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 their mahan, the author of the influence of sea power upon history, which deals with importance of sea routes in maritime trade and control over them. about

200 million years ago, all of the lands 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, and 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 americas, australia and antarctica. meanwhile, some waterways, natural straights and artificial canals that were constructed later, had a strategic role in shaping 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 bablmandob straits, as well as man-made canals like the suez and panama. the panama canal was constructed. in 1914, so ships in the atlantic ocean won't have to turn all the way around south america. the straight of gibralter 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 a 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 transit of energy. the suaz 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

flourishing business in two other natural straights in the world, namely boblom dub and malakka. the malakka straight is located in southeast asia between the indonesian island of sumatra and the maele 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 malaca straight. the babbo mob straight, a straight between the gulf of aden and... 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 every day 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. 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 jibralter 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 bubble mon dub straight. there is a us policy and that's 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 elmandab, so there is a maritime security policy to... make sure that it is safe, by my last count, you know, yearly close to what, 800 billion dollars worth of goods and services pass through this small 19 kilometers mandab, that's almost a

trillion, that's more than the gdp of the entire region, so they are concerned about security on the red sea. in fact, some experts even view 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 djiboot, which separates the red sea from the gulf of aden and the arab sea. narrowest choke point um between yemen and the horn of africa, so where you to sink a massive oil tanker in that choke point called the bab mandab, 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 petium island. "most of southern europeans economies are hostage to 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 abubel 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..." overtime 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 suaz canal to european

countries. they have no option but to pass through the bubble mundop straight. the alternative for this route winds all the way to the south of africa and onwards to the gibralcher. great, this route takes eight or nine days more. both the vabalab and the straight of hormus are major 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, is about 20% of of the world's maritime trade in rice, about 20% of the world's maritime trade in wheat, about 30% of the world's maritime trade and fertilizers, so again the food security. priority, the the need to be, part and connected to global trade flows. in fact, completion and inauguration of the suaz canal in 1869 doubled the strategic value of abomon 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 literal countries like saudi arabia and african countries like sudan and djibiti. every day, about 57 ships carrying natural oil and liquified gas passed through the bubble mandup straight. it is estimated to be about 5 million barrels, which needs 21 thousand oil tankers every year. amid all of this, the control over sensitive waterways 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. uh the straight line. to djibooti, it doesn't necessarily go to jabal ali port uh in dubai, right, and so i think

there's been a desire uh by the uae and and by dp world in particular to try to shape the future of maritime trade, to insert their fingers in that future rather than be holy supplanted by the chinese or other competitors in the space of 10 years. the geopolitical conditions in areas surrounding the bubble mund. 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 and countries in the vicinity of the straight, including somalia, eritrea, and jibuuti. for instance, strategically. ation and the western flank of the bubblemondab straight puts 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 djibooti lost its vitality for a short period. competition. uh and the arrival of the chinese military uh in djibooti, 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 maritime 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 submarines. i think the peer 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 ua army decided to interfere in yemen and join 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, injedda, down the entire african coast, asab, somaliland, puntland, mogadishu,

but also, also i want to note that there's another element here, that is control of the entire south coast of yemen, right, 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, none of these uh ports in and of themselves are necessarily game changers, right, but i think the view from abu dhabi'. is uh you piece together this constellation and uh you 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 bubble mondav. yemen is an oil and gas rich country, its population is larger than the population of eritrea, djabooti and somalia, and has relatively larger and more developed ports near bubble mundab, including in aiden, dubab and mocca.

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 were party to the conflict and continuing to sell them weapons which being used in yemen. since the beginning of the 20th century, yemen has been 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 government of south yemen and granted annual military and financial aid to the country. they also sent military advisors and diplomats in order to increase their share on the bubble mundub 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 mandab. 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 um made it point to visit yemen when he was the head of c terrorism state department um and aqap as they're called affectionately have taken up residence way out here and this is the the empty quarter so there's not a lot out there um but aqap has found a very nice safe haven because yemen is really not very well in the best of years al-qaeda 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 war ship 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 yemeni army, under the command of theen 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. um, in the immediate term, saudi arabia 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 the naval presence in asab and eritrea, iran had a strong link in had strong links in sudan,

and so 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... the hutis in saada governors and suppress the shias yemen situation the prime share of

blame is on the shoulder of the leader of that government 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 sixth time, this is the sixth war with the with the people of the huthis and with the issue of the south, and of course he laid the foundation for the rise of al-qaida and the salafi 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 yemanias formed in alliance with various sunni

factions in northern and central yemen and established a powerful political movement named the ancerolla. something.

الله ينتقم من كل من اغلس معابر اقوى اذا اردنا لاننا نحن اعلى اذا اردنا نحن اللي خراب ودمر امريكا خلي العالم شوفوا عندها مش من جله هدول مش كلهم محتاجين الله

this is my land and my country, it is not only the 1948 or 1967 borders from the sea to the river, i am not ready to let go of a centimeter. israel is here like any for by the support of the europe, by the support of the united states, that's why the... great

the land well, i was at the babo sham's protest last week and i myself had a my head banged against a bus by soldier, illegally on illegal stolen land and they are arresting us the palestine, this is historical palestine. more than 500 the children were killed during the conflict, what have they done wrong? being born in gaza is not the crime. more than year after the war was waited by the israeli regime on the gaza strip, and approximately year after the cairo donors...

conference was held for rebuilding gaza, the reconstruction project is still teetering between the cruelty of the siege and the procrastination of the israeli regime. what we are doing here to keep people surviving, we are not talking about quality of life in gaza. if you lock deeply in what is going on in gaza, you will find out big slogan, that there is no tomorrow on that. all agree that the slowdown in the reconstruction is. due to the slow process of transferring funds pledged by the donor countries of the cairo conference, where the unwell received only 270 million, while the required budget is much more.

your headlines on press tv: 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 beseged palestinian territory. palestinians held a preliminary ruling by the top un courts saying you will contribute to isolating the... designus regime and this regime continues its relentless attacks on gaza where the death toll has topped 26, mostly women and children.