Another Arab Spring Success: Shiite Rebels Seize Gov Buildings in Yemeni Capital

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The Arab Spring certainly hasn’t brought reform or meaningful democracy, but it has destabilized every country it touched.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized control of cabinet headquarters in the capital Sana’a as clashes showed no sign of letting up even after the United Nations envoy said he brokered an agreement to end the crisis.

Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwah resigned today, Al Jazeera reported, without saying where it got the information. The Houthis captured the cabinet building and a military camp guarding the state radio offices in the capital, Mohammed Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the Shiite rebels, said on Facebook. They also seized the headquarters of the First Armored division, Ali al-Emad, a Houthi leader, said by phone.

Deteriorating security across a country bigger than Spain has raised the prospect of the state’s collapse along tribal and sectarian lines, and is providing a haven for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Stability in the country of 25 million people has worsened, with more kidnappings and assassinations since popular unrest pushed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office in 2011.

Popular unrest in this case is spelled Arab Spring.

You know that Arab Spring which was supposed to herald a new wave of change across the region. It did, just not the ones that the media and the foreign policy experts owned by Qatar were promising us.

Yemen’s interior ministry urged the security services on Sunday to avoid confronting Shiite rebels who have seized key institutions in Sanaa, in a statement posted on its website.

Interior Minister Abdo al-Tarib urged “all members of the ministry not to confront Ansarullah (rebels)”, the website statement said.

The minister urged “cooperation” with the rebels “to strengthen security and stability, preserve public property and guard government installations… and to consider Ansarullah friends of the police,” the statement said.

That should work well.

  • Texas Patriot

    Who would have thought that getting rid of a few dictators in the Middle East could result in a worldwide tsunami of Islamic jihad?

    • Pete

      Please fix your link. It only takes the reader to the picture and not to the rest of the fine website.

      World War 1 Propaganda Posters: Examples of Propaganda from WW1

      Personally, I hate George Creel. Hate is not a strong enough word.


      Committee on Public Information

      • Texas Patriot

        Apparently, Creel himself did not think of his work as propaganda, per se, rather, as salesmanship:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Public_Information

        In no degree was the Committee an agency of censorship, a machinery of concealment or repression. Its emphasis throughout was on the open and the positive. At no point did it seek or exercise authorities under those war laws that limited the freedom of speech and press. In all things, from first to last, without halt or change, it was a plain publicity proposition, a vast enterprise in salesmanship, the world’s greatest adventures in advertising…We did not call it propaganda, for that word, in German hands, had come to be associated with deceit and corruption. Our effort was educational and informative throughout, for we had such confidence in our case as to feel that no other argument was needed than the simple, straightforward presentation of the facts.

        What seems so absurd in retrospect is the idea that the world can be made safe for democracy by the use of military force. It is true that military force can destroy one tyrant, but unless the people themselves have the will to educate and stand up for themselves, with very few exceptions, one tyrant is always replaced by another tyrant and usually the new tyrant is worse than the old. At least that’s been the general pattern in the Middle East.

        • Pete

          WW1 was a istake. We did not need to enter WW1. Mr. Creel helped make WW2 possible.

          Once WW1 was in the bag with the Treaty of Versaille signed, the stage was set. WW2 still could have been avoided if Chamberlain et al had not been weak. Another part of the reason for WW2 was the “Stabbed in the” Back meme put out by Ludendorff and Hindenberg.

          That said the NDSAP & the Japanese militarists were evil and aggressive. We had to enter WW2.

          • Texas Patriot

            It’s ironic that the so-called War to End All Wars has turned out to mark the beginning of the biggest crisis in the history of Western Civilization. Without the American intervention, it is highly likely that Germany, Britain, and France would have fought to a stalemate, preserving most of their respective civilizations intact. Under those circumstances, it is highly likely that Hitler would never have risen to power, and we wouldn’t find ourselves in the situation we do today.

            But it really doesn’t do a lot of good at this point to look back. There isn’t time. The so-called Arab Spring is just the tip of the iceberg. Islamic fundamentalism in the form of the Islamic State is destroying everything in its path, and the world seems almost totally powerless to stop it. Allowing Turkey into NATO was probably a mistake, but if the IS makes the mistake of moving across the Syrian border into Turkish territory, we’ll have an opportunity to see how strong the alliance is today.

            My take is that all existing alliances will crumble away, and the only chance for stopping a clean sweep by the forces of Islamic fundamentalism is a regional strategic alliance between America, Russia, China, and perhaps Israel. Everyone else is substantially compromised, blinded, and handcuffed by the forces of globalism and the habits of political correctness. We shall see.

          • Pete

            Paragraph 1: Agree. I think you said it better, more succinctly.

