Robert Evans

I don't have a good retort in my head right now.

Okay, what's yours, Sophie?

And then detonate it.

That's a really good one, Dave.

That's a good one, Dave.

So the public justification for Saudi Arabia getting involved in the civil war that does not involve it is that the ousted president of Yemen had asked for Saudi help, right?

Which he had, but the most obvious behind-the-scenes justification was that the Houthis had Iranian backing, right?

And MBS, along with most of his inner circle, believed the Houthis were nothing but a proxy for Iran, which is a

A mistake that a lot of world leaders make, which is like, these people are getting arms or maybe training from this other country that's my enemy.

They must not be a real group.

This must all be a fiction created by this other evil country, as opposed to like, well, the Houthis get stuff from Iran, but they have their own base of power.

They're their own movement.

They're doing a lot right, which is why they've gotten where they are.

And they're going to be a lot harder to destroy than you think as a result of all of that, right?

Um...

Now, that said, none of this alone explains why MBS decides to send forces into Yemen as almost his very first action upon getting into a position of power.

The Lederman brothers write that, quote,

And I've come across several other analysts who say the same thing.

Nobody ever gives more detail than that.

And we don't have any quotes from behind the scenes or whatever.