Yemen can wait

Congress may have just made a move toward ending support for the destruction of Yemen, but the White House is still actively aiding in that destruction.

A United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian deliveries in Yemen has been stalled by the US and other security council members after a lobbying campaign by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to diplomats at the UN.

The resolution, drafted by Britain, called for a halt to the fighting for control of the port city of Hodeidah, the main entry point for supplies, and for guarantees from the warring sides that food and medicine could be delivered safely to a country at risk of a famine that could threaten the lives of 14 million Yemenis.

[...]

Diplomats familiar with the negotiations said Saudi Arabia and UAE intensively lobbied council members over the past week, threatening that the talks in Stockholm might not take place if the resolution passed.

[...]

The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the defence secretary, James Mattis, had issued a call for a ceasefire at the end of October.

But a UK push last week to have the resolution adopted quickly, ran into opposition led by the US mission. The US, China, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia all argued that the resolution should be delayed until the start of planned peace talks between the exile Yemeni government and Houthi rebels in Stockholm, which the UN special envoy, Martin Griffiths, hopes to broker at some point between 3 and 13 December.

[...]

According to diplomatic sources, only Poland, the Netherlands and Peru actively supported quick passage of the resolution. France, Russia and Sweden were among the remaining council members who did not express an opinion. British diplomats had argued that the threat of famine was so catastrophic that there could be no delay, and were taken aback by the lack of support.

[...]

A previous UK attempt to pass a ceasefire resolution on Yemen failed in similar circumstances in late 2016 after the outgoing secretary of state, John Kerry, persuaded his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, to drop the initiative on the grounds it would interfere with a peace initiative.

  The Guardian

We can't stop the bombing Yemen because that might interfere with attaining peace. Perfectly Orwellian.