            I disagree on the 1st line of paragraph 2. If people are going to learn about World War 1 and World War 2, I think they need to be aware of that take on history (paragraph 1).

            If Turkey would have stayed secular, then I don’t know that admitting Turkey was a big mistake. If Turkey still looked like the picture we see of Afghanistan circa 1950 of women and Egypt circa 1970, I think it would be okay. turkey is kind of schizoid. It has the only gay pride parade which growing and a lot of secular people. They are maybe 1/3rd to 1/2 the people.Yet its the other 1/2 of the most Islamic 3rd that have the power and are deciding the country’s future.

            I think Erdogan and irredentist Turks want ISIS to destroy the power of the Kurds and the Alawites. Turkey has their own version of Alawites known as the Alevi. So they are happy for ISIS to be killing people and destroying shat. They would like a buffer zone and to have ISIS wings clipped every now and then but that is about it. Also they would like to pick up part of Syria and Turkify it and have the world recognize it as part of Turkey. All this after ISIS depopulates it of course.

          • Texas Patriot

            I think you’re right about the Kurds and the Alawites. Turkey wants them gone, and Erdogan is more than happy to let the Islamic State do the dirty work. Otherwise, I think you’re right that Turkey is probably already much more Islamist and in bed with the Islamic State than people think.

          • Pete

            When Turkey wanted to extradite the Kurdish leader/terrorist Ocalan, Syria refused. Turkey placed its’ tanks ob the border and Assad said “Oh, you mean this terrorist. We’ll hand him right over.”


            “After a diplomatic campaign against Damascus in 1998, Ankara massed troops on the Syrian border”,

            Turkey has a 400,000 man army. It is not afraid of ISIS. If units start defecting, then it is another matter. I do not believe this would ever happen. So unless Turkish units defected, Turkey would be able to clean up now with or without American air power although it would certainly help. A good 3rd to half of people are people we would or could get along wit in turkey and fell comfortable as their neighbors. The rest no so much.

            Ever since Erdogan came to pour in the late 1990s it has been trouble. The Wall Street Journal has covered his rise and the problems extensively. This is no surprise. it is more like watching train wreck in slow motion and not being able to do anything about it.

            I do not know that Turkey will pledge allegiance to ISIS. It is that whole male testosterone thing. Turkey has a lot of muscle and Erdogan knows it. So I do not believe he would play second fiddle. Also the Ottoman Turks and be extension their successors see themselves as protectors of the faith and not the Saudis or someone else. The Turks are related(?) to the Mongols and believe that it is their manifest destiny to rule the world. I could be wrong.

            If someone like Erdogan rules Turkey for the foreseeable future or for the next 20 years it might/would be a blessing if Turkey was no longer part of NATO.

            “The Turks one day will rule the world !!!!!”

            http://www.topix.com/forum/world/cyprus/TU2MOGN9D3J09MP8T

          • Texas Patriot

            Pete: Turkey has a 290,000 man army (someone wrote 400,000 but I am not seeing it. Maybe they meant combined armed forces). It is not afraid of ISIS. If units start defecting, then it is another matter. I do not believe this would ever happen.

            Contrary to the assurances of most Western leaders that the Islamic State is “not Islamic”, I think most Muslims around the world know that it is perhaps more authentically Islamic than any Muslim Caliphate since the original Abu Bakr who was the first Khalifa to serve immediately after the death of Muhammad, and that is its secret weapon. To the devout and religiously hungry Muslim who sees hypocrisy and apostasy everywhere, the opportunity to serve under Khalifa Ibrahim precisely in accordance with the teachings and life example of Muhammad must seem like a dream come true, and many Islamic State warriors have described it as like being “in a trance”.

            What is an army of 290,000 to 400,000 men when faced with a vision of the reincarnated Army of Muhammad led by the modern day Abu Bakr? How many soldiers did the Iraqi Army have, and how many actually fought against the Islamic State? No Muslim wants to stand against what they believe to be the absolute truth of authentic Islam.

            Pete: I do not know that Turkey will pledge allegiance to ISIS. It is that whole male testosterone thing. Turkey has a lot of muscle and Erdogan knows it. So I do not believe he would play second fiddle.

            Personally, I don’t think any of the current Muslim governments have a chance of surviving unless they absolutely submit and wholeheartedly pledge allegiance to Khalifa Ibrahim and the Islamic State, and if Erdogan thinks that he or his secular government has more charisma or personal appeal to the average Muslim fundamentalist than Khalifa Ibrahim of the Islamic State, I will be surprised if the Turks don’t end up playing soccer with his head.

