On the back of my article ‘Britain is Just as Culpable as Saudi Arabia for the War in Yemen’ I was invited on to What A Hell Of A Way To Die podcast. Me and Nate Bethea ended up discussing not only Yemen, but the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, United States, The Fellowship, GCs and of course Britain and Priti Patel too!
A wide ranging, intellectually challenging and revealing discussion which I am glad I agreed to do.
I’m recording another Nate produced podcast today: TRASHFUTURE PODCAST about my soon to be published Exclusive at Open Democracy on the joint letter from 50 civil society figures opposing the indeterminate sentence for public protection addressed to Rt Hon Dominic Raab
Come through!
This week, Nate speaks with Sam Asumadu of Media Diversified (@writersofcolour) about her recent piece on the UK’s war in Yemen–that is, the ways in which the UK arms industry’s relationship with Saudi Arabia means that arms sales continue no matter what. We also discuss a lot about UK domestic politics and the relationships between reactionary movements in the US and the developing world. Read Sam’s piece about Yemen here
For this week’s bonus, we go to the southeast border of Europe (sorta): Joe's in Armenia right now and he explains some of the local issues to Francis and Carey, and they also discuss a strange subculture in which Russian men try to cosplay as American rednecks. Get it on Patreon here:
Subscribe to What A Hell Of A Way To Die here
A very important addendum from a friend:
Thank you Sam. Brilliant. I really enjoyed listening to this enlightened exchange. The only thing I would slightly disagree with you is when you say that Britain and France divided the Middle East with a “ non historical knowledge of the countries. “. They did have the knowledge of the countries and its complexity; that’s why it makes this episode so truly awful. Sykes and Picot acted like vultures sharing a carcass. France had a deep knowledge of the region ( and still has ). They had started to go there with the first Crusade in 1096 ( ? ) . They had multiple embassies in the Ottoman Empire. Not to mention archaeological digs in the 1800, Napoleon etc. The French invading Algeria. So when France and Britain divided the region they knew what they were doing. Choosing countries that would suit their own interest. I give you Egypt, you give me Syria etc. Truly abominable. In fact when I went to Syria I was surprised that people still talked about the disastrous French mandate ( admittedly not all was bad during that period ) and showed me traces of bullets in the roof of the souk in Damas as a reminder of the French bombarding the city before it became independent. I have no sympathy for Sykes and Picot. They absolutely knew what they were doing and created the situation we are in now. Funny when you think that when Elizabeth 1st sent an envoy in the late 1500 to the court of the Safavid Emperor ( now Iran ) nobody had heard of England and the courtiers of the Emperor had never heard of Elisabeth. How a tiny island since decided to pillage snd interfere with the world.
Have a great day
Sam