Salih to Run

Following three days of "popular" rallies President Salih has reversed his decision not to run for another six year term, and has agreed to stand for re-election which he will on 10 September. (I have little to say in this forum, although more will follow. For now, a couple of comments:)

The parade down 'Abd al-Mughni street after Salih announced was exciting to watch, and even more impressive for a popular rally was the fact that all of the mini-buses were numbered with the governorate that they represented written on their front window.

I would like to highlight one piece by Nabil al-Sufi, the editor of News Yemen, writing in al-Hayat.

Salih to Run

Following three days of "popular" rallies President Salih has reversed his decision not to run for another six year term, and has agreed to stand for re-election which he will on 10 September. (I have little to say in this forum, although more will follow. For now, a couple of comments:)

The parade down 'Abd al-Mughni street after Salih announced was exciting to watch, and even more impressive for a popular rally was the fact that all of the mini-buses were numbered with the governorate that they represented written on their front window.

I would like to highlight one piece by Nabil al-Sufi, the editor of News Yemen, writing in al-Hayat.

Back

After numerous false starts the blog is back up and running, this time from Yemen. The Internet connection has not been the best, but at least I'm back, and I've spent my first few days going through the important motions of re-connecting with friends and contacts and catching up on all the books that have been published since I left.

I was even able to find a copy of Wajdi al-Ahdal's Quarab al-jabaliyya, which was officially banned, but I now have my grubby little hands on a copy - not the photocopied one I had earlier through various channels, but a real bound copy. It was a major coup, as was finding some of al-Zindani's books and a few other gems that were republished in 2005 to celebrate Sana'a being the cultural capital of the Arab world in 2004 - don't ask.

Now I'm on the hunt for the new book by Ali al-Muqari, which is written about in this story from al-Arabiyya. I've got my sources out and I hope to have the book within the week.

It is good to be back, even if al-Thawra is even worse than usual, what with every organization sucking up to the party line.

Back

I'm lashing with apologies for the lack of posts. But I'm back from a much needed vacation. Let the posts resume.

Random Notes

This entry will be a little more personal than usual, which I'm chalking up to lack of sleep and exhaustion. I'm blogging from Midway - possibly my least favorite airport in the world - and have little to say other than I wished I had studied medicine so I could get to the bottom of the DVT crisis, which I've become fascinated with.

On a more relevant note here are two links about Sana'a from Saudi Aramco World. The first by Tim Mackintosh-Smith, author of the world's best book on Yemen, and the second by Eric Hansen, author of a book on Yemen.

Unificiation Day

Today is unification day in Yemen.

An article from al-Quds al-Arabi on the first woman taking up al-Turabi's fatwa that Muslim women can marry non-Muslim men. Here is the link.

Still away from home in the midlands, and so blogging is a bit slow. I would love to comment on Hamid al-Ahmar and the two preachers that were pardoned by Salih over the weekend, but for the moment simple acknowledgement of the acts will have to suffice.

Oh, and the White Sox lost - about time.

White Sox lose

I wouldn't normally post when I'm so far from home. But I saw two things that made me come out of mourning for Arsenal. First, the White Sox lost two to Tampa Bay - and al-Zabaniya is predicting that the Cubs take the inter-league series.

Second, a piece (which I have yet to read) but which looks very good on al-Qaeda in Yemen from al-Sharq al-Awsat. This looks like one that the paper may give a synopsis (not a translation) into English later this week.

The Final 2-1

I once saw a friendly in Paris at the Stade de France between France and the Czech Republic, the latter was up 2-0 with 10 minutes to go when Zinedine Zidane took over and scored 3 goals in the next 12 minutes (including extra time) to win the game. Unfortunately, I don't see any such miracles in Arsenal's bag of tricks tonight. They are about to go down in a massive collapse, giving up 2 goals in the final 15 minutes of play.

Five minutes to go - we are in trouble.

It is over and we have lost.

The mighty are falling

The mighty ones at al-Nawadir are in trouble, as Arsenal has dropped back even with Barcelona following a late goal. I was up in arms on seeing an Arsenal player sent off early in the game - and as I type Barcelona has pulled ahead 2-1 - oh, no.

Gunners, my mighty Gunners - what has happened.

Disaster, pure disaster has struck.

Couple of Highlights

I'm still away from home, so the blogging will have to be short, but I wanted to highlight a couple of articles.

First, two from the Yemen Observer. The first on the release of 100 more al-Huthi followers, hopefully this will help to end the low-level insurgency, but more on that later. Second, a supposed assassination attempt against the head of the Aden-Abyan Army. Here is the original article from al-Sharq al-Awsat.

Finally, an article by Gregory D. Johnsen in the Arab Reform Bulletin on Salih trying to restore his reformist credentials.

Just a few highlights to get me through the day.