Part the First; to kill a civilian

A hidden gem of a news story went viral on YouTube and Twitter and was quickly picked up by major networks across the United States and Europe as a compilation reel of war crimes in Yemen shocked the world. French special forces were filmed shooting a surrendering civilian, embarrassing the nation of escargot both in having its elite operatives captured on camera, and in showing the world a fairly heinous war crime. In the video were also included many Academi mercenaries stealing food from civilians, and a grimy cell phone video showed US Special Operations killing livestock in western Yemen. The video was shared millions of times as calls for sanctions on Saudi Arabia and for the United States to cut support intensified greatly.

Analyst John Frankfurter at the University of Pittsburgh explained the videos as “disappointing but not surprising.” He continued to explain that “this is the standard practice of most special forces of developed countries, especially when active in developing countries. War crimes seem to be suggestions for those in control of the international order.”

FOX News commentator Tucker Carlson also went viral after condemning the Saudi intervention in the conflict (in an effort to deflect criticism of the west): “who cares!” he whined on his popular show, “the Americans weren’t starving hundreds of thousands of Yemeni civilians! The Americans didn’t cause millions to be refugees!”

However, Yemen wasn’t only embarrassing for the Americans and the French…..

Part the Second; to pay a killer

A dossier of documents and secretly recorded conversations appeared on the dark web recently, and was quickly bought up by a German based journalist who forwarded it to several other major news networks in the western world.

Published synchronously in New York, Berlin, London, and (for some reason) Czechia, the documents revealed a dark conspiracy that stretched all the way up the Russian intelligence hierarchy. Russian operatives (and their allies) organized a campaign to help Houthi war efforts by offering anyone who killed an American PMC in Yemen a lump sum of $500,000. This money could turn a peasant into a King in Yemen, and thousands of ill-equipped desperate men were drawn to the Houthi ranks from this offering. While not acting through GRU directly, the paper trail shows money transferred from Russian affiliated shell companies that have been active in the region recently, including individuals that have previously been flagged by international intelligence agencies.

All in all, the documents indicate that three bounties were fulfilled, with an additional kill still pending – emails show one Yemeni fighter sent twelve emails in a four hour period demanding his money. While the Houthis are stronger for this increased recruitment, and three individuals are swimming in cash like Scrooge McDuck, this represents only another stain on the Muscovite diplomatic reputation.

But then again; maybe this proves John Frankfurter right – everyone does war crimes.