            From my standpoint, if push comes to shove, Erdogan should probably plan to have a fully-fueled long-haul jet ready to leave Turkey on a moment’s notice with his personal bodyguards. The problem is finding bodyguards and a pilot he can trust. What Muslim wouldn’t want to present a handcuffed Erdogan as a gift to Khalifa Ibrahim. And more than likely the same or similar fate awaits all of the current Muslim leaders of the Middle East who do not immediately and wholeheartedly submit and pledge allegiance to Khalifa Ibrahim and the Islamic State.

          • Pete

            The Islamic state was heavily out numbered in terms of manpower. When it took Mosul.

            It had a few things going for it.
            It had very good intel.

            It was fighting an army rife with corruption. A level of corruption exists within every polity, but in Iraq it read rotten structure levels. They were ghost soldiers on the payroll, nepotism and that level of corruption. The Dowager Empress took money from the Naval budget to rehabilitate the destruction caused by Western armies to the Summer Palace. now technically it might be corruption, but it was seen by her officials. Some of them subsequently cheated the nation. The Japanese defeated the Chinese navy in 1895 (some Chinese want a rematch) and part of the explanation was that procurement was corrupt. Gun powder for instance was diluted with other substances.

            My point is I do not think the Turkish army is as corrupt as the Iraqi Army.

            The Caliphate was Sunni areas that had grievances against the government and so it was a permissive environment. They have not done more than make life uncomfortable for the Shia adjacent to the Sunni areas. Also it is really startling that they do not have control of the Ramadi to Haditha corridor. If and when they do I will be much more concerned. The Sunni there are not buying ISIS’s line.

            But we will see. ISIS just cleared a whole region of Kurds on the Syrian border with Turkey. that is a bigger victory than the losses they took form air strikes.

  • Pete

    Was not Yemen an example of Obama foreign policy success a the Friday before last?

    But now it is not?

    I am so confused!

    Is President Obama Correct When He Touts Yemen And Somalia As Successful U.S. Counter-terrorism Campaigns? (Friday, September 12, 2014)

    Yemen On Brink Of Civil War As Fighting Escalates Between Houthi Rebels And The Government (Friday, September 19, 2014)

    Yemen`s War Against Al Qaeda Is Escalating (May 14, 2012)
    Al Qaeda (AQAP) came within 15 miles of Yemen’s main port and 2nd city. Pushing them back from where they should never have been is a success?

    Juxtaposition is He!! for those people, who revise history for gain.

    • Pete

      Zinjibar is very close to the port of Aden and AQAP owned it in 2012.

      With the government fighting the Houthi and being weakened by the rebellion AQAP will be back.

      If it had not taken so long to push back AQAP maybe the government might have effectively dealt with the Houthi rebels including having had more time to negotiate a settlement with them.

      But a war waged in penny packets with drone and He!!fire does not give you that time.

      Thus the bankruptcy of Obama’s war effort.

  • Pete

    Yemen and Somalia are examples of U.S. mission creep, not success – The Washington Post

    “The reference to Yemen and Somalia is curious.”

    “Very few people who are not part of the administration consider either of those cases a success, … Less subjectively, neither has finished, years later, and it is unclear what success in Yemen and Somalia even is.” – Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman

    SomaliCare (a Somali American Blog)

  • Biff Henderson

    “It did, just not the ones that the media and the foreign policy experts owned by Qatar were promising us.”

    http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/qatar-bans-spreading-false-news-online-598637618#comment-1021

    Qatar outlaws the dissemination of information on the internet even if it is true. Al Jazeera America’s website features a story about Cyberbullying of teenagers but didn’t think it was newsworthy that their government sponsor just enacted some real hardcore cybercrime laws. Refusing to report on the cyberbullying a whole population is one way to “Change The Way You Look At News.”

    • Pete

      Interesting web site.

      http://www.whois.net/whois/middleeasteye.net

      http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/middleeasteye.net

      They came on line in July. they are apparently based out of Azerbaijan based Audience Geography. That could just be marketing.

      I cannot find who registered them, where their server is (although its’ name might be a clue, if I knew how to look it up) and any other information.

      It is slick and glossy. It is shiny.

      I would have to compare stories posted on it with the same story posted by various other sources and compare and contrast. And then count how many fingers I had left.

      There are a lot of Zeb Jones out there

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_This_Goes_On—

      • Biff Henderson

        It’s a nuanced organ of the MoBro crowd. A lot of preaching to the choir with nothing but praise for the dandelions of Gaza. LOL’s and at times post tidbits that clash with other “news” outlet’s agenda.

        • Pete

          The whois information was disquieting.

          It was the fist time I have seen that information blocked.

          • Biff Henderson

            When it comes to political intrigue Allah has lifted the sanction against lying to devotees of the Umma. If you agree with Dr. Bill Warner’s proposition that Islam is more a political animal that a spiritual one it all falls into place.