Arab unrest continues, or "the chickens have come home to roost."

Ripples from the Egyptian ouster of Mubarak continue to spread. Iran's 2009 reformist movement has resurfaced, as well as a more forceful protest in Yemen, and now Bahrain and Algeria. Before looking at the last three countries, we should note that Mubarak is now holed up in his Sharm el Sheikh residence, is reported to be in fragile health, depressed, reluctant to take proper medication, and wishing to die on Egyptian soil.

One is reminded of a verse from the Bible, "How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!" 2 Samuel 1:27 referring to the deaths of King Saul and his son Jonathan. The phrase "weapons of war", in this case, still referring to the human leaders of militarily-led governances...

The famous Dore depiction of King Saul's demise.

Conversely, referring to the people's uprising, an old proverb says 'Tread on a worm and it will turn.' The meaning was that even the most humble creature tries to counteract rough treatment. Shakespeare in Henry VI amplified the thought:
"To whom do lions cast their gentle looks?
Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
The smallest worm will turn being trodden on,
And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood."

The modern day saying reminding us of the ever-changing and fragile nature of supremacy and fall is "the chickens have come home to roost." An old proverb, frequently used in the English language going back to Chaucer’s “Parson’s Tales” (1390), it returned to widespread modern consciousness on December 4,1963, just two weeks after the assassination of John F Kennedy. Malcolm X had delivered a speech, and was afterward responding to a question concerning the late President. It was Malcolm X's answer, that the Presidents death was a case of "chickens coming home to roost."

Malcolm X's remark of nearly 50 years ago is in vogue today, and his December 4, 1963 speech is illuminating as to his vision of a cleansing separation in the name of Islam, in contrast to MLK Jr's Christian view of integration, non-violence, and the need to stand up to injustice.

The speech itself was a declaration that God was still going to judge White America for the sin of enslaving black Americans. But Malcolm X's provocative response to the question was so powerful, that the speech itself, titled, God's Judgment of White America, came to be known as "The Chickens Come Home to Roost" speech.

http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/politics/Malcolm-X-December-4-1963.html (the transcript can be found here, and elsewhere ...)

(This saying, by the way, is now used with abandon and glee by all perspectives for all events - from describing the 2001 twin towers attacks to the 2010 US election results - illustrating that truisms are available to the wise and unwise alike. Just as rain falls without favor on the just and unjust.)

Algeria
A country of 35 million or so located on Africa's north coast is perhaps most famous for its long fight for independence from the French after World War II. Since its independence in 1963, the government has been dominated by strong men backed by the military. From Wikipedia, "Elections were planned to happen in 1991. In December 1991, the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round of the country's first multi-party elections. The military then intervened and canceled the second round. It forced then-president Bendjedid to resign and banned all political parties based on religion (including the Islamic Salvation Front). A political conflict ensued, leading Algeria into the violent Algerian Civil War. More than 160,000 people were killed between January 1992 and June 2002."

Algerian's beautiful city of Tangiers along the Mediterranean belies the social unrest found in the country.

Today, protests are underway with demonstrators in Algiers chanting “Bouteflika out!” referring to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has ruled Algeria with a tough hand since 1999, maintaining power through elections that opposition figures say were rigged.

So far, Algerian police have taken a robust response to the demonstrations, as seen in this policeman's energetic headlock on a protester.

Yemen
Yemeni police clashed for the fifth consecutive day with anti-government protesters calling for political reforms and the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Several thousand protesters, many of them university students, tried to reach the central square in the capital of Sanaa, but were pushed back by police using truncheons. Saleh has been in power for three decades and has tried to defuse the unrest by promising not to run again. His term ends in 2013.

Yemeni protesters wear their culturally beloved daggers in their belts.

Bahrain

A glamorous skyline view of Bahrain's capital city, Manama

These protests in Bahrain (and re-emerging in Iran) mark the spread of unrest into the Persian Gulf, the area where most Middle Eastern oil is produced. Many Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are U.S. allies, and Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. All of the region’s governments are classified as autocratic regimes in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2010 Democracy Index.

From the street level, Bahrain protesters in the country's capital. The unrest began to escalate at the funeral for one protester when a second protester was killed.

Besides the general discontent with an autocratic ruler, in the case of Bahrain, there is an element of perceived religious favoritism. Shiites, who represent as much as 70 percent of Bahrain’s population, say they face job and housing discrimination from the ruling Al Khalifa family and its supporters. The King, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, a Sunni Muslim, ordered an increase in food subsidies and social welfare payments, and a grant of 1,000 dinars ($2,653) to each Bahraini family.

