Armies of Liberation

The electricity returned with the ever irrational Saleh as he prepares to make a televised speech to the nation.

The butcher Saleh calls for a cease fire to the violence that his loyalist forces began and are perpetuating. Well over a hundred unarmed demonstrators were killed across Yemen this week by sniper fire and shelling on the protest squares. ( The NYT and some diplos seem to blame the protesters for marching out of the square, the blood is on the hands of those with the guns, not the murder victims.) There was ample evidence to bring Saleh to the Hague on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity by 2009.

AJE : Pro-Saleh forces Friday shelled buildings in Taiz, Yemen’s second-biggest city. Heavy clashes and thuds of mortars were also heard throughout the night in Sanaa into morning Friday. One person was killed overnight after mortars hit the square in central Sanaa where protesters demanding Sale’s ouster have been camped out for months, a medical official said on condition of anonymity.

Be prepared for the coming propaganda onslaught where black is white. I guess Im going to have to fully fix the website.

The best news this week before the toxic reappearance of the revenant Saleh was new political party organization in the squares, late but important and yet another reason why the GCC plan and Obama’s call for speedy elections are counter-productive and will only re-entrench the regime. This is a related article and overview from a Yemeni perspective: Yemen’s young people are the country’s brightest hope.

In the following video, young Marib Sheikhs pledge not to attack the electricity infrastructure and deny the regime’s allegations that their attacks casued the blackouts. A delegation from Change Square went to talk to them about the issue and the state’s propaganda. Note the temple of Bilqis in the background. The structure shows inscriptions and construction from the 7th to 2nd Century BC. Yemen is among the most continually settled places in the world.

What a sad story. Power cuts resumed after the UN envoy left Yemen. Read the full story at Yemen Rights Monitor: Four children died and a fifth child was injured on Monday evening due to a fire breaking out in a house in Safya district in Sana’a casued by a candle that was used by the family as a result of the continuous power cuts in the various cities of Yemen.

Many residents believe its a pressure tactic. the JMP is also blaming the regime. Collective punishment is a usual characteristic of Saleh’s response to unrest. Others note increased rates of smuggling but this article points to a cut pipeline and roads blocked by tribesmen. It may be a lingering effect from the missile strike that killed Sheikh al Shabwani.

Gulf Times: Though Yemen’s oil exports are a modest 105,000 barrels per day, its cash-strapped government depends on the revenue to pay civil servants, its army and fund most state operations. (Read on …)

The internet is having technical difficulties authorities say in response to widespread reports of outages. Report via Al Masdar which was blocked inside Yemen last week, for spreading too much accurate information: http://bit.ly/f8oiAA (ar)

Update: Good thing there is a plan in place. al Sahwa

Facebook strictly tightened in Yemen, 7/3/2011 – Sahwa Net

Sahwa Net- While Many of Internet subscribers in Yemen have expressed sorrow as the Tel-Yemen Company in Yemen imposes restrictions on Facebook users, a number of Yemeni civil society organizations condemned the attempts of the Yemeni Parliament tries to approve communication laws which could violate freedoms and allow surveillance on citizens.

Facebook groups which witnesses hot discussions abut Yemen’s political situations nowadays face difficulties on communication, particularly those groups which belong to opposition parties.

On Sunday and Monday, Internet service was blocked in Sana’a and some other Yemen governorates for several hours.

2/2/2011

http://yemenonline.info/news-1880.html

Al-Basha computer company has issued a new product which is linked to a wireless service in cooperation with Yemen Mobile company to surf the Internet on line anywhere..any time in Yemen. The estimated speed of the new internet service is Mbps 2.4 using a small device (Flash desk) with a program that installs automatically to your computer which makes you ready to start a great online speed service for the first time in Yemen.

a google translation obviously

al Hadath: Attorney General released on Monday Secretary General of the National Commission for Atomic Energy to ensure the presence and charged after his arrest yesterday on the back of his expulsion of the Group of the Public Authority for the fight against corruption and close the doors of the building .. (Read on …)

This is from the 8th but I need to get it into the archives.

Arab News: SANAA: A third power station in southern Yemen caught fire on Thursday after two others were engulfed in flames earlier in the week in what the government said were attacks by secessionists. (Read on …)