I was joking about the art thing, but there are obvious signs that Salih isn't going to stand for unrest, and is willing to employ almost any tactic to quell it. HRW has the scoop.
I think it is clear he is trying to keep the square clean and peaceful, and hopes that pushing the protests away from the periphery will allow him to keep it off the front pages. This is narrowing down the strategy of violently quashing dissent outside of the capital but attempting to deal with it peacefully where all the cameras are. But as the space gets smaller, Salih will get more and more restricted, and that can easily spell disaster.
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10 years ago
Yemen is going to get overlooked by the west again. As things in Iran s-l-o-w-l-y heat up, Yemen is going to be totally overshadowed. Is it better that Salih won't feel as much outside pressure? Or worse that he won't feel the spotlight Mubarak did? Or would it not make a difference because Yemen is Yemen?
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent question deserving of an excellent answer, which I really don't have. Gut reflex says that it will make things worse if Salih feels he can duck away from the spotlight, but overall, I think his behavior won't change too much. I'll have to think about this. Let me put on my pondering hat.
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