Iran
In contrast to Bahrain's King attempting to address [minimally?] some issues, Iran's parliament witnessed many of its members defiantly chanting "Death to Karroubi, death to Mousavi" during a session on Tuesday, calling for both to be executed. Karroubi and Mousavi are the green revolution's leaders, and both under house arrest.

Iranian parliament members whipping themselves into an indignant frenzy.


Stay tuned.

Egypt embarks on new path, will other Muslim nations now follow?

Jubilation as Mubarak's reign comes to an abrupt end.

Early this week, it appeared as though Egyptian President Mubarak would weather the previous 13 days of protests. He had agreed to leave at the end of his term in September, his heir apparent son would not take his place, a Vice President had been appointed, some significant pay raises were announced, a leading protester was released, and restrictions were relaxed on internet use.

By mid week, however, the force of the protests reasserted itself. Vice President Sulemien make some provocative statements verging on threats when urging life to return to normal which were not well accepted. Upon his release, Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who had vanished nearly two weeks ago while taking part in early demonstrations then regalvanized the protest movement by calling for Mubarak's immediate departure.

Wael Ghonin momentarily became the centerpiece for a renewed surge of protests.

By Thursday, protests were spreading once again to cities beyond Cairo, and scattered strikes at industrial facilities were popping up. Rumors swept the huge Cairo crowd that Mubarak would announce his resignation that evening, but instead, expectation turned to outrage when Mubarak came on state television with a hard line stance saying he would not resign till his term ended.

Friday's crowds of infuriated protesters swelled early after Friday prayers, filling the streets, then showing up at Mubarak's residence and parliament buildings. In the afternoon, Mubarak announced his leaving the capitol for a stay in his summer residence in Sharm el Sheikh, presumably another step to prevent his very presence from acting as a focal point.

The Southern Sinai Peninsula city of Sharm el Sheikh

It is most likely that sometime in the afternoon, the military leadership came to accept that he was a liability rather than an asset (to their own position), and by the end of the day, Mubarak had resigned. "President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down and has handed power to the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces," Vice President Omar Suleiman announced on state radio and television. Within a few hours, Al Arabiya television reported that Egypt's higher military council will sack the cabinet, suspend both houses of parliament and rule with the head of the supreme constitutional court,

Crowds surge around the Egyptian parliament building.

One can rejoice with the crowds to see a strongman leave after years of oppression. As one observer noted, it was not Iran leading the movement, nor the Muslim Brotherhood, but a highly diverse mix of common people saying "enough." And while Mubarak provided stability, moderation and pragmatism in foreign affairs, he and his governing elite ruled roughly and enriched themselves immensely.

So ready or not, the next chapter begins. Assuming a calm of sorts will now return, the pedestrian questions surface as to how will the September elections be managed, or will they occur sooner. Who will emerge as potential candidates, and how will the military govern in the interim.

Yet within an hour or two of Mubarak's resignation, statements from Hamas, controlling the Gaza strip between Egypt and Israel, and other Islamic hardliners surfaced, suggesting that in the aftermath of the immediate overthrow by the people, broader religious and geopolitical maneuvering will come hard and fast.

The Hamas statement, issued by spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, declared that this is "the beginning of the victory of the Egyptian revolution." He immediately called the new Egyptian leadership to lift "the siege on Gaza," and open the Rafah crossing to allow boats to enter Gaza. "Gaza is as happy on this day as the Egyptian people, because Mubarak was the main responsible for the siege on Gaza and plotting with the attack against us."

Egypt has quietly controlled the volatile border between Egyptian territory and that of Gaza, restraining much, though not all smuggling.



Also within hours, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Habib Mohammed, spoke to a Lebanese television station, stating that "Mubarak's resignation is proof of the fall of the American-Zionist project. Mohammed promised that Egypt is now beginning "a new era."

The fallout of two Arab national protests resulting in leadership change in the first 41 days of the year are unprecedented. There was just cause, and the common people have a reason to rejoice. But the ripples are still spreading.

Beginnings ...

Egyptian change underway

Egyptian protesters remain defiant, in the streets, but not at fever pitch as seen by these individuals resting on tank wheels, and reading the newspaper.

