The Belgorod Brit is taking on the Houthis, only slightly more successfully than the Saudis. In the film, he introduces us to Imam Ahmad, who ruled Yemen between 1948 and 1962. More specifically, he recounts the surprising way in which he dealt with an attempted coup in 1955. The insight into internal Yemeni politics afforded by such escapades acts as a palate cleanser for BB"s attempt to explain the origins of Ansarallah.

In the podcast, BB goes into the historical context that gave rise to Ansarallah/the Houthis/the North Yemenis. Yemen is both 7,000 years old and 35 years old. They have a religion called Zaydi which is a branch of Shi'ia Islam. They have been controlled/not controlled by the Persians, the Romans, the Ottomans, the Portuguese, the British, and the Egyptians, as well as home-grown Shahs and Imams, and mountain tribal chiefs who occasionally participated in the Yemen project, and occasionally didn't. BB attempts to highlight the basic things you should be aware of when trying to understand what is going on in the most complex polity in the world. Add to this the fact that Aden was once the greatest port in the Indian Ocean, and that Yemen has been divided for most of the last 250 years, with the Northern half centred in Sana'a and the Southern portion around Aden.

Make Yemen great again! But questions include: what do you mean by Yemen; what do you mean by great; and who do you want to do it?