I think it means we’re against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
BBC just reported the CIA is going to start operating armed drones to attack al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Saleh makes his first TV appearance since he left Yemen for SA:
Yeah, well, fireworks are cheap, and so are crowds.
Wonderful news yesterday. Only a matter of time til Awlaqi eats it. What’s the over/under on December?
Something had better start happening soon somewhere. You’ve heard of the Arab Spring? In the local English-language press over here, they’re already starting to refer to the Arab Fall, saying the failures in places like Bahrain and slowness of the Libyan action is pointing to Tunisia and Egypt just being anomalies.
Heh. The rebels are getting closer and closer to Tripoli. I believe that they could win on their own, now. It’d be bloody, but possible.
Dude, this caught fire even in Syria; the only greater astonishment would be if it happened in SA. And it will eventually, now. Remember, all these people speak Arabic. They can’t be kept in ignorance of what happens the next country over, the borders are too long to control that tightly. Tunisia and Egypt are going to get to work building their new governments and the whole Arab world is going to be watching, closely, every step of the way. That means ordinary people watching and commenting and forming opinions and getting used to the idea that they get to form opinions and once that starts it’s really hard to stop.
I hope you’re right, although that’s what they said in 1848. Except for the speaking the same language part.
Saleh finally returns to Yemen, calls for a cease-fire. Meanwhile, 18 more protesters were killed the same day.
“Yemen rains mortar shells on protesters
At least 40 killed in Sanaa bloodbath” Link
Things are going downhill.
So, one of the deals that is being proposed for Saleh stepping down is for him to handover power to the vice-president in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Uh, what should he be prosecuted for? He was legally elected to the position he is in. No one has ‘impeached’ him to officially remove him from power. So, far it is just an angry mod who wants him gone. What has he done to deserve prosecution that anyone else in his position wouldn’t have done?
:eek: Don’t speak lightly of that around here!
Saleh signs deal to step down with immunity from prosecution. (Apparently a lot of Yemenis don’t like that part.)
Soooooo . . . Now what?
Its all very well people talking about the" Arab Spring", and other in vogue catchphrases, but its pointless bringing down one less then democratic government, only to have no substitute to replace it with.
Egypt now has a military government, looks like “spring” came and went there pretty quickly.
Of course everything would be hunk dory if the demonstrators though out the M.E. were dyed in the wool democrats seeking freedom and justice.
But they’re not, many of them are swept along by mob mentality, enjoying the excitement, and the feeling of belonging, but without having thought out the nuts and bolts of what they want to achieve if they’re successful.
Many more are not so much against lack of democracy as they are to take THEIR turn to get their snouts in the trough .
Democracy in the sense of the word that Westerners use it, doesn’t really form part of the cultural history of the M.E.
Indeed many don’t actually want Western style liberal democracy.
I am not saying that thy’re right, just saying that that is how they feel.
And many apparently do.
It’s easy to be cynical, but note we have not always been democratic in the west. Democracy came to the west generally over a longer period and with more blood spilled than has happened with the arab spring. And sure, I’ll bet among those fighting for democracy in our history there were plenty that just had bloodlust or wanted power for themselves. What else is new?
It doesn’t detract that it’s a positive development overall and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the future.
Egypt has always had a military government. The military “allowed” Mubarak to stay in power. Egyptians think of the military as we think of the Constitution- the ultimate, supreme law of the land.
So when they overthrew their government and started thinking about drafting a constitution, the first thing people came up with was “The military will still be the supreme rulers” and the opposition responded “Well, duh. Obviously. Now let’s get to debating important matters.”
So you can’t say “spring came and went” when having the military in charge was a noncontroversial topic from the start.
Finally, Saleh has handed over the reins of the reign to his VP, Abd-Rabby Mansour, who just won an unconstested “election” to the presidency (whatever, everybody went along just to get things moving and get Saleh out). Under the transition deal Saudi Arabia brokered, there’s supposed to be another, presumably more serious, election within two years.
Sure hope this helps. [cros- . . . crescents fingers]