It appears that Egypt's change in leadership and governance will not take the same path as that in Tunisia. While for the time being, President Mubarak seems to have a hold on his position (until September 2011's elections), change is already underway. Key members of the embattled ruling party, including President Hosni Mubarak's once heir-apparent son, resigned their party leadership posts and the newly appointed Vice President began talks with opposition leaders.

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, center, meets with representatives of protesters of 25th January movement in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011. Monday, Suleiman said he would not run for President in September - further creating momentum for open and fair elections in 8 months.

As of Monday, February 7, some banks were reopening and some cleanup has begun. The government even announced a 15% pay raise for its employees! But demonstrators remained in Tahrir square and by their presence alone, continue to apply potent pressure.

A revolution's messy cleanup begins.

On the other hand, Egypt's government issued a warning of its own. Iran should keep out of the internal affairs of Arab countries in the Persian Gulf and not meddle in Iraq and Lebanon, Egypt’s foreign minister told a Qatari newspaper Friday. According to one report, the purpose appeared to be show support for the Arabs of the Persian Gulf who fear Iranian expansionism without actually committing Egypt to any course of action. “We say to our brothers in Iran,... Iraq must be left alone and Lebanon must be left alone. And Iran should not intrude in Bahrain in any way,” said Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit, “The security of Gulf countries comes first, and Egypt gives it much of its attention,” said the minister, trying to convince Arabs around the Persian Gulf that Egypt stands with them.

Egyptian tangent

In continuing fallout around the Middle East from Egypt's unrest, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki stated over the weekend he will not seek a third term. Maliki told Agence France-Presse: "The constitution does not prevent a third, fourth or fifth term, but I have personally decided not to seek another term after this one. "I support the insertion of a paragraph in the constitution that the prime minister gets only two turns, only eight years, and I think that's enough." Referring to Egypt, he said: "One of the characteristics of a lack of democracy is when a leader rules for 30 or 40 years. It is a difficult issue for people, it is intolerable and change is necessary."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki

The Sudanese begin a complicated separation process already punctuated with clashes.

South Sudanese soldiers in their red berets. Southern Sudan is set to become the world's newest nation on 9 July 2011.

The process for separation called for southerners within the former national army to first report to Khartoum in the north, hand in their weapons then leave for the South. In retrospect, that appears to be more wishful thinking than reality. Battles broke out last Thursday in the river town of Malakal between rival northern troops, some of whom want to stay in the south. The fighting began when ethnic southerners who joined the northern army did not want to move, said Upper Nile state spokesman Bartholomew Pakwan Abwo. "They think they will have no rights in the north."

The borders between North and South Sudan are only defined on paper.

Some majority southern units do not plan to turn in their heavy weapons in particular. At least 30 soldiers have been killed in southern Sudan during internal fighting among troops of the national army, state officials said. Clashes have spread to cities beyond Malakal.

The river town of Malakal where the fighting began. Over the weekend, it spread to Melut and the oil-rich settlement of Paloich.

US-Russia arms treaty begins implementation

The New Start nuclear arms treaty limiting the number of atomic warheads the US and Russia are allowed to possess, has come into effect. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchanged ratification documents at a conference in Munich. Before the ceremony at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, Mrs Clinton said the treaty was "another example of the kind of clear-eyed co-operation that is in everyone's interests".

Smiles are indeed appropriate.

Mrs. Clinton said that Washington was also in talks with Russia about how the two countries can work together on other issues affecting their common security. Mr Lavrov called New Start "a product of the understanding that unilateral approaches to security are counterproductive". "The treaty that enters into force today will enhance international stability," he said.

The New Start treaty limits each side to no more than 800 deployed nuclear warhead delivery systems including bombers, missile launchers and nuclear submarines - a cut of about 50%. It limits each side to 1,550 deployed warheads. It will also allow each side to visually inspect the other's nuclear capability, with the aim of verifying how many warheads each missile carries.

The rise and fall of US and Russian nuclear weapons

Of the people, by the people, for the people ...

The Gettysburg Address was delivered by President Abraham Lincoln during America's Civil War, in November 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence, and exhorted the listeners to ensure the survival of America's representative democracy, that the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Lincoln's two minute reflection still reverberates today.

