Ep. 38 Annelle Sheline on Biden ending US support of Saudi offensive military action in Yemen

Annelle Sheline from the Quincy Institute joins me to talk about how authoritarian regimes in the Middle East title themselves "moderate" to stay in power and how US foreign policy influences this. We also talked about Biden's decision to withdrawal offensive military support from Saudi Arabia in Yemen (while still supporting Saudi Arabia defensively), and the decision to remove the FTO designation of the Houthis. Show Notes: Annelle's articles: • Lifting FTO designation of Yemen (Feb 6): https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/02/06/biden-to-lift-the-wrongheaded-houthi-terrorist-designation-but-whats-next/ • Ending US support for Saudi offensive military action (Feb 4): https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/02/04/biden-to-end-us-support-for-war-in-yemen/ • Middle East regimes are using ‘moderate’ Islam to stay in power: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/03/01/middle-east-regimes-are-using-moderate-islam-to-stay-in-power/ • Declaration Proliferation: The International Politics of Religious Tolerance: https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/posts/declaration-proliferation-the-international-politics-of-religious-tolerance Thomas Friedman's article mentioned in the interview: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/opinion/saudi-prince-mbs-arab-spring.html