1. we have to “help” Yemen, no mention of all the other money flowing in there for years, which has done what exactly? oh that’s right, pour money and weapons into failed state and al qaeda pops out the other end it’s just like making a baby — fucked.
To spur Saleh to action, US officials have announced a doubling of the current military and security aid package. According to General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, who met Saleh last Friday in Sana’a, “We have, it’s well known, about $70 million in security assistance last year,” said Petraeus. “That will more than double this coming year.” Washington also plans to provide $63 million in development aid, US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said on Monday. This is in stark contrast to the $8.4 million in the last year of George W Bush’s tenure, 2008, and still a marked increase from $40.3 million in 2009.
…United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday stressed the importance of a multinational approach to Yemen, during a press conference in Washington with Qatari Prime Minister Hamid bin Jassem al-Thani. “We’re going to listen and consult with those who have long experience in Yemen, such as Qatar … and work together to try and encourage the government to take steps that will lead to a more lasting period of peace and stability,” she said. “It’s time for the international community to make it clear to Yemen that there are expectations and conditions on our continuing support for the government so that they can take actions which will have a better chance to provide peace and stability in the region,” she added, alluding to the government’s reputation for corruption and collusion with militant Islamists.
2. Clinton (again): development aid central to US interests
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday the United States achieves “best results” when development, diplomacy and defense are approached as a whole, signaling a change of tactics in U.S. diplomacy….According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation, U.S. development aid to Yemen declined from 56.5 million U.S. dollars in 2000 to 25.5 million in 2008, during which period the terror network of al-Qaeda regrouped in the poverty-stricken country.
Prior to Clinton’s speech, a senior U.S. official who declined to be named said the administration has to focus on areas where development results are needed “as part of our broader security strategy.” In places such as Yemen, the official said, the administration has to pursue security goals and development goals simultaneously, because “without development, you’re never going to have security.”
EXACTLY. THAT’S WHY SOME STATES CAN NEVER SEEM TO “DEVELOP,” NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY GETS POURED IN. THE MONEY GOES TO CREATING INSECURITY, AL QAEDA, ETC. -ED.
3. Yemen rejects US role — just give us the stuff please and leave, we’ll take it from here thanks
DUBAI - YEMEN, hunting Al-Qaeda within its borders, believes its own security forces must fight militants on its territory and rejects any direct US intervention, the foreign minister said….Asked by CNN whether Yemen would accept direct US intervention, Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi said: ‘No, I don’t think we will accept that. I think the US, as well, have learned from Afghanistan and Iraq and other places that direct intervention can be self-defeating. ‘We think this is the priority and the responsibility of our security forces and the army,’ Mr al-Qirbi told the US news channel….’What we need from the United States and other partners is to build our capability to provide us with the technical know-how, with the equipment, with the intelligence information and with the firepower,’ Qirbi said.
4. editor of banned South Yemen daily arrested
SANAA- Yemen police Wednesday arrested the owner and editor of the main southern newspaper, Al-Ayyam, following clashes between police and armed guards of the banned daily, a security official said. Hisham Bashraheel, 66, was taken into custody over clashes since Monday in which a policeman and a guard were killed and seven people were wounded, the official said from the southern city of Aden.
Police laid siege to the daily’s offices after the policeman was killed on Monday while attempting to disperse a gathering protesting the banning since May of the daily that is accused of sympathising with southern separatists. The siege was lifted after 30 protesters and 20 guards, holed up in the newspaper premises, surrendered to the authorities after negotiations, but Bashraheel himself was not arrested.
Among those who gave themselves up Tuesday was Bashraheel’s son and Ali Munassar, a member of the Yemen Socialist Party in Aden, according to the local source. Bashraheel is also wanted by prosecutors in Sanaa to stand trial for his alleged role in the murder of a man in front of the paper’s offices in 2008. Al-Ayyam, one of the largest dailies in the south, was one of eight closed at the time over allegations of inciting separatism in the region amid a wave of deadly unrest there.
