Russia and Yemen

I have bad news for Saudi Arabia: Russia is interested in Yemen.

Russia is propagating the awful carnage going on in Yemen, and doing so from a pro-Houthi stance. As America is withdrawing from the Middle-East and being sick of being involved in an endless cycle of wars, Russia seeks to fill the void in strategic countries.

Syria has been Russia's most obvious target, with Russia shoring up Bashar Al-Assad's forces. Russia now has a complete monopoly on Syria, ranging from military bases to even business investments in the country.

Less well known has been the Russian-Egyptian alliance in Libya in support of Haftar Al-Khalifa. They are supporting Al-Khalifa to make him the next Arab strongman and to deny terrorists a safe haven there.

In its telling of the news, Russia has shown support for the Houthis and Ali Abdullah Saleh and want to make sure that Yemen does not fall into the same chaos as Iraq did. Limited by Iraq and Afghanistan, should Russia move to act decisively in Yemen, America will be forced to watch from the sidelines. For America, Yemen - and even Saudi Arabia - is just not worth it.

But Russia is unlikely to act in Yemen for now. More likely is that Russia will play the long game and only intervene after Syria and Libya are stabilized and after Saudi options for Yemen are exhausted.

Such a defeat by Russia for the Saudis would be utterly humiliating, and crush Saudi dreams that Mohammed Bin Salman is anything other than the most foolish leader to have ever ruled the kingdom. Should Russia stabilize Syria, Libya and Yemen and should America stay out of Yemen, Saudi relations with other countries will be irrevocably severed, and instability will creep ever closer to the Arabian Gulf.