1644, Section: Opinion
Opinion
Published on 14 January 2013 by 2012 Rami G. Khouri / Dailystar.com/lb / First Published Dec. 29 in Opinion
The year 2012 will be remembered as an important milestone in the development of the modern Arab world, because it has started to reveal the underlying but long-hidden strengths and weaknesses of Arab societies and states. Here is my list of the 10 most significant things we learned from events in the Arab World and the wider Middle East in 2012. First, it is now clearer than ever that there is no such thing as a cohesive, single “Arab World,” as every Arab country follows a different path in pursuing its own political reconfiguration. For the first time ever in their history, ordinary Arab men and women are driving the political changes under way, revealing the variety of identities, sentiments, legitimacies and conditions in different Arab countries, with their own character, nuance and agency.
Published on 7 January 2013 by Antiwar.com Jason Ditz in Opinion
With the U.S. still coming to grips with what a disaster the Iraq invasion was, and still toiling away in Afghanistan well over a decade into that occupation, the Obama Administration is eager to frame its ambitions for more intervention as being a “new model.”
Published on 7 January 2013 by Rafat Al-Akhali in Opinion
After months of hard work, the National Dialogue Technical Committee submitted its final report to the president on Dec. 12, 2012. This report is a critical milestone towards the National Dialogue Conference, which is expected to be held in February of 2013, although no set date has been announced yet.
Published on 7 January 2013 by Hesham Hussain in Opinion
The clouds are hugging the mountain cliffs. The streets are jammed and crowded with people. Each town has a number of old buildings. Within each modern city lies an ancient, gated city. The historic sites are enormous. Villages and homes are erected at high altitudes without any roads leading to them. Reminisce of ancient kingdoms and civilizations are discovered in many areas. Natural springs and rare plants are plentiful.
Published on 27 December 2012 by Thenational.ae in Opinion
Of all countries passing through Arab Spring revolutions, Yemen is probably the most complicated and least reported. Yet it is the one with the most potential to affect the countries of the Gulf. The challenges of security, of water, of labor migration and of economic growth all will have a direct impact regionally if left unaddressed. And the best way to make progress on all these points is to see the emergence of an effective Yemeni government.
Published on 27 December 2012 by Abdullah A. Sallam in Opinion
In just a few days the National Dialogue Conference will convene in Yemen, which may create some tension and anticipation over the next few months as Yemen’s future will be discussed. Many people in Yemen and abroad are looking forward to seeing real dialogue come out of this conference, especially those with real political influence in the country. Despite the participation of many different groups in this conference, the question remains: will the views of various interest groups, especially the non-governmental organizations be heard and taken notice of?
Published on 20 December 2012 by Rami G. Khouri / Dailystar.com/lb / First Published Dec. 15 in Opinion
In the next few days we will mark the second anniversary of the start of the Arab uprisings, when Mohammad Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia on Dec. 17, 2010. The balance sheet of change in the Arab world over these two years has been epic and historic, but often turbulent and even chaotic, as citizens continue to shape new governance systems that respect rather than demean them.While countries like Syria and Bahrain are locked in conflict mode, others such as Libya, Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia are navigating tumultuous transitions that focus on building democratic and accountable institutions of state. Perhaps we are entering the “terrible twos” of the age of statehood, when newly configuring governance systems, like 2-year-old children, often act in recalcitrant and troublesome ways. More likely, in my view, we are finally passing through the most critical and defining moment of such democratic transitions, when governments and citizens alike create the constitutions to define their political life for many years to come.
Published on 20 December 2012 by Wael Zakout / menablog.worldbank.org / First published Dec. 17 in Opinion
The other day I was invited to a wedding - not a normal Yemeni wedding - but a wedding without qat! This was a novelty I was keen on witnessing, but was unfortunately unable to accept the invitation, as I was travelling outside the country at the time. I was, and remain, intrigued.
Published on 13 December 2012 by Ahmed Dawood in Opinion
In late 2010 and early 2011, contractors were busy implementing road construction projects throughout Yemen, but with the beginning of the revolution in February 2011, the majority of construction came to a screeching halt.
Published on 10 December 2012 by Executive-magazine.com Farea al-Muslimi in Opinion
Yemen has always been a country of halves,and 2012 was no different. Half dictatorship, half elections, half reform and some even claim merely a half a revolution, given that past injustices have yet to be righted.
Published on 10 December 2012 by Nydailynews.com Richard A. Clarke in Opinion
As his first term ends, President Obama has expanded the Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense drone fleets, conducted over 300 drone attacks in six countries and killed perhaps more than 2,000 suspected terrorists by drone strikes. Many people in the United States, Europe and the Middle East are troubled by that record.
Published on 10 December 2012 by Nobel Prize Laureate Tawakkol A. Karman in Opinion
The Arab Spring does not refer to those governments formed after the fall of the regimes; the Arab Spring refers to the youth who set off uprisings and revolutions in their country and shall remain the guardians of its “grand project.”
Published on 6 December 2012 by Doyle McManus – L.A. Times / Nation.com.pk / First published Dec. 2 in Opinion
When President Obama came to office in 2009, it didn’t take his new administration long to settle on a favorite anti-terrorist tactic: drone strikes.
Published on 6 December 2012 by Ghaidaa Al-Absi / Opendemocracy.net / First published Dec. 3 in Opinion
In my daily activism to fight street sexual harassment in Yemen I often find myself dealing with questions of blame. Sadly, this usually involves helping victims who are unfairly blamed for the acts of their perpetrators. Yet I also find myself asking who is to blame for the high percentage of sexual harassment in our country. According to a report released at a conference in Cairo in 1999, 90 percent of women are subjected to sexual harassment in Yemen, with evidence suggesting that this rises to 98 percent in Sana’a, the capital.
Published on 3 December 2012 by Nytimes.com Stephanie Speirs in Opinion
I disagree with Gregory D. Johnsen’s characterization of United States policy toward Yemen and the man who leads it, John O. Brennan (“The Wrong Man for the C.I.A.,” Op-Ed, Nov. 20).
Published on 3 December 2012 by Truth-out.org Thom Hartmann and Sam Sacks in Opinion
One day after his re-election President Obama ordered yet another drone strike in Yemen, killing an alleged Al-Qaeda operative. In the process, our nation’s moral standing in the world was further downgraded.
Published on 29 November 2012 by Al-monitor.com Abdullaziz Dhafer in Opinion
No one can deny the key role played by Saudi Arabian King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries in general to prevent the outbreak of civil war in Yemen last year. The Gulf Initiative was the lever used by the Saudi leadership to do so.
Published on 26 November 2012 by NYTimes.com Gregory D. Johnsen in Opinion
With the resignation of David H. Petraeus, President Obama now has a chance to appoint a new C.I.A. director. Unfortunately, one of the leading candidates for the job is John O. Brennan, who is largely responsible for America’s current flawed counterterrorism strategy, which relies too heavily on drone strikes that frequently kill civilians and provide Al-Qaeda with countless new recruits. Rather than keeping us safe, this strategy is putting the United States at greater risk.
