups playing to the media, such as Press TV, the UN, etc., treat war as though it's a video game in which every side knows exactly who will be killed by every bullet; and in which hostilities start and cease immediately as soon as some player announces that they will do so.

On the other hand, the wars themselves seem have become interminable, seemingly pointless displays of indiscriminate barbarism. In reality, wars are being waged as they always have, when one party believes that they can accomplish some end through brutal acts -- whether or not those acts, in themselves, have any military value. Aggressions are countered with responses; and over time, human suffering and economic dislocation ensues that, for the most part, was not the original intention of the warring parties. In that sense, warfare today has elements in common with warfare throughout history.

The Press TV interviewer is trying to treat the latest events in Yemen, as though they have somehow happened overnight in a vacuum. The reality is that they are just the latest incidents in a region-wide war that has been going on with intense ferocity since 2011.

• In 2014, 76,000 people were killed in Syria
• 21,000 were killed in Iraq the same year;
• 14,638 died in Afghanistan, and
• 11,529 in Nigeria;
• 6,389 in South Sudan,
• 5,496 in Pakistan, and
• 5,335 in Sudan

Note that all the above conflicts, except that in South Sudan, were in Muslim countries The next largest battle zone was outside of the Middle East-Africa area:

• 4,707 died last year in the conflict in the Ukraine.

Returning to the Arab-African world,

• 4,447 died in Somalia,
• 3,347 in Central African Republic,
• 2,825 in Libya,
• some 2,000 in Gaza,
• 1,500 in Yemen and
• 1,235 in DR Congo.

This widespread war obviously did not start a month ago, with Saudi airstrikes on Yemen.

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