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It should be noted, engineers being well represented in these sort of rebel/revolutionary/terrorist organizations isn't a new phenomenon. Here is an article fr

It should be noted, engineers being well represented in these sort of rebel/revolutionary/terrorist organizations isn't a new phenomenon. Here is an article from a decade ago: https://slate.com/technology/2009/12/why-do-so-many-terrorists-have-engineering-degrees.html https://slate.com/technology/2009/12/why-do-so-many-terroris... The notion of terrorists as uneducated goat farmers is more a manifestation of western biases than it is an accurate representation of the truth.

en-us 7y ago
I see this in discussions about 9/11 all the time, where someone will express incredulity that it would be possible for a bunch of "goat farmers" to execute such a plan. But if you actually look at those terrorists, many were educated and from well-to-do families.
- MiroF 7y ago
  Very much the same thing with the Sri Lanka attacks. I think the American public/media likes to paint everyone from the non-West as extremely backwards, when in reality I feel like everywhere in the non-West has "West"-like pockets of extreme affluence and then just huge amounts of inequality and rural poverty.
  - weberc2 7y ago
    Well, those events are anomalies. People usually are surprised by anomalies.
- droithomme 7y ago
  Yemenis defending their country are terrorists?
  - mhkool 7y ago
    Of course not, but since Saudi Arabia is the ally of the USA, in the eyes of many the enemy of Saudi Arabia must be a bunch of terrorists instead of liberation fighters who want to get rid of a president that was appointed by Saudi Arabia.
  - en-us 7y ago
    None of the 9/11 terrorists were Yemeni, but if they had been then yes they're a terrorist. Hijacking a plane to kill 1000s of civilians is clearly terrorism.
- weberc2 7y ago
  The specific thing people fail to realize is how much oil money was feeding into terrorist groups. If you understand that, you are no longer surprised that they attracted talented (albeit thoroughly evil) people.
- rolltiide 7y ago
  The only distinctive quality I could find was that one has sovereign immunity and “non-state enemy combatants” don’t. Its just the same 4,000 year old story of nomads wandering the middle east wishing they had a nation, “as it was foretold”.
chibg10 7y ago
Without commenting on your larger point, it's doubtful that Yemeni engineers are building these drones. Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world and presumably their engineering capital is presumably not huge. The Houthis are backed by Iran. Iran (which has far more engineering capital and was accidentally gifted a US military drone several years ago) has military drones. It sounds far more plausible to me that Iranian support is how the Houthis obtained these drones.
- mrtksn 7y ago
  It might not require large technical capabilities as those can be bought commercially. It may not be that hard to fit the "brains" of a commercial drone to a beefier body and communications. Hobbyist stuff really.
droithomme 7y ago
You see Yemeni citizens defending their country against Saudi war crimes and the murder of innocent civilians as terrorism, huh? No wonder you had to make a new account just to post that opinion! What's your regular account here?
- anigbrowl 7y ago
  Your skeptical reaction was understandable (there's been a lot of crappy new accounts on HN in the last year or two) but seems misplaced in this case. Get in touch with me if you have time.
- partialrecall 7y ago
  No, I don't. I think the difference between a terrorist, rebel and revolutionary tends to be a matter of perspective. I was trying to keep my personal thoughts out of it, hence I generalized my comment to "rebel/revolutionary/terrorist". However, since you asked, my personal stance in this particular case is that the Yemeni are plainly in the right.

en-us 7y ago

I see this in discussions about 9/11 all the time, where someone will express incredulity that it would be possible for a bunch of "goat farmers" to execute such a plan. But if you actually look at those terrorists, many were educated and from well-to-do families.

MiroF 7y ago
Very much the same thing with the Sri Lanka attacks. I think the American public/media likes to paint everyone from the non-West as extremely backwards, when in reality I feel like everywhere in the non-West has "West"-like pockets of extreme affluence and then just huge amounts of inequality and rural poverty.
- weberc2 7y ago
  Well, those events are anomalies. People usually are surprised by anomalies.
droithomme 7y ago
Yemenis defending their country are terrorists?
- mhkool 7y ago
  Of course not, but since Saudi Arabia is the ally of the USA, in the eyes of many the enemy of Saudi Arabia must be a bunch of terrorists instead of liberation fighters who want to get rid of a president that was appointed by Saudi Arabia.
- en-us 7y ago
  None of the 9/11 terrorists were Yemeni, but if they had been then yes they're a terrorist. Hijacking a plane to kill 1000s of civilians is clearly terrorism.
weberc2 7y ago
The specific thing people fail to realize is how much oil money was feeding into terrorist groups. If you understand that, you are no longer surprised that they attracted talented (albeit thoroughly evil) people.
rolltiide 7y ago
The only distinctive quality I could find was that one has sovereign immunity and “non-state enemy combatants” don’t. Its just the same 4,000 year old story of nomads wandering the middle east wishing they had a nation, “as it was foretold”.

chibg10 7y ago

Without commenting on your larger point, it's doubtful that Yemeni engineers are building these drones. Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world and presumably their engineering capital is presumably not huge. The Houthis are backed by Iran. Iran (which has far more engineering capital and was accidentally gifted a US military drone several years ago) has military drones. It sounds far more plausible to me that Iranian support is how the Houthis obtained these drones.

mrtksn 7y ago
It might not require large technical capabilities as those can be bought commercially. It may not be that hard to fit the "brains" of a commercial drone to a beefier body and communications. Hobbyist stuff really.

droithomme 7y ago

You see Yemeni citizens defending their country against Saudi war crimes and the murder of innocent civilians as terrorism, huh? No wonder you had to make a new account just to post that opinion! What's your regular account here?

anigbrowl 7y ago
Your skeptical reaction was understandable (there's been a lot of crappy new accounts on HN in the last year or two) but seems misplaced in this case. Get in touch with me if you have time.
partialrecall 7y ago
No, I don't. I think the difference between a terrorist, rebel and revolutionary tends to be a matter of perspective. I was trying to keep my personal thoughts out of it, hence I generalized my comment to "rebel/revolutionary/terrorist". However, since you asked, my personal stance in this particular case is that the Yemeni are plainly in the right.