Around the world - especially in the autocratic regimes of the Arab nations - this nearly 150 year old expression of responsive government continues to confront and inspire. In Muslim countries, the challenge is whether a theocracy would better serve the people than a pluralistic democracy. In the former Soviet Union, the concept that the "state" should have its rights prevail over those of individuals was shown as bankrupt. Even the surprisingly large number of monarchies ranging from constitutional (Lichtenstein, Sweden, Belgium, etc) to absolute (Sultanate of Brunei, Lesotho, Swaziland and .. the Holy See!) flourish only to the degree that a basic acceptance of people having a respectful say prevails.

Other regimes - let's not limit it to Islamic countries struggling with the concept of an Islamic theocracy - such as North Korea, Belarus, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela for example, all have to be thinking of their rough holds and how they are to be maintained.

In the current world spotlight, Egypt's struggle continues. Over three hundred people have been killed, and fighting between factions continues in major cities. The actions of the armed forces are being watched closely, as are the intentions of Egypt's most militant Islamist group - the Muslim Brotherhood. We will return to this unfolding event, no doubt, in the future.

Running street battles in Cairo included riders on camels and horses. The expression of rage from the rider toward a man beating his fallen horse's legs captures the deadly level of emotions in this crisis. (click picture for larger image)

Other countries are pulling their citizens out of Egypt by the planeloads. Here a tiny Australian girl stands waiting in the airport.

In Sudan, the people have spoken. 99% of Southern Sudanese have voted for independence and a transition to that new state has begun, with a formal recognition to take place during the summer of 2011.

Sudanese lined up for their turn to vote.

In South Africa, another example of the people throwing off an unjust government after decades of struggle, its diplomats are expected to discuss the country's political response to the unrest in Egypt at the African Union Heads of State Summit, currently underway in Ethiopia.

In South Africa more than 40% of its ministers are women, and more than a third of the positions in Parliament are held by women. While the Egyptian crisis will be a major focus, the AU will also further the efforts being made in the AU's "Women's Decade 2010-2020."

In Zimbabwe, 86 year old Robert Mugabe continues to preside over his country's plunge into bankruptcy and desperateness. Elections originally scheduled to be held in 2011 may now be looked at with more alarm from those elites wielding power.

Mugabe making a point at a UN conference on food aid (ironic ...)

And finally, where the fruits of representative government seem to be regularly shown in the best light, Denmark is moving forward to link its country with Germany (and Sweden) in a new tunnel and bridge project over and under the Baltic Sea.

The Fehmarn project will use both an extensive underwater tunnel and new bridges to provide passage across an 18 kilometre wide strait.

It is certainly a contrast to the debris of Egypt, though the cobblestones and bloodshed there may be part of the path that must be taken before a more responsive governance is established.

Muslim cleric, overcome with emotion, cries in front of Egyptian tank.

Revolutionary crossroads

With the escalation of Egypt's unrest in the past week - surging after Friday's day of special prayer called Salat AlJumu'ah - the future of Mubarak's government was increasingly called into question. The future direction could be a positive one where the issues of freedom of thought and expression are recognized, or negative, where extremist forces use the current unrest to bolster their positions. Across the Arab world, Egypt's uncertainty has highlighted most nations' relatively harsh and elitist control of their populations and the dangers of creating these pressure cooker dynamics.

Muslims at Salat AlJumu'ah, Friday's regular day for prayer and for listening to sermons on the topic of the day

From one journalist's reporting, "In Egypt's capital, Cairo, tens of thousands took to the streets after Friday prayers in protests never before seen during Mr Mubarak’s rule. At a large mosque in the wealthy neighbourhood of Mohandisseen, demonstrators leapt to their feet with signs and banners minutes after prayers were over. Inspired by a sermon endorsing their right to assemble peacefully, they marched several kilometres to the banks of the Nile, where phalanxes of black-clad riot police blocked their attempts to reach Tahrir Square and the state TV building, a goal listed in an e-mail distributed by protest organisers a day earlier.

The drama of a population's protest against its government.

As the unprecedented protests raged into [the weekend,] there were no signs that the protesters were coalescing around any group of leaders, let alone a single one. Many protesters are young men. Two thirds of Egypt’s 80 million people are below the age of 30 and many have no jobs, while about 40 percent of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day.

Mohamed El Baradei returned to Cairo late on Thursday amid some expectation that he might emerge as a focal point of the opposition. The Nobel Peace Laureate and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency was briefly penned in by police after he prayed at a mosque in the Giza area but he later took part in a peaceful march with supporters. Later he was reported to be under house arrest.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, including at least eight senior officials, were rounded up overnight on Thursday/Friday. The government has accused the Brotherhood of planning to exploit the youth protests. It says that it is being made a scapegoat.

