Middle East Focus: Paul Simon in Arabia: Saudis Return Nasty Saleh, Keep Amiable Bin Ali…………

Arabia Deserta

Paul Simon in Arabia: Saudis Return Nasty Saleh, Keep Amiable Bin Ali…………

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

"Take it logically
I'd like to help you in your struggle
To be free
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover
At the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover........." Paul Simon

“Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned to Sana’a on Friday after more than three months of medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. His abrupt return was announced by state television and he arrived in the capital in the early afternoon. The 69-year-old Saleh, who has since January faced massive street protests demanding he step down, was hospitalized in Riyadh on June 4, a day after being wounded in a bomb attack in a mosque. He appeared on television for the first time after the attack on July 7, covered in bandages and his face clearly showing burn wounds. According to the Al Arabiya correspondent in Sana’a there are unconfirmed reports that Saleh will chair a ruling party meeting in which he might announce his resignation. The president’s return on Friday came as his forces were fighting dissidents loyal to General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar in Sana’a for the sixth straight day which has seen almost 100 people killed since Sunday……..”

Ali Abdallah Saleh turns out to be more of a 'true' Arab leader than Mubarak or Bin Ali. He has stayed in power since 1978 and insists on doing it his way even as a civil war is brewing (actually two or three civil wars). The dictator is counting on that old tried and true tactic, fear: fear by the Saudi princes and fears by the U.S. administration. There i no way he could have flown back into San'a from Saudi Arabia without approval of the Saudi government and the American administration. And to think that he has probably killed as many Yemenis as Bashar al-Assad has, and more than Mubarak or the thugs in Bahrain have killed.
Come to think of it I begin to feel more amiable toward the Tunisian dictator Bin Ali as time goes by. Bin Ali of Tunisia has turned out to be the most civilized dictator of all. He killed a few then decided to cut his losses and leave: an amiable dictator. A pussycat compared to all the remaining despots and absolute 'Bins'. I would pardon him, just to show the remaining Arab despots (from the Atlantic to my Gulf) the benefits of leaving when the time comes.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com