Glimpse of Yemen

During the excitement of last year's political upheavals across MENA several places got my attention that have not received the same enthusiastic news coverage as that of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria. Bahrain and Yemen immediately come to mind as ripe prospects for a continuation of any move toward more representative political forms. It's not easy to know from this distance all the details, but thanks to the Web one can discover more hidden information treasures than ever.

The following came up in this morning's Twitter feed from Yaykal Bafana who I have followed now for several months.

After a year of reports re 10 million starving Yemenis, no news of people dying of hunger. We must be getting enough aid  #Yemen's Top Quote of the Decad 

Hadi : “Drones pinpoint the target and have zero margin of error.” 

@BaFana3 Haykal! Stop misquoting Hadi and include the next few words --  he added "if you know exactly what you're aiming at", which also could mean "drones no mistakes, so if civilians die, your fault" 

@JoeSheffer | Which words? When Hadi said "Thanks for the cheque" or when he said "God Bless America"? :-) 

@BaFana3 Haykal! Stop being naughty! 

@Nefermaat | Sorry, must have missed that. I was busy trying to hear him say ANYTHING about civilian deaths in Yemen from drone strikes. 

Due to a new retainer, I can't tweet breaking news on #Yemen. I can only comment ex post facto, forecast & in general, bitch about things. Hmm... sometimes, it's better for a politician to just shut up. 

Yemen's Leader Praises US Drone Strikes. http://t.co/WarfXU8S BaFana3  Speech prob'y drafted by US advisers, but will put Hadi in very hot soup at home. 

| #Yemen President: I Love Drones. http://t.co/oVhEEb4x 

Dear President Hadi, you need a better speech writer. And also, a new suit of armor will help : I think many in #Yemen will be angry. Does anyone know when President ̶K̶a̶r̶z̶a̶i̶ Hadi is due back in #Yemen? 

South #Yemen | #Aden should be interesting tomorrow. A declaration of independence by the Harak separatists is a great way to start a war. Speech prob'y drafted by US advisers will put Hadi in very hot soup at home #Yemen President I Love Drones http://t.co/ZwuGiIS8

[It takes a while but when you get into it, Twitterspeak is not as messy as it looks. After all, this is the English version which uses the Roman alphabet and common symbols. Imagine how much more cryptic it is with other alphabets.]

I wish I had more time to write but I have to leave for today's assignment. If other news has not made this information obsolete when I return to this post, I will go back and supply a few quotes and more commentary. Meantime, reader, you're on your own. This strikes me as a textbook example of how the US buys whatever key player is needed to advance an agenda which may be "in our interests" but is a clear violation of all the feel-good propaganda spouted by official voices.

Here are the two articles cited. 

►Yemen’s Leader Praises U.S. Drone Strikes

►Yemeni president: I love drones