Published on 26 November 2012 by Michael Spindelegger in Opinion
Well over 100 journalists have been killed so far this year - the highest number since the International Press Institute (IPI) began keeping count of journalists’ deaths in 1997. All across the world - from Africa, Asia and Europe, to the Middle East and Latin America - journalists continue to be systematically and brutally targeted because of their work. Some are caught in the crossfire while reporting on conflict, but most are targeted by criminal groups and individuals who want to prevent information from getting out, corruption and other crimes from being exposed and critical views from being disseminated.
Published on 22 November 2012 by Al-monitor.com Khaled al-Hourougi in Opinion
Yemenis of different intellectual, political, and cultural backgrounds agreed that the National Dialogue Conference is Yemen’s ultimate salvation, since several dangerous crises overwhelm the country.
Published on 19 November 2012 by Brookings.edu Bruce Riedel in Opinion
Obama will have to face the growing menace of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the failing state in Yemen that it thrives on. The response must be nimble and careful because AQAP’s real goal is to drag America into another bleeding war in the Muslim world, this time hoping it will spread into the oil rich deserts of Saudi Arabia. Luckily, Gregory Johnson has written the best new book on Al-Qaeda in 2012 and the best book on Yemen in years.
Published on 19 November 2012 by Al-monitor.com Mohammad Ali al-Samawi in Opinion
Recently things seem more complicated than ever before: Problems are spreading, deepening the gulfs dividing the Yemeni people and the Islamic Umma [community], exacerbating the differences among them. We have come to live in state of exceptional uncertainty as the way in which we conceive of the future and our place in it has suffered from a decided lack of vision. Whether one is rationalistic about it or not, it is no longer possible to distinguish between the correct course and the mistaken one. This we may ascribe to the latent contradictions of the public arena.
Published on 19 November 2012 by Thenational.ae Ibrahim Sharqieh in Opinion
Among the world leaders who congratulated President Barack Obama for winning a second term last week was the Yemeni president, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. From the Yemeni leader’s point of view, the most important aspect of Mr. Obama’s reelection is perhaps the issue of the continuation of a U.S.-Yemeni war on terrorism.
Published on 8 November 2012 by Editorial Board / Washingtonpost.com / First published Nov. 2 in Opinion
It’s been 10 years since the first strike by an armed U.S. drone killed an Al-Qaeda leader and five associates in Yemen. Since then, according to unofficial counts, there have been more than 400 “targeted killing” drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia — countries where the United States is not fighting a conventional war. About 3,000 people have been killed, including scores — maybe hundreds — of civilians. And though the United States is winding down its military mission in Afghanistan, the Obama administration, as The Post’s Greg Miller reported last week, “expects to continue adding names to kill or capture lists for years.”
Published on 8 November 2012 by Abigail Fielding-Smith / FT.com / First published Nov. 2 in Opinion
A short while ago, I swept past the Victorian garrison church overlooking the port city of Aden in southwest Yemen for the first time in more than a year. The trickle of news which car bombs force out of this otherworldly place at the bottom of the Arabian peninsula, with its volcanic crags and strangely empty shoreline, had done nothing to prepare me for how much it had changed.
Published on 5 November 2012 by Jenny Holland / Guardian.co.uk / First published Oct. 18 in Opinion
Peace activists and human rights groups have been vocal in their condemnation of the U.S. policy of drone strikes against militant targets in Pakistan and Yemen.
Published on 5 November 2012 by Geoff Dyer / FT.com / First published Oct. 21 in Opinion
If there is such as a thing as an “Obama doctrine”, it was prob¬ably first suggested by the advice of Robert Gates, defence secretary for the first two and a half years of the administration.
Published on 24 October 2012 by NYTimes.com Margaret Sullivan in Opinion
Understanding American drone strikes is like a deadly version of the old telephone game: I whisper to you and you whisper to someone else, and eventually all meaning is lost.
Published on 30 November -1 by Jeffrey Goldberg / Businessweek.com / First published Oct. 11 in Opinion
President Obama, who is putatively a civil libertarian—or, at the very least, the preferred candidate of most civil libertarians—has achieved something remarkable over the course of his term. He has led an expansive war against America’s enemies using lethal flying robots that not infrequently incinerate innocent civilians, and he’s been rewarded for it. According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted earlier this year, 83 percent of Americans support Obama’s drone policy.
Published on 4 October 2012 by CNN.com Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland in Opinion
A decade ago, the United States had a virtual monopoly on drones.
Published on 27 September 2012 by Huffingtonpost.com Neta C. Crawford in Opinion
As we enter year twelve of the “war on terror,” drones are arguably the coolest tool in the American military arsenal. There is a breathless tone in describing these machines that loiter for hours, then fire Hellfire missiles at remote targets. But just below the gee-wiz is a simmering debate over the secrecy and legality of their strikes in Pakistan and Yemen.
Published on 27 September 2012 by Guardian.co.uk Abubakr Al-Shamahi in Opinion
The Yemeni government is desperately hoping the Friends of Yemen group of international donors meeting on 27 September will result in more promises of aid alongside the $6.4bn already pledged by donors to counter Yemen's growing humanitarian crisis.
Published on 24 September 2012 by James Jeffrey / Guardian.co.uk / First published Sept. 19 in Opinion
I find myself caught between the need to follow the drone debate and the need to avoid unpleasant memories it stirs. I used drones – unmanned aerial vehicles – during the nadir of my military career that was an operational tour in Afghanistan. I remember cuing up a U.S. Predator strike before deciding the computer screen wasn’t depicting aTaliban insurgent burying an improvised explosive device in the road; rather, a child playing in the dirt.
Published on 24 September 2012 by Editorial / NYTimes.com / First published Sept. 15 in Opinion
Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a Yemeni citizen and one of the first detainees sent to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in January 2002, died there earlier this month. There is no official autopsy report yet, but in his decade in prison he had gone on hunger strikes and made several suicide attempts.
Published on 24 September 2012 by Editorial / Newsday.com / First published Sept. 21 in Opinion
The seductive appeal of using drones to kill America’s enemies is that they are lethal for those on the ground, but safe for those who guide them through the skies. They are also far cheaper than bombers and fighter planes.
Published on 20 September 2012 by Csmonitor.com Kurt Shillinger in Opinion
Violent attacks on U.S. diplomatic posts in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and elsewhere this week underscore a lesson taught repeatedly over the past decade – namely, that security is necessary to launch fledgling democracies emerging from autocratic states.
Published on 20 September 2012 by CNN.com Murad Alazzan in Opinion
Many Yemenis, like Egyptians, Libyans and others, have been provoked by media reports about a film called “Innocence of Muslims” that maligns the Prophet Mohammed.
Published on 17 September 2012 by WashingtonPost.com Nathan Lean in Opinion
This is a sad time for Americans and global citizens who desire a more peaceful and tolerant world. The events of the past two days in Libya, Egypt, and now in Yemen, have tarnished the prospects for political stability in a region on the brink of realizing a brighter future.
