Bloggingheads on Yemen

The other day I participated in a bloggingheads discussion of Yemen with Charles Schmitz of Towson University. 

You can view our conversation here.

And to tide you over until the next Waq al-waq post, here are a couple of recent articles on Yemen.

First, there is Isa Blumi, who argues in Saturday’s New York Times that: “Yemen’s brave youth surely must know that the government — though perhaps not its figurehead, Mr. Saleh — is insulated from regime change, forcible or otherwise.”  

He suggests that “True change in Yemen would require Washington to abandon its long-held aid programs for the country’s oligarchs, given under the guise of counterterrorism, and support democratic processes, wherever they may lead.”  

The much more likely outcome Blumi’s piece argues is a fragmentation of the opposition after Salih steps down.

Next up is Sarah Philips, who argues in the Guardian that change is coming to Yemen.  Not just in the regime, but in how politics works and who the players are.  She writes, “the networks of trust and solidarity that are being consolidated are likely to endure.“

And concludes: “While the old guard may maintain power for a while longer, the current generation of Yemeni leaders has, essentially, had its day, and it is prudent policy to forge good relations with the next generation.”

Incidentally, I think the US, UK, and EU would all like to have good and active relationships with these youth leaders, they just don’t know who they are.