maritime trade and control. give superiority in the world, no matter how big a trade on the land is, it won't find a better route for business than the sea. these are the words of alfher mahan, the author of the influence of sea power upon history, which deals with the importance of sea routes in maritime trade and control over them. about 200 million years ago, all of the... hands on the earth

were connected in a supercontinent named pengia, but gradually the unified continent started to be divided into different chunks. after tens of millions of years, the map of the earth looks like what we see today with several separate continents. now the link between the continents on earth has been established in two ways, through land between asia, africa and europe and through the oceans in the america's. australia and antarctica, meanwile some waterways, natural straights and artificial canals that were constructed later had a strategic role in shaping the famous maritime corridors today for shipping to access the shortest and most cost-effective rots. choke points are the links that connect the sea and land. today, having control over the strategic points.

gives astonishing powers to countries. some of the most important waterways in the world are the malaka, hormos, gibraltar, and babomandob straits as well as man-made canals like the suua and panama. the panama canal was constructed in 1914 so ships in the atlantic ocean one have to turn all the way around south america. the straight of gibraltar connects the mediterranean to the atlantic ocean, between spain and morocco, it's been officially under british control since 1713. the cape of good hope in the southern tip of africa serves as a link

between the atlantic and indian oceans. this is part of the route for the ships that sail from the south asia to eastern coast of america. the bosforest straight in turkey connects the black sea to the sea of marmara and then the mediterranean. besides the straight facilitates countries like russia and ukraine with access to the mediterranean and high seas. we can argue the hormostrate that joins the persian gulf to the sea of oman is now considered the most vital waterway in the world for a transit of energy. the suez canal in egypt was constructed in 1869 by france and britain. besides its strategic importance, it is used to establish a link between europe to west asia and led to a flourishing business into.

to other natural straights in the world, namely babelman dub and malakka. the malaka straight is located in southeast asia between the indonesian island of sumatra and the meleele peninsula. many experts believe it's the most important maritime choke point in the world. according to the united nations conference on trade and development, about 60% of maritime trade passes through asia. the south china sea alone carries 1/3ird of the global shipping. the route depends on the malaco straight which connects the south china sea and the pacific ocean to the indian ocean. the route is the artery of major economic powers in asia like japan, taiwan, south korea, and especially china, the second largest economy in the world. every year, over 100 thousand. ships in the south china

sea sail towards the malaka straight. the baban dab straight, a straight between the gulf of aden and the red sea and joins asia to the horn of africa. here uh in the universe and you can see very close to the horn of africa, this babel mendeb is 11 miles wide its widest point. through this little stretch um everyday flow about four million barrels of oil coming around from over here, you can't see it, but up through the from the persian gulf um and around oman down here through the indian ocean, gulf of aiden and up through there through the suas canal into europe in the mediterranean. and elsewhere, so if the hypothetical route between the south china sea to europe is considered the most significant maritime trade corridor in the world and strates of malaca, hormos and gibraltar, as well as the suas canal and the british channel are the most vital choke points, but interestingly the common point

between all of them is that they all depend a strategic waterway, which is the gravity point of the vital maritime corridor, and that... is abobam on dub straight, there is a us policy and that is maritime, okay, there is a maritime policy on the red sea, why? because there is a great deal at stake there, 10% of the global trade passes through the red sea, and then the 40% of the trade between africa, no, between asia and europe passes through el mandab, so there is a maritime security policy to make sure that it is safe, and by my last... count uh you know yearly close to what 800 billion dollars worth of goods and services pass through this small 19 kilometers babel mandap that's almost a trillion that's more than the gdp of

the entire region so they are concerned about security on the raincy in fact some experts even viewed bubbleman dub straight as the most important waterway in the world. this is one of the most vital trade roots globally, and about two-thirds of the trade between china and europe passes through the red sea. the bubble mundab straight, which is known as the gate of the tears in some sources is narrow choke point between yemen and djibudi, which separates the red sea from the gulf of aden and the arab sea. the narrowest choke point um between yemen uh and in the horn of africa, so were you to sink a massive oil tanker in that choke point called the babandab, you could precipitate a fairly significant security and and trade crisis. perim, called mayun in arabic, is an island in the straight of mondub and carves to two

separate entries to the straight. large ships usually choose the wider route on the west of the pedium island. most of southern european's economies are hostage. what happens in the babelman dab? there's relative silence on this issue, and it's it's inexplicable, so it goes more broadly beyond oil or just the region. geopolitically, the bubblem dub straight has always been the subject of conflicts in the region. that's why it is called the most risky straight in the world, because any disruption in the maritime traffic and trade in this route will consequently. disrupt major business markets in asia and europe. a large portion of the natural gas and oil trade in the persian gulf is transferred to the suas canal to european countries. they have no option but to pass through the bubble mundob straight. the

