A Display of Sanity on Yemen and Khashoggi

Excellent news from Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Eric Schmitt reporting in "Senate Votes to End Aid for Yemen Fight Over Khashoggi Killing and Saudis’ War Aims":

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Thursday to end American military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen in the strongest show of bipartisan defiance against President Trump’s defense of the kingdom over the killing of a dissident journalist.

The 56-to-41 vote was a rare move by the Senate to limit presidential war powers and sent a potent message of disapproval for a nearly four-year conflict that has killed thousands of civilians and brought famine to Yemen. Moments later, senators unanimously approved a separate resolution to hold Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia personally responsible for the death of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

Bernie Sanders, a co-author of the resolution, says it is the first time the War Powers Act has been successfully invoked by the Senate. The House will not take up the measure until the new congress is sworn in next month:

While Thursday’s moves were largely a symbolic, if stinging, slap at the Trump administration, they previewed what could be a far more consequential debate after Democrats take over the House in 2019.

“If Paul Ryan thinks on his way out the door his last public service gift to humanity is covering up for Saudi Arabia, great, he can make that his legacy,” said Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, referring to the procedural gambit by Mr. Ryan, the House speaker, this week to prevent the war powers measure from coming up for a swift a vote.

“But we’re going to be around next year,” Mr. Kaine said, “and we’ll figure out ways that there can be consequences for this.”

UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden delivered a ceasefire in Hodeidah:

The agreement calls for an exchange of up to 15,000 prisoners, the creation of a humanitarian corridor into the city of Taiz and, importantly, the withdrawal of troops from Hudaydah. That city, on the Red Sea, is a key entry point to Yemen for essential products like food and medicine.

Peace talks are expected to continue in January in an effort to resolve what has become a humanitarian crisis in one of the poorest nations on Earth.