debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
And now Yemen: in recent months there has been a remarkable collapse in the ability of dictators to maintain power. The dictator model has been straightforward: control the army. In turn this involved placing family and kin groups in senior officer positions, having an extensive system of military intelligence, and ruthlessly suppressing incipient dissent. The [...]
Just five months ago, Osama bin Laden was alive, Hosni Mubarak was firmly in control in Egypt, and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali ruled Tunisia with an iron hand. Today, popular rebellion and political change have spread throughout the region. We have witnessed brutal repression of protests in Syria and Yemen, Saudi troops crossing into Bahrain, [...]
Today’s papers bring another serving of mind-boggling, blood-curdling and nerve-shuttering news. Two unnamed Yemeni women mailed two brand-new varieties of “highly sophisticated” weapons, this time so skilfully hidden in a computer printer and a printing cartridge that no sophisticated X-ray devices installed on all big and small airports of the planet could have spotted them [...]
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