US using Saudi weakness over Khashoggi to push for end to Yemen War

[BeckyDem]

CNN

Updated 6:19 PM ET, Wed October 31, 2018

Washington (CNN)The United States is working to capitalize on what it regards as new leverage with Saudi Arabia to end the brutal civil war in Yemen and ease a regional standoff with Qatar, according to multiple US and diplomatic officials.

Seeing an opening created by the kingdom's new pariah status after the killing of a dissident journalist, US officials say the time is ripe to move on longstanding goals, including forcing an end to the Saudi-led bombing campaign that has prompted a humanitarian crisis in neighboring Yemen.

The officials acknowledged that neither the Yemen war nor the dispute with Qatar can be solved quickly. But the administration hopes to make progress on both fronts by the end of the year, they said, and have recently stepped up public calls on Saudi Arabia to alleviate the disputes.

Calls for Yemen ceasefire

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both this week called on participants in the Yemen civil war to agree to a ceasefire "in the next 30 days," a demand that comes amid fresh criticism of US support for the Saudi-led coalition in the conflict.


https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/31/politics/us-saudi-yemen-khashoggi/index.html

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

1. Diplomats?

Must be foreign diplomats bc the State Dept here is a gutted shell of what it was just a few short years ago. This story sounds like claptrap to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Nothing really on the horizon there. I'll believe a lasting cease-fire when i see it.