Published on 17 September 2012 by NYTimes.com Baher Azmy in Opinion
BEFORE he died on Sept. 8, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif had spent close to 4,000 days and nights in the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He was found unconscious, alone in his cell, thousands of miles from home and family in Yemen.
Published on 17 September 2012 by WashingtonPost.com Fouad Ajami in Opinion
Modernity requires the willingness to be offended. And as anti-American violence across the Middle East and beyond shows, that willingness is something the Arab world, the heartland of Islam, still lacks.
Published on 13 September 2012 by Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press / First published Sept. 8 in Opinion
As Americans debate whether they are better off now than they were four years ago, there is another question with a somewhat easier answer: Are you safer now than you were when President Barack Obama took office?
Published on 13 September 2012 by National Editorial / Thenational.ae / First published Sept. 5 in Opinion
What happens on one part of the Arabian Peninsula has a knock-on effect elsewhere, which makes the deteriorating situation in Yemen a regional concern. A donor conference for the country opened yesterday in Riyadh, with an initial pledge by Saudi Arabia of around $2.2 billion (Dh8.1 billion) in fuel and other products.
Published on 13 September 2012 by Brian O’Neill / The Daily Star / First published Sept. 11 in Opinion
Published on 10 September 2012 by guardian.co.uk Chris Woods in Opinion
When news flashed of an air strike on a vehicle in the Yemeni city of Rada’a on Sunday afternoon, early claims that Al-Qaeda militants had died soon gave way to a more grisly reality.
Published on 3 September 2012 by Foreignpolicy.com Peter Salisbury in Opinion
During Yemen’s rainy season, which stretches from August to October, the Silah, the cobbled road that intersects the capital Sana’a’s ancient Old City, often floods becoming, for a few brief hours, a fast-running river. Over the years, the road has been gradually deepened, with steps built up the side and bridges spanning its width so that the rest of the area does not overflow with water from the surrounding mountains.
Published on 30 August 2012 by Guardian.co.uk in Opinion
Under a staircase, clinging to a wall of Sana’a’s Grand Mosque, groups of women and children lug plastic canisters to the leaky spigots of a public fountain. Some small children struggle with canisters nearly their size as they weave slowly between the fountain and the pushcarts used to wheel the water back home.
Published on 30 August 2012 by Defense.aol.com Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. in Opinion
In lawless, inaccessible regions of the world, drone strikes are America's least-worst option forpursuing terrorists, a panel of experts agreed today — and many of the civilians whose deaths are blamed on U.S. drones were actually killed by local factions on the ground or never existed at all.
Published on 27 August 2012 by Thenational.ae Achraf El Bahi in Opinion
“Yemen seems to be doomed to making historic, yet unfinished, accomplishments, which eventually lead to grave consequences,” wrote Ahmed Youssef Ahmed, director of the Cairo-based Institute of Arab Research and Studies, in yesterday's edition of the Emirati newspaper Al Ittihad.
Published on 27 August 2012 by Huffingtonpost.co.uk Omar Mashjari in Opinion
With the world's media attention focused on Yemen's fight against Al-Qaeda, you would probably be forgiven for not knowing that Yemenis are facing the worst hunger crisis since records began. The term 'food insecurity' is increasingly being associated with the once self-sufficient but improvised Yemen. In fact over 44 percent of Yemen's population will face a lack of food to eat this year alone and the U.N. says that 5m Yemenis are considered "extremely food insecure". The causes of this crisis range from a lack of political stability caused the 2011 revolution, failure to control and plan on behalf of the Yemeni government and the inability of donors states such as the U.S. to view Yemen beyond the 'terrorism goggles'.
Published on 16 August 2012 by VOAnews.com / First published Aug. 13 in Opinion
On the heels of the revolutions in Tunisia and in Egypt, the Yemeni people began their own demonstrations. At first, the demonstrations were held against unemployment, economic conditions and corruption, and the government's proposals to modify presidential term limits in Yemen's constitution to allow President Ali Abdullah Saleh to remain in office. Later the protestors began to demand President Saleh’s resignation. Their protest was successful, and a year later, on Feb. 21, 2012, Yemenis went to the polls to choose a new president. Yemen had started on its path to political transition.
Published on 16 August 2012 by Gulfnews.com / First published Aug. 15 in Opinion
Yemen continues to suffer from poor leadership and an ineffective government as the new President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi has not tackled vital reforms and has failed to stamp his authority on government. It is essential that he introduces more effective governance across the country and gains control of the country’ military establishment. He also needs to tackle the growing threat to national unity from supporters of Al-Qaeda.
Published on 16 August 2012 by John Bennett / Usnews.com / First published Aug. 9 in Opinion
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official spoke before a packed room at a prominent Washington think tank Wednesday, touting the White House's "comprehensive approach" that emphasizes "governance and development" in a faraway land.
Published on 13 August 2012 by Al-Ahram Weekly Online Nasser Arrabyee in Opinion
Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi has taken the long awaited step to strengthen his hold on a split army as an upper commander.
Published on 13 August 2012 by Opendemocracy.net Helen Lackner in Opinion
At the beginning of Ramadan 2012, recognition of the urgency of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is welcome, despite being so badly delayed. But who needs help most?
Published on 9 August 2012 by LATimes.com in Opinion
Whether or not it succeeds in court, a lawsuit challenging the killings of Al-Qaeda figure Anwar Awlaki and two other U.S. citizens clearly lays out the problems with the Obama administration’s policy of “targeted killings” of suspected terrorists even outside the battle zone of Afghanistan.
Published on 30 July 2012 by Foreign Policy Journal Jeremy R. Hammond in Opinion
Scott Shane, in a recent news analysis piece for the New York Times, sets out to present “The Moral Case for Drones”, but grievously fails to present anything of the kind—quite the contrary.
Published on 23 July 2012 by Eva Sohlman / NYTimes.com / First published July 11 in Opinion
Odai Saleh’s large, hollow eyes follow the movements around him lethargically and his emaciated, birdlike face expresses no interest in the toy car next to him on the hospital bed.
Published on 19 July 2012 by Scott Shane / NYTimes.com / First published July 14 in Opinion
For streamlined, unmanned aircraft, drones carry a lot of baggage these days, along with their Hellfire missiles. Some people find the very notion of killer robots deeply disturbing. Their lethal operations inside sovereign countries that are not at war with the United States raise contentious legal questions. They have become a radicalizing force in some Muslim countries. And proliferation will inevitably put them in the hands of odious regimes.
Published on 19 July 2012 by Dina Temple-Raston / NPR.org / First published July 13 in Opinion
Al-Qaeda has been subtly testing a new strategy. In the past couple of years, the group’s affiliates have been trying their hand at governing — actually taking over territory and then trying to win over citizens who live there. It happened with various degrees of success in Somalia and Yemen, and recently in the northern deserts of Mali.