alternative for this route winds all the way to the south of africa and onwards to the gibralcher straight. this route takes eight or nine days more. "both the balamandab and the straight of hormus are major choke choke points for international trade, it's not just about oil, right? so most of the oil that comes from the gulf goes eastward, but what goes around the arabian peninsula um is about 20% of of the world's uh maritime trade in rice, about 20% of the world's maritime trade in wheat, about 30% of the world's maritime trade in fertilizers, so again the food security priority, the the need to be you know part and connect. to global trade flows. in fact, completion and inauguration of the sus canal in 1869 doubled the strategic value of bubblemon dub, because in case the canal is shut off for any reason, foreign ships

that have sail through the suez canal had no resort but to pass by the red sea litteral countries like saudi arabia and african countries like sudan and djibudi. every day, about 57 ships carrying natural oil and liquified gas pass through the bubblemondub straight. it is estimated to be about 5 million barrels which need. 21 thousand oil tankers every year. amid all of this, the control over sensitive water ways in the world and providing their security for regional and international powers are indispensable for them. if you look at the uh the belton road initiative and you look at chinese trade volume coming from china uh through the red sea to europe, etc., the straight line goes to djibooty, it doesn't necessarily go to jebel al ali port. in dubai right, and so i think there's been a desire uh by uh the uae and and by dp world uh in

particular to try to uh shape the future of maritime trade to uh insert their fingers in that future uh rather than be holy supplanted by the chinese or other competitors in the space of 10 years. the geopolitical conditions and areas surrounding the bubble mundav straight are always ridden with tension. the unrest in some horn of africa countries and pirates in somalia, the war in yemen, and rivalry between foreign powers to increase their influence in the strategic point have led to the establishment of numerous military bases in countries in the vicinity of the straight, including somalia, eritrea and jibuodi. for instance, jibooti strategic location in the western flank of the bubblemundop straight, put the country in limelight during the cold war amid hostilities between the us and russia as the

pioneers of the western and eastern blocks because of its maritime significance. after the end of the cold war and the collapse of the soviet union for a short period of time, the tiny country of djibudi lost its vitality for a short period. competition and the arrival of the chinese military uh in. the sort of tiny city state at the mouth of the red sea uh has really perked up ears uh both in the region in terms of bilateral relations with the chinese uh but also not least in washington, but after incidents like 9/11 attacks and after terrorist groups like al-qaeda reared their heads in west asia and northeastern africa and the new phenomenon of sea pirates in somalia, once again jibooti coast became prominent as a strategic point for providing the maritimes. security and increasing the influence in the horn of africa. gradually, scores of foreign military

bases were set up in the country by the us, france, britain, china, japan, russia, and italy. the chinese have now completed the construction of pier close to here. do you expect to see a chinese aircraft carrier dock there? chinese sub? i think the pier that the chinese have constructed will be capable of hosting just about any uh vessel within the chinese inventory, we should be very concerned about china's basing interest for having african ports and land bases and what that would mean for our country, but despite all other countries near the bubble mondav straight, none of the regional or international powers during the past decades has had military bases in yemen. in fact, foreign forces were militarily present in

yemen a temporary basis. it gave foreign countries a golden opportunity to establish the first military basis in the strategic region. in 2015, when the uae army decided to interfere in yemen and join. in the saudi led coalition, authorities in the country were well aware that unlike saudi arabia, which is yemen's northern neighbor, they wouldn't be able to support their allies in southern yemen from a long distance. and if you look uh at the entire african coast, you see uh their interest in ports in egypt, in jedda, down the entire african coast, assad. somali land, puntland, mogedishu, but also also i want to note that the there's another element

here and that is control of the entire south coast of yemen, right? uh, so the ports aren't necessarily operating there, but these are there are historical ports here, and the emirates have made this a priority, so if you look at this map again, uh, none of these uh ports in and of themselves are necessarily game changers, right? but i think the view from abu dhabi is, you piece together this constellation and uh get to their primary goal, which is shaping the future of maritime trade in the western indian ocean. in fact, among the countries mentioned, yemen is more significant in the geopolitical terms in bubblem dub. yemen is an oil and gas rich country, its population is larger than the population of eritrea, djibudi and somalia, and has relatively larger and more developed ports near bubble mandab, including in aiden, dubab and mokka. we are basically interested

in yemen because... of counter terrorism, because of trade roots through the red sea and because of very significant income from arms sales to those who are party to the conflict, so at the same time that we appore the terrible human cost on the ground, our governments are continuing to support those who are party to the conflict and continuing to sell them weapons which being used in yemen. since the beginning of the 20th century, yemen has... in the scene of many military and political developments. britain, which was yemen's protectorate since the previous century and the soviet union as a leader of the eastern block wielded the most influence in the country. since yemen's civil war in the 1960s and partitioning of the country into northern and southern parts, the