The events continued to pose a quandary for the United States, which has encouraged democracy in the Middle East but at the same values its relationship with Mr Mubarak. It gives his government at least $3 billion a year in military aid. A day after the US president Barack Obama said social and political reforms in Egypt were “absolutely critical”, his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged the Egyptian government last night “do everything in its power” to hold back the security forces who are battling protesters."

The Egyptian military presence included tanks on the streets and jet fighters circling in the air.

By Sunday, police forces across Egypt's cities were apparently withdrawn or minimized, while army units were increasingly visible. Over 100 deaths have been reported by Monday, January 31, while Mubarak continues to struggle to retain power, dismissing his cabinet to replace it with another, and appointing a Vice President, the first in his 30 years as President. It appears that the future will hinge on whether his political moves will satisfy enough of the public to ease their frustrations, as well as whether the armed forces remain loyal to Mubarak's governance.

Elsewhere, unrest continues in Tunisia though at a reduced level. The Islamist leader in exile, Rachid Ghanouchi, 69, and about 70 other exiled members of Ennahdha, or Renaissance, flew home from Britain two weeks after the autocratic president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was forced from power by violent protests.

Islamist leader Ghanouchi hugged by his daughter, upon returning to Tunisia from Great Britain.

Mr Ghanouchi rejected any comparison to more radical figures, including the hardline father of the Iranian revolution. ''Some Western media portray me like [Ayatollah] Khomeini, but that's not me,'' he said. While Ennahdha was branded an Islamic terrorist group by Mr Ben Ali, it is considered moderate by scholars. Experts say Mr Ben Ali used a fear of Islamists to seduce Western allies keen for a bulwark against terrorism in a volatile region, and win their blessing despite widespread repression.

The Iranian revolution of the late 1970s seems to loom over the current state of unrest. A U.S. backed Shah in Iran ruled with a strong fist, was secular and thus allowed freedoms more in line with western democratic values than what Islamic rule would provide, but in the end did not interact with the resistance and frustration building up around him. He was replaced by relative religious and secular moderates in an attempt to compromise with hardliners, but those were replaced quickly with what turned out to be a harsh Islamic theocracy. In the past 30 years, this theocracy has aspired to become the region's leading power, gain nuclear expertise if not weapons, and showed no regrets in crushing a reformist protest movement just two years ago - which had received tepid words of support by Western nations.

It is this pattern that is feared in Egypt, and elsewhere.

Iran's 2009 widespread protest against its hardline government was dubbed its Green Revolution.

A fleeting hero of Iran's protests in 2009, her name was Neda Soltai, killed in street protests.

Neda dying in the street after being shot by Iranian militia. This image was captured on a cell phone camera.

Iran's revolution in the late 1970s and its path of governance and influence in the Middle East to today is a feared outcome by many of Egypt's current crisis.

Where have Arab nations addressed their population's needs and desires in a better light? Jordan, for one has invested heavily in its rural areas the past decade, and thus, while experiencing some unrest in the past weeks, has not seen a critical mass emerge to challenge the current government's rule.

Jordan's arid Eastern and Southern regions have been the focus of government investment in an effort to address rural pastoral poverty.

In Western Morocco, its government has also quietly invested a significant amount of its revenues into positive institutions, in this case, education, and thus has provided hope and expectations for its population.

Morocco, on the Western edge of the Arab world, has apparently avoided the latest eruption of unrest.

Moroccan schoolroom - clean, comfortable, and valued.

Morocco is across the strait of Gibralter from European Spain.

Casablanca - a Moroccan city made famous in the Western World by Hollywood. In the foreground is Mosque Hassan II Casablanca

Tajine, the Moroccan national dish, is a stew cooked in an earthenware bowl and made with vegetables and either meat, chicken or fish.

Suddenly (finally?) Egypt and Yemen become embroiled in social unrest

Tunisia's unrest, which decisively shook, then removed an autocratic leadership, was clearly noticed around the Arab world. Within days, Egypt now finds itself in protracted unrest, something most analysts found rather unprecedented considering the iron hand shown going all the way back to Egyptian independence. (Gamal Nasser from the late 40s to 1970, Anwar Sadat's relatively brief reign from 1970 till his assassination in 1981, and now the current President Mubarak's 30 year reign.)

