Thursday, May 26, 2011

US State Department Advisory: Get the Hell Out of Yemen, Now!

The State Department has just put this advisory out on twitter:
We urge U.S. citizens not to travel to Yemen & U.S. citizens currently in Yemen depart while commercial transport is available.
Yemen is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east.

Yemen is an economic mess. It is the poorest country in the Arab world and has an official unemployment rate of 65%. The government survives off of oil reserves that are expected to be depleted by 2017.

Who is behind the current unrest? It is not completely clear, although it should be noted that control over Yemen's Aden port - the "gate to Asia" - brings huge benefits. Currently those benefits go to the US.  And it is interesting that Yemen is next door to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi monarchy certainly doesn't want any changes in the Yemen regime. Saudi Arabia has been supplying troops to help quell the Yemen uprising.

If President Ali Abdullah Saleh resigns and a favorite of the US fills the power vacuum, then if I am Saudi Arabia, I get a bit nervous. Saleh has always played a cagey game and was a close ally of Saddam Hussein. A total US puppet on the border of  Saudi Arabia or an anti-US regime on the border is not a positive for the Saudis. Both cause problems for Saudi Arabia, differing problems, but problems for sure.

2 comments:

  1. Maybe it's Al-Queda, those dirty no good bunch of terrorists? Not!

    It wont go easy for Saleh, the CIA/USA puppet. The tribes will take care of him, they got the guns. The only reason he is still there is because there is no other crook in waiting. No heir apparent puppet yet. Clinton muses and calls for for him to pretty please resign, with sugar on top, or else. Or else what?, the CIA psychopath Saleh says. When Yemen goes, the Suadis and the central bankers can see the end of the reserve system with unrest headed their way.

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  2. As far as my understanding goes, the US needs to prop up the al-Saud tyranny for obvious reason; hence, why US-trained & armed forces helped Saleh slaughter Shia Huthi tribesmen in Yemen for the past few years. However, in seemingly contradictory fashion, the US supports the popular Shia uprising in Bahrain, which would be catastrophic for the Sunni monarchy in Saudi Arabia if it were to bring down the current Bahraini regime as it would establish a Shia stronghold on the peninsula.

    Why does the US engage in these seemingly contradictory covert actions (which will all backfire eventually)? A power vacuum in Yemen or Bahrain would likely favor the clerics/Islamists given that they are the most organized political group under these oppressive regimes. I know our ruling elites have absolutely no foresight, but do they legitimately believe that supporting a few popular uprisings against their own puppet regimes that it will lead to secular democracies and make the Muslim world forget about 50+ years of oppression and indiscriminate killing?

    Anyone have some insight for a confused soul?

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