soviet leaders recognized the socialist governments of south yemen and grant. annual military and financial aid to the country. they also sent military advisors and diplomats in order to increase their share on the bubble mundab straight. two decades later, the soviet union's ties with the northern part of yemen improved. the northern yemen's army, under the command of ali abdullah saleh, received military equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars and loans from moscow every year. it had air force, scud ballistic missiles and armored equipment that would give the country a military edge over the regional countries near bobble mondab. after the collapse of the soviet union in 1991, the leaders of northern and southern yemen that had formed a unified yemen were concerned that the financial and military aid from their former ally would be

cut off. in no time, another... country entered yemen under the pretext of fighting terrorism, it was the united states. the us and its western and regional allies sent thousands of militants from arab countries to afghanistan in the 1980s and succeeded in pushing back the soviet army and toppling its communist government, but this time it was threatened. with the flames of terrorism and extremism ignited by itself. the al-qaeda terrorist group reared its head amid the conflict in afghanistan. secondly, and maybe even primarily is the fact that yemen has been for years the home of al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which is why dan benjamin

made the point to visit yemen when he was the head of counter terrorism at the state department. um, and aqap, as the... affectionately have taken up residence way out here and this is the the empty quarter so there's not a lot out there - but aqap has found a very nice safe haven because yemen is really not very well even the best of years. militants had chosen the horn of africa to sudan and the deserts in yemen as part of their battle zones. after three decades they're still active in eastern and southern parts of yemen. as al-qaeda expanded, its military activities in west asia and north africa, the us also stepped up its activities in yemen. after the uss cold warship bombing on october 12th, 2000, in a suicide attack by

al-qaeda, when 17 us marines were killed, the cooperation with us reached its peak. by the flow of us weapons and cash and the support for the security services, the former yemani army under the command of the president of yemen, ali abdullah saleh stood up against al-qaeda. the conflict in yemen created both immediate and long-term strategic needs for saudi arabia and the uae, and by the way, qatar and turkey were also a part of the coalition at that time. turkey still is, qatar is not. in the immediate term, saudi arab. began to see the conflict in yemen as very much focused its competition with iran, they didn't want to wake finish the conflict in yemen and wake up to find iran on the other side of the red sea, and at the time, iran had periodically access to naval presence in asab and eritrea. iran had a strong link in had strong links in sudan, and so at the very beginning of the yemen conflict, saudi arabia felt the immediate

need to sort of flip these countries. after 9/11 and us military invasion of afghanistan and iraq in 2001 and 2003, the military command of al-qaeda and afghanistan became extremely weak. the group's activities were almost limited to iraq to deal with us forces. it forced u.s. to remarkably decrease its military presence in the region and reduce its aid to yemen. after that period, we witnessed new force that stepped into interven in yemen equations. that was none other than saudi arabia. saudi arabia supported ali abdullah saleh to fight the huthis in saada governors and suppress the shias. yemen situation, the the the prime share of blame is on the shoulder of the

leader of that government, abdullah saleh, the fact that that he brought in two armies into his country, the saudi army and the american army to attack his country and created this issue with saada for the six time, this is the sixth war with with the... the huties and with the issue of the south and of course he laid the foundation for the rise of and the salav in yemen. the developments led to the arab spring in 2011 and the popular uprising in yemen, which toppled ali abdullah saleh's government. saudi arabia envisaged no option to keep saul in power, so it replaced him with his deputy abu rabu mansur hadi as his pawn. in sana, but yemini shias formed in alliance with various sunni factions in northern and central yemen and established a powerful

political movement named theancerola.

نحن اقوى اذا اردنا لاننا نحن اعلى اذا اردنا نحن اللي خراب ودمر امريكا خل العالم يشوفوا عنجد كلهم محتاجين.

welcome to the palestinian village of alakaba. it's in the northern jordan valley. you think life here would be relatively simple and uncomplicated? for palestinians in area see uh that the way that israel treats the miss a hostile population, it makes... them their lives as difficult as possible, those palestinian bidwan families who live in in almost about 52 communities without any kind of service. israel's focus is on area c. this is the goal, the immediate goal.

the headlines, the international court of justice has ordered israel to take all measures to prevent genocide in gaza, but it fails to call for a cease fire in the besieged palestinian territory. palestinians hail the preliminary ruling by the top un courts saying that it will contribute to isolating the zionist regime, and the israeli regime continues its relentless attacks on gaza where the death tour has top 26,00 mostly women and children.