Published on 12 July 2012 by Danya Greenfield / Al-Monitor / First published July 9 in Opinion
Eight months after the ouster of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the streets of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, are quiet. But violence continues to rage elsewhere and there are serious doubts about whether the country’s leadership can fulfill pledges to restructure the military, draft a new constitution and hold long-overdue parliamentary elections.
Published on 9 July 2012 by Adam Baron / foreignpolicy.com / First published July 2 in Opinion
Yemen, like Pakistan, is a country where America’s counter-insurgency strategy has failed. The Obama administration has this year greatly increased the number of drone attacks in Yemen carried out by the CIA and by the U.S. Military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
Published on 9 July 2012 by Patrick Seale / Gulf News / First Published July 6 in Opinion
Yemen, like Pakistan, is a country where America’s counter-insurgency strategy has failed. The Obama administration has this year greatly increased the number of drone attacks in Yemen carried out by the CIA and by the U.S. Military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
Published on 5 July 2012 by Christopher Swift / foreignaffairs.com / First published July 1 in Opinion
Recent revelations that the White House keeps a secret terrorist kill list, which it uses to target Al-Qaeda leaders, have spurred a debate over drone warfare. Progressive pundits excoriate the Obama administration for expanding the power of the executive branch. Senate Republicans, in turn, have demanded the appointment of a special counsel to probe the alleged leaks of classified information that brought the kill list to light. As the political drama unfolds in Washington, however, the United States is intensifying its drone campaign in the arid mountains and remote plateaus of Yemen.
Published on 2 July 2012 by theatlantic.com John Hudson in Opinion
Prior to receiving a standing ovation before an elite crowd at the Aspen Ideas Festival, retired U.S. General Stanley McChrystal gave a blunt endorsement of the U.S. drone war: "We should be using drones a lot."
Published on 2 July 2012 by Khaleej Times Editorial in Opinion
The United Arab Emirates is stepping up momentum to addressing one of the worst humanitarian crises faced by Yemen.
Published on 28 June 2012 by George Kosmidis / atimes.com / First published June 27 in Opinion
Below the surface of drone strikes and violence, Yemen is a country struggling with deeper problems. The end of bloody protests during the Arab Spring and a 33-year presidency gave some Yemenis inspiration that the road to socio-economic and political change is near.
Published on 25 June 2012 by Bloomberg News Christopher Swift in Opinion
Yemen, we are told, is the next Afghanistan. Yet with some relatively minor and inexpensive initiatives, the United States may be able to keep it from becoming Al-Qaeda’s next haven.
Published on 25 June 2012 by Sama’a Al-Hamdani in Opinion
Today, a local conference for women named, “The active participation of women in building a modern civil state,” was held in Aden; however, the only noteworthy subject, according to almasdaronline, was that Salim Basindawah, the Yemen’s prime minister, encouraged southern immigrants to return to Yemen. Like every other “women” event, an official recognized and praised Yemeni women’s contribution to society and encouragement for further women’s participation in the public sector is championed. These events have been taking place in Yemen for years now: workshops where a handful of selected females are chosen to participate. Unfortunately, the results always lead to yet another event about “women,” while nothing concrete is actually established or done. This is not to critique any efforts made by Yemeni women; they are hard-working, as Yemen has the only interim government in the Middle East that after the Arab uprisings selected three women as ministers.
Published on 25 June 2012 by foreignpolicy.com Mohammed Al-Basha in Opinion
Calling Yemen a failing state was a safe bet during the turbulent and bloody events of 2011. Thousands of youths marched to protest their legitimate grievances while Yemen’s factionalized military forces were at odds. In the south, Al-Qaeda affiliates capitalized on the turmoil and expanded their footprint. The turmoil amplified Yemen’s troubles and catapulted the nation into the international spotlight.
Published on 21 June 2012 by Fakhri Al-Arashi / National Yemen / First published June 17 in Opinion
Fighting Al-Qaeda in Abyan – fighting any type of terror which threatens citizens’ lives, for that matter – is highly admired by all.
Published on 21 June 2012 by Trudy Rubin / gulftoday.ae / First published June 12 in Opinion
As the Arab Spring morphs into a hot Arab summer, activists around the region are debating whether religious parties and democracy can mix.
Published on 21 June 2012 by Muna Al-Fuzai / kuwaittimes.net in Opinion
The Arab region’s dictatorial regimes have been supplanted or are heaving their last breath. Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen are examples. As a Kuwaiti, I don’t think I can pass the right judgment on these countries’ leadership. And if they are really corrupt, I am not in a position to agree or disagree whether all the bloodshed was necessary to bring about a movement called Arab Spring.
Published on 18 June 2012 by The Christian Science Monitor Adam Baron in Opinion
Almost as suddenly as Al-Qaeda-linked militants swept into the southern Yemeni towns of Jaar and Zinjibar more than one year ago, they disappeared, say residents who awoke Tuesday morning to find them gone.
Published on 18 June 2012 by LATimes.com in Opinion
Yemen is a battleground where the U.S. has attacked an Al-Qaeda branch that has tried to blow up U.S. airliners and assassinate targets in Saudi Arabia. Government officials announced Tuesday that Yemeni troops and southern tribesman had driven Al-Qaeda militants out of two strategic towns, aided by a U.S. military command center recently established in the southern desert.
Published on 14 June 2012 by theatlantic.com Joshua Foust in Opinion
The New York Times’ blockbuster article on President Obama’s counterterrorism policies has sparked wide discussion of his evolution into a president focused very strongly on killing terrorists. Americans are also debating the effectiveness and morality of drones. These are important conversations to be having, to which I’d add some of the common misconceptions about drones. The first is that drones are cheap, and the second is that they’re replacing other forms of military operations.
Published on 14 June 2012 by IRIN in Opinion
In the sweltering port city of Aden, about 300km south of Yemen’s capital Sana’a, two dozen international NGOs are struggling to meet mounting humanitarian demands caused by a war raging in neighbouring Abyan Governorate where government troops have for a month fought to crush a local Al-Qaeda ally, Ansar Al-Shariah.
Published on 11 June 2012 by Editorial / suntimes.com / First published June 6 in Opinion
America’s drone war can seem far away and unrelated to our daily lives.
Published on 11 June 2012 by Nancy Lindborg / huffingtonpost.com / First published June 6 in Opinion
This weekend in Sana’a, I had dinner with a group of young men and women activists who are on the forefront of Yemen’s historic struggle for a better future. They turned out for change with great courage last year, and at dinner, with great eloquence they outlined for me the many challenges facing Yemen during this critical transition period: conflict in the north and south, weak government institutions, cultural barriers to greater women’s participation, an upended economy, and one of the world’s highest birthrates. And, as one man noted, it is difficult to engage the 70 percent of Yemeni people who live in rural areas in dialogue about the future when they are struggling just to find the basics of life: food, health, water.
Published on 11 June 2012 by Edith M. Lederer / kansascity.com / First published May 29 in Opinion
Yemen’s president is taking important steps to advance the country’s transition to democracy and security forces are having some success against Al-Qaeda- but the terrorist group remains intent on striking both Western and regional targets, the U.N. envoy to Yemen said Tuesday.
