Isa Blumi: The Geopolitics of the War on Yemen
Geopolitics & Empire
Geopolitics & Empire
4.2 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2018
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. Isa Blumi discusses his book “Destroying Yemen” which explains how the Atlanticist empire has sought for a century to secure financial, political, and resource control over an independent Yemeni state with the help of GCC actors. Blumi also explains how Saudi Arabia is quickly disintegrating and what this means for the future.
Show Notes
In Yemen, Hardly A Revolution https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/opinion/09blumi.html
What’s Going On In Yemen? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oJf8g6FDHo
Websites
https://www.su.se/english/profiles/iblum-1.253921
https://www.twitter.com/isablumi
Books
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520296145/destroying-yemen
About the Guest
Isa Blumi is Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor of Turkish Studies at Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies. He holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies from New York University and a Master of Political Science and Historical Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York.
Dr. Isa Blumi joins Stockholm University after spending the last 10 years teaching and researching in universities located in Germany, Belgium, Turkey, the USA, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and Albania/Kosovo.
Isa Blumi researches societies in the throes of social, economic, and political transformation. His latest work covers the late Ottoman period and successor regimes, arguing that these events are part of process that interlinks the Balkans, the Middle East, and the larger Islamic world. In this respect, it is key to explore in a comparative, integrated manner how post-Ottoman Turkey fits into what is a global story of transition.
As he expands his work to include more of the 20th century, Blumi explores processes of change induced by Muslim refugees who ended up settling throughout the world. Exploring these refugees’ stories through this global perspective helps question how we understand identity and social organization, themes Blumi will focus on in the courses he will teach. Beyond his historical research, Blumi also regularly writes, and lectures on contemporary Balkan and Middle Eastern politics (especially Kosovo, Turkey and Yemen) and political Islam.
*Podcast intro music is from the song “The Queens Jig” by “Musicke & Mirth” from their album “Music for Two Lyra Viols”: http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Our guest on this edition of the Geopolitics and Empire podcast is Professor Issa Blumi, |
| 0:05.9 | who is Senior Lecturer of Turkish Studies at the Stockholm University Institute. |
| 0:10.4 | We will be discussing the geopolitics of the Yemen War and his latest book, Destroying Yemen, |
| 0:16.3 | What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World. |
| 0:19.5 | And we are interviewing Issa Blomi because you, the listeners, |
| 0:22.7 | requested we have Amman to discuss Yemen. I would also like to remind podcast listeners that we are |
| 0:28.2 | a relatively young podcast managed by a skeleton crew, an army of one, myself, and that there |
| 0:34.5 | are a few very simple actions you can take to help us. These include subscribing |
| 0:39.0 | to our Twitter account, Facebook page, YouTube channel, and other accounts. Send us your comments |
| 0:44.7 | and guest requests. A big help is to log into your iTunes account, find our podcast, |
| 0:50.2 | and leave us a rating and short review. You can also support us financially via Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin. |
| 0:56.6 | I would also like to clarify that the geopolitics and empire podcast is ideologically neither left nor right, |
| 1:02.8 | but that we do dislike war, empire, and any form of subjugation and foreign intervention carried out by any actor. |
| 1:09.9 | Now on to our interview. |
| 1:11.7 | It's an honor to have you on the show, Dr. Blumie. |
| 1:14.6 | It's a pleasure to be on with you, |
| 1:16.2 | and I'm looking forward to sharing this conversation with your audience. |
| 1:20.7 | Now, your book, Destroying Yemen, is very unique, |
| 1:24.3 | and I highly recommend it to listeners |
| 1:26.2 | because you approach the geopolitical |
| 1:28.8 | situation from a vantage point perhaps not so common up until now where you take into |
| 1:35.1 | account not only the national and regional Yemenian Saudi rivalries including the GCC but |
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