Street protests continue in Egypt despite a well equipped and experienced police force familiar with clamping down harshly when called upon.

Egypt, as the largest Arab country in the middle east, has always been viewed as a leader of Arab sentiment (excluding its separate peace with Israel), and that it could suddenly be on shaky ground has implications for many other Arab countries, Syria, Saudi Arabia and for that matter Libya, Western Morocco, Eritrea, and Yemen, which we'll focus on below.

Above, the regional bloc of countries that can loosely be classified as the "Arab world." Below, the broader collection of Muslim majority nations - religious character, not Arab ethnicity - includes Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and all the other 'stans we've covered in the past.

Two dynamics emerge: One, many Arab states can be viewed as nationalistic though autocratic entities where corruption and elitism leave little room for political expression, and two, Islamist states where religious absolutism reigns, though political and social repression is also the result.

The challenge we're seeing in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen follow this first path, with nervous observers most notably being Syria,and Saudi Arabia. The Islamist/religious challenge is seen in Lebanon most recently, the Palestinian discord between Fatah and Hamas, the long civil war in Sudan and its referendum, and in Iran (non-Arab, but Muslim). Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan can also be sorted through these two prisms, but are heavily distorted by western military intervention. At this point only Turkey, Indonesia, and Jordan seem to have resonated with their populations well enough to avoid strong challenges (and two of those are non-Arab, though Muslim).

Lots of smaller Arab or Muslim nations could be sorted through the prism of reasonable governance vs corruption or Islamist challenges but we'll run out of space - Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, etc. Somalia deserves mention however, because it represents a corrupted leadership tolerated and supported because of Western geopolitics from the 60s till the 90s when it collapsed. Then, in a worst case scenario, a failed-state haven for Islamist extremists emerged (along with a commercial arm in the form of piracy).

Focusing a bit now, while the average Westerner knows at least a little about Egypt - pyramids, tourism, a warm social population, accomplished world citizens, and immigrants well dispersed throughout the world, what about Yemen? A quick overview of Yemen begins with its strategic location at the southern end of the Red Sea, and its recognized jurisdiction over over 200 islands along its shore. Wikipedia describes Yemen as one of the poorest and least developed countries in the Arab World, with a 65% employment rate (35% formally unemployed), dwindling natural resources, and a young and increasing population growth (approaching 30 million). Yemen's economy is weak compared to most countries in the Middle-East, mainly due to Yemen possessing very small quantities of oil, though the government depends heavily on the oil it produces for its revenue.

Yemen on the Southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, across the Red Sea from Somalia, and generally out of world sight.

Most foreign observers agree that rampant corruption is a prime obstacle to development in the country, limiting local re-investments and driving away regional and international capital. In the last 5-6 years, an Islamist movement has taken advantage of the general stagnation and desperateness to embed itself in the mountains.

Street protests in Yemen's capital Sanna, are initially focusing on the autocratic reign of their President Ali Abdullah Saleh, ruler for more than 30 years.

The most notorious Islamist hiding somewhere in Yemen is the American born Anwar Al-'Awlaki. He emerged to the world's general awareness because of his role as the prime confidante of Major Nidal Hasan, the Muslim psychiatrist and US Army soldier who carried out November 2009's deadly shootings of thirteen individuals at Fort Hood Texas. Al-Alwaki is on the crosshairs (if one may still use the phrase, though in this case, this blogger believes it is literally true) of US anti-terrorist forces and officially of the Yemeni government.

Sheikh Al Alwaki and his shooting protege, US Army Major Nidal Hasan

At any rate, the tens of thousands of protesters in Yemeni's capital, Sanaa, are a microcosm of unrest elsewhere. They've had it with corruption and lack of hope, they suffer from poverty and lack of freedoms, and they want to get rid of their leadership, which has often found tacit support from the West in return for measured cooperation and stability. In the wings lies an Islamist movement and a lack of a history of measured responsible opposition that could govern alternatively.

The Arab world in 2011 is suddenly looking much more fluid. The protests legitimately target a stifling and corrupted governance, but the alternatives can easily go either well or strikingly worse.

Striking Yemeni architecture

Shibam, Yemen - population around 7000 (also known as the "Manhattan of the Desert"). Shibam owes its fame to its distinct architecture, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud brick but about 500 of them are tower houses, which rise 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor having one or two apartments (the tallest mud buildings in the world). In order to protect the buildings from rain and erosion, the façades are thickly coated and must be routinely maintained.