Published on 7 June 2012 by Ibrahim Sharqieh \ nytimes.com \ First published on June 1 in Opinion
During a recent visit to Yemen, I was sitting in a cafe in Sana’a when we suddenly experienced a power outage. I asked the waiter what happened, and he replied: “Saleh’s men keep attacking the main power plant in Mareb to disrupt life in Sana’a. Saleh is still working against the revolution. He won’t give up.”
Published on 4 June 2012 by washingtonpost.com Greg Miller in Opinion
There is little doubt among U.S. intelligence officials that Kaid and Nabil Al-Dhahab — brothers who reportedly survived a U.S. airstrike in Yemen on Memorial Day — are associated with the Al-Qaeda insurgency in that country. Less clear is the extent to which they are plotting against the United States.
Published on 4 June 2012 by alarabiya.net Ali Al Shihabi in Opinion
Yemen continues to be a security problem for Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states. Since the 1962 revolution which saw the overthrow of its ruling family, and Egyptian President Nasser’s subsequent enthusiastic support of that revolution, Yemen has constituted a problem that requires active management by Saudi leaders.
Published on 28 May 2012 by Rami G. Khouri / The Daily Star / First published on May 23 in Opinion
One of the important byproducts of the ongoing Arab uprisings, regime changes and national reconfigurations is the increased ability of many people around the world to view Arabs in their full, dynamic human complexity and nuance, rather than the one-dimensional, static, essentialist caricatures of Arabs and Muslims that have long dominated many Western views of our region and its people.
Published on 28 May 2012 by Marwan Muasher / washingtonpost.com / First Published on May 26 in Opinion
Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for president of Egypt has moved on to the second round of voting. As fear mounts over the rise of Islamists, nostalgia for the old Arab world is stirring among many inside and outside the region. Some are starting to push the argument that former regimes restricted personal freedoms and stifled economic development but at least we all knew who we were dealing with and where we stood. And chaos was held in check.
Published on 24 May 2012 by James Traub / foreignpolicy.com / First published on May 18 in Opinion
Last week, I wrote about the growing drone-ification of U.S. policy toward Yemen, and questioned the faith that drone strikes would not provoke the kind of backlash caused by less “targeted” forms of military intervention. At best, drones are an instrument of policy, not a policy in and of itself. Critics of the Obama administration’s emerging counterterrorism strategy in Yemen and elsewhere argue that the United States needs fewer drones, and more of something else. The question for this week is: What’s the “something else”?
Published on 21 May 2012 by foreignpolicy.com Ginny Hill in Opinion
Yemen’s recently installed President Abd Rabo Mansour Hadi surprised many observers by moving swiftly to establish control over the battered nation’s military. His efforts, backed by an unusually assertive United Nations mediation effort, offer a rare glimpse of hope for a nation battered by more than a year of instability and political conflict.
Published on 17 May 2012 by washingtonpost.com Karen DeYoung in Opinion
President Obama plans to issue an executive order Wednesday giving the Treasury Department authority to freeze the U.S.-based assets of anyone who “obstructs” implementation of the administration-backed political transition in Yemen.
Published on 17 May 2012 by The Daily Star Khaled Fattah in Opinion
Yemen’s massive protests that began in January 2011 have reignited existing tribal, ideological and political conflicts.
Published on 14 May 2012 by 2012 James Traub / foreignpolicy.com / May 11 in Opinion
The Obama administration has doubled down on the use of drones to go after bad guys. How long until the blowback comes?
Last month, according to news accounts, U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to widen the scope of drone attacks carried out against al Qaeda members in Yemen. Previously, strikes targeted only known individuals; henceforth, the CIA and the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command will be permitted to target people whose patterns of behavior make them high-value targets. Many counterterrorism and Yemen experts think that the White House is opening up the gates of hell. They might be right, but I wish the alternatives they suggest were more convincing.
Published on 14 May 2012 by 2012 Karen Greenberg / guardian.co.uk / May 9 in Opinion
As the news of this week’s intelligence sting against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula became public, there was a seemingly odd contradiction. On the one hand, the president, speaking from Afghanistan, had just announced that, thanks to US military action, Al-Qaeda was “on the path to defeat”. In the words of John Brennan, “In short, Al-Qaeda is losing badly.” On the other hand, there was news of a new and potentially lethal plot – a perhaps undetectable bomb aimed at blowing up an airplane.
Published on 10 May 2012 by David Ignatius in Opinion
The Osama bin Laden who emerges in the documents published online Thursday was not the typical homicidal political leader. Where Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin spurned the advice of honest advisers and increasingly cut themselves off from reality, bin Laden maintained to the end a surprisingly open and mutually critical exchange with his top aides.
Published on 10 May 2012 by nytimes.com Jameel Jaffer and Nathan Freed Wessler in Opinion
In Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere the C.I.A. has used drones to kill thousands of people — including several Americans. Officials have aggressively defended the controversial program, telling journalists that it is effective, lawful and closely supervised.
Published on 3 May 2012 by Atiaf Alwazir / Al-Akhbar English / First published April 30 in Opinion
Political satire poking fun at Yemeni officials mushroomed during the country’s uprising. Starting among a receptive audience in the tents of Sana’a’s Change Square, political humor now features on national television stations.
Published on 30 April 2012 by The Economist in Opinion
Anisa is only 18, but already a mother of two and a widow. She married her husband, a fisherman, at 13. He “fell in the sea”, she says, and never came back. Cradled in her lap, Anisa’s younger daughter Amina is just shy of her third birthday. She looks more like a baby than a toddler. A fine layer of sweat covers her oversized forehead. She breathes rapidly, her belly sticking out from a dirty T-shirt, distended by hunger. Like many poor rural Yemenis, Anisa and Amina have suffered a series of shocks from which they may not recover.
Published on 30 April 2012 by Aref Abdullah Al-Selmi in Opinion
All of us knows the importance of higher education and its necessity in a world that recognizes only those with higher education degrees. In Yemen, getting a bachelor degree is very difficult as a result of corruption in the higher education sector. This corruption changed the public education system into a private one by establishing educational systems aimed towards profitability. In order to get a bachelor degree, Yemeni students – especially those with low marks at high school – have to give in to the reality and enroll in these private systems, because higher education is the gateway for a better future.
Published on 30 April 2012 by The Guardian Nesrine Malik in Opinion
The latest edition of Foreign Policy, the cover of which bears the same stark question posed by its main article ‘Why Do They Hate Us?’, has stirred up some serious controversy. In the article, Mona Eltahawy runs through a litany of indictments of women’s rights in the Middle East, and issues a call to arms against cultural relativism. What stands out, however, is her simple demand for readers to recognize that men, in the Arab world, hate women.
Published on 26 April 2012 by 2012 Jeremy B. White / ibtimes.com / April 19 in Opinion
In an effort to expand its campaign of covert drone strikes in Yemen, the Central Intelligence Agency has asked for the authority to target suspected terrorists without needing to establish their identity first.
