What Is at Stake in Yemen?

I've been frustrated by how little we know about the US-funded war in Yemen. A couple months ago, a friend told me that Dave Eggers had a new book coming out about a Yemeni-American with a crazy story having to do with bougie coffee and the war there. I took Eggers's book as an opportunity to try to understand the war. I ended up reading and writing about books by Isa Blumi and Ginny Hill, too. $16 cups of coffee, bad faith tales of the American Dream, caricatures of all kinds, and millions starving—I tried to make some sense of it in this essay for Public Books

"In October 2016, the Saudis dropped a US-made bomb on a funeral in Sana’a, killing more than 140 people, including the mayor and several other high-profile figures who were negotiating between the Saudis and the Houthis.1 Research has shown that the Saudi-led coalition has targeted hundreds of farms, markets, food storage sites, and fishing boats in Houthi-controlled areas, starving people to death.2 The Houthis, for their part, have restricted access to water, food, and medical supplies.3 It is a confounding war. Almost no journalists report on it.4Depending on their ideological commitments, some analysts describe it as a civil war, others as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It is difficult to discern what is happening, what is at stake. This only made me want to know more...."

Find it here.