Radio War Nerd EP132—Socotra Island, Yemen & the U.A.E. Empire

Guest: Bethan McKernan, journalist (The Independent) Recorded May 6, 2018 The War Nerd talks to Beirut-based journalist Bethan McKernan about her brilliant reporting on the emerging United Arab Emirates stealth-empire stretching from the Indian Ocean up the Red Sea, and her venture into one of the UAE empire's major new points: Socotra Island, nominally part of Yemen, and home to some of the weirdest alien fauna in the world. . . . At 1:14:55 The War Nerd & Ames look at the latest war news: Green Berets helping Saudis against Yemen Houthi rebels . . . War Nerd rightly guessed it was a drone that killed Houthi president Sadad . . . New York Times outraged over Trump's continuation of Obama's Yemen war . . . AP long-form article on Yemen famine, but focuses on non-Houthi region . . . Morocco blames age-old West Sahara on Iran, to Gulf States' glee . . . Trump ripping up Iran deal . . . Trump cuts funding for White Helmets . . . Pentagon arms & "Arab Army" to replace SDF? . . . Head of OPCW blows credibility on Skripal poisoning, changes its story, self-fact-checks . . . OPCW has lowered its forensics standards to determine chemical weapons attacks in Syria . . . Billionaire Christopher Chandler, whose Legatum Institute launched the "Russian disinformation" panic in 2014, now accused of being a Russian intelligence agent himself . . . Read Bethan McKernan at The Independent and follow Bethan on Twitter