Published on 26 April 2012 by 2012 Sarah Leah Whitson / Foreign Policy / April 20 in Opinion
Last week’s shutdown of Sanaa’s airport by security forces seeking to reverse President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s dismissal of top brass loyal to the ancien régime exemplified exactly where Yemen is stuck.
Published on 23 April 2012 by Diplomat and International Canada Khaled Bahah in Opinion
Yemen, an Arab country and one of the oldest centres of civilization, presides over one of the busiest and most crucial shipping routes in the world. Bordered by Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Oman, it comprises more than 555,000 square kilometers with some 2,000 kilometers of coast and in excess of 200 islands (including the famous natural paradise of Soqotra). Yemen’s population is approximately 24 million, with a growth rate of 3.4 percent and a GDP per capita of US$1,118.
Published on 16 April 2012 by The Daily Star Lebanon Volker Perthes in Opinion
More than a year into the Arab revolts, their outcomes remain highly uncertain. But some initial lessons for international politics – and for Western, particularly European, foreign policy – merit serious consideration. Almost everyone was surprised by the revolts, although the political and socioeconomic causal factors were well known. As is often true in crises that become systemic, we knew the phenomena, but failed to grasp their interaction, in part because politicians and analysts are unwilling to anticipate ruptures: The familiar is held to be stable even when it is known to be problematic. (Consider Saudi Arabia, which the United States and most of the West continue to regard as an island of “stability.”)
Published on 16 April 2012 by Ginny Hill، Foreign Policy in Opinion
Yemen’s army chief of staff, Major General Ahmed Ali Al-Ashwal, arrived in Washington, DC earlier this week to review the current state of military cooperation between Sana’a and Washington. Much rests on whether Yemen’s new president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Al-Hadi, can effectively reform the country’s military and security forces and bring them under unified, professional leadership. White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan recently voiced support for Al-Ashwal as “an impressive and professional military officer” and praised Hadi’s understanding of what it would take to “turn the Yemeni military into a professional and first-rate military organization.”
Published on 12 April 2012 by Khaleej Times Online Editorial in Opinion
The recent shakeup in Yemen’s powerful military is likely to consolidate President Abd Rabo Mansour Hadi’s position. It will also boost confidence among the people who have to date been demanding reforms in the armed forces, because of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s continued influence through his handpicked loyalists.
Published on 12 April 2012 by The Daily Star Lebanon Mariam Fam & Alaa Shahine in Opinion
Amir Mohammad has been sleeping outside the Libyan Embassy in Cairo awaiting a visa for a week, his bed a layer of cardboard on the sidewalk. He has given up on finding a job in Egypt and is looking for a way out.
Published on 9 April 2012 by Aish Awas / aish@shebacss.com in Opinion
Within the last few weeks, US officials in the Department of Defence and the CIA have declared a number of statements depicting a bleak picture of the situation in Yemen.
Published on 2 April 2012 by Reuters Joseph Logan in Opinion
By prodding Yemen’s army to take on Islamist militants, the United States may entrench a split within its ranks and risks undermining the shaky political accord devised to stave off a descent into all-out civil war.
Published on 29 March 2012 by Naji Ghazali in Opinion
The deposed President Saleh used to use the government channel (Al-Yemen) to satisfy his ears when he was in power. But now he has not one channel, but three, with Al-Yemen Today, Al-Akeek and Azal echoing his famous speeches back to his ears as he continues to think ladies have been unable to give birth to another Saleh.
Published on 29 March 2012 by Editorial / The Washington Post / First published March 25 in Opinion
Domestic and international strictures empower the president to use lethal force, including targeted drone strikes, to protect the country against attack. That is so whether the target is a foreign national or a US citizen; and it is true whether the target is located on a traditional battlefield or ensconced in a foreign country that is unwilling or unable to assist in capture.
Published on 29 March 2012 by Aref Al-Selmi / arefalsalami2@gmail.com in Opinion
In my point of view, whatever all the names are of the conferences for helping Yemen, they should all be called “Begging for Yemen.”
Published on 29 March 2012 by Abubakr Al-Shamahi The Daily Star Lebanon / First published / March 20 in Opinion
On Feb. 21, Yemenis went to the polls to vote for their new transitional president. This election, however, was different. There was only one candidate, former Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Published on 26 March 2012 by Catherine Shakdam / First published March 11 in / Foreign Policy Blogs in Opinion
Published on 26 March 2012 by Hind Al-Eryani in Opinion
Published on 19 March 2012 by Harper's Magazine Scott Horton in Opinion
Yesterday I wrote about how the Obama Administration has insisted that its deal with Yemen’s dictatorship concerning the use of drones there is a secret, and how it has been wielding that specious claim to justify withholding publication of a controversial Justice Department memo that outlines the president’s supposed authority to order the assassination of an American citizen abroad. Now Jeremy Scahill has published an important study of what the Obama Administration is prepared to do to journalists who expose its hit operations in Yemen:
Published on 19 March 2012 by Galal Al-Mohammedi in Opinion
It is absolutely unfair and misguided to view the Yemeni Youth Popular Revolution as merely a vocal claim for bread and butter, or as a political conflict for power.
Published on 15 March 2012 by Gulf News / Editorial / March 12 in Opinion
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has not delivered the objectives it set itself, but there is no clear agreement on what to do about this.
Published on 15 March 2012 by Rami G. Khouri / The Daily Star / March 14 in Opinion
What is it that drives ordinary Arab men and women to do extraordinary things, such as demonstrate against their government for 12 months non-stop, at the risk of being killed every day? I have heard many explanations for the ongoing Arab uprisings, but one of the best and most succinct I heard was at a seminar on Arab youth unemployment this week in Beirut, co-sponsored by the International Labor Organization regional office and Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation. ILO regional director Nada Al-Nashef captured one of the most complex but important dynamics underpinning the uprisings when she said that to learn the lessons of the past 16 months of populist citizen revolts across the region, we must better understand “the nexus between unemployment, poverty and inequality” defining the lives and attitudes of so many young men and women in the Middle East. That may sound like obvious and slightly clichéd, but it strikes me as profoundly important for touching the heart of the malaise that had driven millions of Arabs to revolt.
Published on 12 March 2012 by 2012 Atiaf Alwazir / Al-Akhbar English / Feb. 14 in Opinion
In February 2011, Umm Hashim, a 45-year-old mother and resident of Yemen’s capital Sana’a was glued to her television. For hours she watched the opposition channel Suhail broadcast images of injured protesters being rushed into the makeshift field hospital in Change Square. As tears rolled down her face, she vowed to go to Change Square and help in any way she could. Today, one year later, Umm Hashim has become one of the managers of the field hospital in Change Square who administers volunteers and checks on the medical supplies.
Published on 8 March 2012 by 2012 Madeleine Wells / Foreign Policy / Feb. 27 in Opinion
Walking last month into the Shabaab Al-Sumud tent in Yemen’s Maydan Taghayr – Change Square – I was greeted by eager faces and talkative qat chewers. “We love Americans,” a Houthi supporter nodded his head vigorously, and, in doing so, revealed an enormous poster on the tent flap behind him on which the group’s infamous slogan was inscribed: “God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews.” Seeing my eyes widen, he offered, “We hate American policies, not people. The roots of the slogan lie in America’s war on the Iraqi people and support for Israeli policies against the Palestinians. Let me tell you what it is that the Houthis want...”
Published on 5 March 2012 by 2012 Rami G. Khouri / The Daily Star / Feb. 29 in Opinion
A persistent question we have heard during each Arab uprising across the Arab world in the past year has been, “What happens after the regime falls? Who takes over power?” This is usually asked with a tone of foreboding, with concern that bad or unknown political forces will assume power. Most worry revolves around the prospect of the Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamists assuming power, on the grounds that they are the best organized political groups.
Published on 5 March 2012 by Akuf Abdulamir / Khaleej Times Online / 3 Mar. 2012 in Opinion
Let me talk about the Gulf Arabs and the way they are changing now. The region has been in the international spotlight since the first Gulf war when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Published on 5 March 2012 by David Ignatius / washingtonpost.com in Opinion
In the turbulent annals of the Arab Spring, last weekend’s ceremony in Yemen was so quiet it was barely noticed. But it marked the transfer of power from an aging autocrat who had ruled his country for nearly 34 years to a new leader who’s saying the right things about reform.
Published on 1 March 2012 by Editorial / Khaleejtimes.com / 25 February 2012 in Opinion
The International Conference on Somalia held recently in London succeeded in bringing the impoverished and security-challenged African nation to world attention.
Published on 1 March 2012 by Emir Suljagic in Opinion
The daily footage of the bombardment and siege of Homs by Bashar Al-Assad’s army and security forces evokes vivid memories for those familiar with the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Bosnians are all too well-acquainted with the meat grinding machinery of modern siege warfare. This relentless assault on Syria’s people can no longer be countenanced.
Published on 1 March 2012 by 2012 Linda S. Heard / Gulf News / Feb. 28 in Opinion
A powerful, united and determined Arab world could pressure America to get serious about a Palestinian state.
Published on 27 February 2012 by Dr. Robert Burrowes in Opinion
Published on 27 February 2012 by Foreignpolicy.com Inna Lazareva in Opinion
Activists are preparing to charge Yemen’s ex-strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh with crimes against humanity – despite a deal that guarantees him immunity at home.
Published on 23 February 2012 by David Ignatius / The Daily Star in Opinion
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has a lot on his mind these days, from cutting the defense budget to managing the drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan. But his biggest worry is the growing possibility that Israel will attack Iran militarily over the next few months.
Published on 23 February 2012 by Editorial / Gulf News in Opinion
Despite numerous warnings, threats and protests, the US continues its missile attacks in Pakistan. The latest on Thursday killed the most senior Pakistani in Al-Qaeda, Badar Mansour. According to one estimate, more than 200 such missile attacks have been made since 2009 in Pakistan's tribal belt.
Published on 23 February 2012 by Mahir Ali / Khaleejtimes.com in Opinion
“Yemenis prepare to vote Saleh out of office” was The Guardian’s slightly disconcerting headline over a news report about a somewhat fake election in a country that has experienced one of the least fruitful versions of the so-called Arab Spring.
Published on 23 February 2012 by Editorial / Khaleejtimes.com in Opinion
Yemeni Vice-President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi is to now officially replace outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh after elections on Tuesday.
Published on 19 February 2012 by Joseph S. Nye / The Daily Star in Opinion
Would the world be more peaceful if women were in charge? A challenging new book by the Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker says that the answer is “yes.”
Published on 19 February 2012 by Michele Cervone d’Urso / Head of the EU Delegation in Opinion
The Yemeni people have shown courage, determination and commitment to driving forward and launching a process of political transformation and social justice in the past year. This revolutionary spirit has triggered the transition process and the February 21 peaceful transfer of power through early Presidential elections. The international community has been united in speaking with one voice in support of Yemen’s transition and the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people.
Published on 16 February 2012 by khaleejtimes.com Editorial in Opinion
Published on 16 February 2012 by LA Times Doyle McManus in Opinion
Published on 16 February 2012 by Khaleejtimes.com William Hague in Opinion
Published on 13 February 2012 by Foreignpolicy.com Laurent Bonnefoy in Opinion
Published on 13 February 2012 by www.dailystar.com.lb Rami G. Khouri in Opinion
Well, reviewing events in Syria this week, I guess the unipolar world, the looming American century, and the end of history that were simultaneously announced by assorted American chauvinists and crackpots at the end of the Cold War around 1990 can be discarded for now. The continuing killings in Syria, and the energized global diplomacy that is seeking to wind down or evict President Bashar Assad and his family from power, or both, should be seen as two distinct dynamics that are converging for a moment.
Published on 9 February 2012 by Editorial / www.gulfnews.com in Opinion
Middle East governments should work with private sector to tap human resources
Unemployment is a ticking bomb that helped fuel the recent political turmoil in the Middle East – otherwise known as the Arab Spring – that toppled a number of regimes last year. However, a year after the turmoil, the youth unemployment rate in the region remains at 26.2 percent – one of the highest in the world.
Published on 9 February 2012 by Ameen Al-Hemyari in Opinion
Terrorism is a term used by many countries to define the illegal practice, the anti-government movements or the resistance to the foreign culture. Each country defines this term according to its own interests and according to its own law. This phenomenon is as old as human being existence, however; recently the western media used this term to refer to Al-Qaeda militants. Most of the Islamic movements were established as responses or reactions to certain political, religious or cultural behavior. Therefore, these movements will never give up or disappear due to more oppressions or assassinations.
Published on 9 February 2012 by Brian Whitaker / guardian.co.uk in Opinion
Stroll along Edgware Road in London and you’ll find a mystifying array of signs in the shop windows, written in Arabic.
Published on 6 February 2012 by gulfnews.com Khaled A. Ziadi in Opinion
Former Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh left the country after winning immunity from prosecution. I think the immunity law did not only award Saleh a safe exit but it also definitely rescued Yemen from civil war.
Published on 6 February 2012 by al-akhbar.com Yassine Temlali in Opinion
The working class in the Arab world has accomplished a lot in the course of one year of uprisings. Some of these accomplishments are material, including higher wages and improvements in working conditions. Others are political, such as the right to democratic representation (the rise of Egyptian independent unions and changing the leadership of the Tunisian general workers’ union, among others).
Published on 2 February 2012 by Atiaf Alwazir in Opinion
After nine months of mass protests calling for an end to the regime, and six months after the initial Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) initiative was submitted, Ali Abdullah Saleh signed the GCC’s implementing mechanism on 23 November 2011, at a ceremony in Saudi Arabia. The deal involved the transfer of his powers to Vice President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi, in return for immunity from prosecution. A national unity government will be created, evenly divided between the opposition and Saleh’s ruling party.
Published on 2 February 2012 by The Atlantic Colin Kahl in Opinion
When Mubarak fell, Iran’s leaders moved out with swagger. They saw one pivotal US ally gone, and perceived an opportunity to exploit unrest to undermine other pro-Western regimes, especially Saudi Arabia. They sought to develop contacts with Islamists in Egypt and Libya, expand ties to opposition movements in Yemen, and capitalize on the indigenous Shiite protests in Bahrain. And Iran’s leaders seemed confident that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, Tehran’s state ally in the Middle East, was immune from the populist wave because of its militant stance toward Israel and the United States.
Published on 30 January 2012 by BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner in Opinion
Al-Qaeda in Yemen is on the move. In the last few days, militants linked to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have stormed a town less than 100 miles (160km) south of the capital, Sana’a.
Published on 30 January 2012 by Reuters Stefan Wolff in Opinion
After months of uncertainty around whether Ali Abdullah Saleh has been sincere about stepping down from his post as Yemen’s president, Sunday brought confirmation that he has left the country to seek medical treatment in the United States. Under a deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council with United Nations, United States and United Kingdom assistance, Saleh is barred from partaking in the February 21 elections for an interim president. In exchange, he received immunity in an unamendable law – both nationally and internationally highly controversial – passed by Yemen’s parliament the day before his departure.
Published on 26 January 2012 by Ramzy Alawi in Opinion
Published on 26 January 2012 by Foreign Policy Marc Lynch in Opinion
Yemen seems trapped in an endless political stalemate. More than a year after massive protests erupted challenging the 33-year-old regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen seems no closer to achieving a meaningful political transition.
Published on 19 January 2012 by Gulf Today PV Vivekanand in Opinion
The Yemeni government’s endorsement of an amnesty “against legal and judicial prosecution” for the supposedly outgoing president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and all his aides “who worked with him in all government, civil and military departments during the years of his rule” flies in the face of not only the people of Yemen but also the international community.
Published on 16 January 2012 by Mansoor Moaddel - Project Syndicate in Opinion
The self-immolation a year ago of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi triggered a wave of popular protests that spread across the Arab world, forcing out dictators in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Now, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, too, seems near the end of his rule.
Published on 16 January 2012 by James Gundun ـ hadalzone.blogspot.com in Opinion
Although instrumental in drafting the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) power-sharing agreement in Yemen, including an immunity clause for Ali Abdullah Saleh’s extensive family, the Obama administration has advanced the unpopular deal in determined silence. Offering limited information since mobilizing the GCC in April, the White House and State Department eventually guided a ratification process over objections from the UN's Human Rights Council and through the Security Council. October’s Resolution 2014 would reaffirm the GCC’s initiative in full, while adding “that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable.”
Published on 29 December 2011 by Editorial Staff Boston Herald in Opinion
Photographing himself at Ground Zero proclaiming a perverse sort of victory was a loathsome but clearly protected form of free speech by Tarek Mehanna.
Published on 29 December 2011 by Ikram Al-Yacoub Al-Arabiya in Opinion
Yemeni Foreign Minister, Dr. Abu Bakr Al-Garbi said on Tuesday that the biggest challenge facing Yemen today is economic as the political turmoil has led to a mass downgrading of the country’s financial system over the past 10 months.
Published on 29 December 2011 by Hugh Macleod globalpost.com in Opinion
There is no famine in Yemen. There are no vultures looming over skeletal babies. No film cameras to record flies landing on hollowed faces. No pop concert to raise awareness.
Published on 6 February 2012 by The National National Editorial in Opinion
Published on 6 February 2012 by Washington James Gundun in Opinion
Published on 7 February 2012 by Asharq Alawsat Tariq Alhomayed in Opinion
Published on 7 February 2012 by The Saudi Gazette Dr. Sadaka Y. Fadhel in Opinion
Published on 7 February 2012 by Kuwait Times Badrya Darwesh in Opinion
Published on 7 February 2012 by CNN Adam Levine in Opinion
Published on 11 February 2012 by Osman Mmirghan / english.alarabiya.net in Opinion
It is no wonder that the official Yemeni authorities have objected to the Arab League’s resolution regarding Syria. The situation in the two countries may be different in numerous aspects, yet there are also marked similarities, especially regarding the way in which the two regimes have handled Arab efforts to find a solution, and their attempts to circumvent such endeavors or use them as a tool to buy more time.
Published on 14 February 2012 by By: Andrew Bowen / The Majalla in Opinion
As the country teeters on the brink of potential civil war, The Majalla proposes three possible scenarios for Yemen’s near future. Yemen has endured the least productive uprising of a momentous year in the Arab World, and now is consumed by divisions. Examined here are the stress points of a divided nation, specifically looking at where the cracks will form should President Saleh cling to power, become the victim of a coup, or instigate transition.
Published on 13 February 2012 by The Independents’ Alliance (Youth & Patriots of the Revolution of Change in Yemen) in Opinion
Published on 13 February 2012 by U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein in Opinion
Published on 20 March 2012 by Yemeni British Coalition Supporting the Yemeni Revolution in Opinion
The Yemeni revolution has entered its ninth month and the youth are still adhering to its peaceful nature, despite Yemen being home to 60 million weapons. This ancient people want the revolution to be peaceful, and yet the remnants of the illegitimate regime want to drag Yemen into a civil war, after they burned all their political cards, the last of which was Al-Qaeda.
Published on 20 March 2012 by Kourosh Ziabari in Opinion
Unemployment, deteriorating economic conditions, government’s proposal for modifying the constitution and removing the limit for presidential terms and the corruption of the ruling elite are the root causes of the growing indignation and resentment of the Yemeni people.
Published on 20 March 2012 by Institute of Peace and War Reporting Afrah Nasser in Opinion
It is very typical for a journalist in Yemen to receive threats and intimidation whether they are famous or not. Once you are perceived as dissident or anti-government, then you automatically start getting threats – it’s part of the censorship system.
Published on 26 April 2012 by Ben Avram Benyameen Noone in Opinion
October 27, 2011 — The events that took place in Yemeni cities and towns starting by the great popular presence in the Oct 7 Friday mass and in the Oct 14 Friday masses ending in the million strong anti-regime march in Sana'a on Oct 15 is the reflection of the title.
Published on 26 April 2012 by James Petras، Al-Ahram Weekly online in Opinion
October 27, 2011 — The killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki, a US citizen, in Yemen by a CIA drone missile on September 30 has been publicised by the mass media, US President Barack Obama and the usual experts on Al-Qaeda as “a major blow to the jihadist network founded by Osama bin Laden”. US officials called Al-Awlaki “the most dangerous figure in Al-Qaeda”, according to the London Financial Times at the beginning of October.
Published on 26 April 2012 by Louise W. Knight، chicagotribune.com in Opinion
October 27, 2011 — When three women were named recently to share this year's Nobel Peace Prize, well-wishers said: Isn't it wonderful that women are being honored? And the news stories all led with their gender. I heard an NPR reporter say giddily that it marked a "celebration of women!"
Yemen’s winning World Press Photo