Something the Gun-Rights Folks Can be Proud of

You are more likely to be murdered with a gun in the United States than to be murdered by any means in Somalia and Yemen.

Yes, that’s right.  Let me restate it:  Gun violence is more likely to be your cause of death here in the streets and homes of America than any form of homicide in either of these god-forsaken, war-torn, chaotic third-world countries (and I’m only talking about homicides here, not including accidental shootings, suicides, law enforcement, or defensive shootings).

New Trajectory has the story

Another One Bites the Dust! The dictator of Yemenis driven out by peaceful protesters after being in power for 30 years!

I believe this pertains to the discussion about peaceful protests being more useful to ending tyranny than weapons.

Note this was peaceful civil disobedience; not armed insurrection, not resisting an armed foreign invasion, and not part of an armed civil war.  ALL of those things are different from each other in fundamental, significant ways.  They are more unlike than like each other.

Congratulations to the long-suffering people of Yemen, and best wishes on forming a new, representative government going forward with their part in the dramatic renewal of their region.  One more tin-plated dictator is added to the refuse pile of history.

From the New York Times:

Yemen’s Leader Agrees to End 3-Decade Rule

Samuel Aranda for The New York Times

Protesters listened to the news of an agreement on Wednesday for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer power to his vice president. More Photos »

By KAREEM FAHIM and LAURA KASINOF

Published: November 23, 2011

SANA, Yemen — After more than three decades of autocratic rule, President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed an agreement on Wednesday that immediately transferred power to his vice president, bowing to unrelenting street protests and raising hopes for an end to a political crisis that brought this impoverished nation to the brink of collapse.

If the agreement holds up, it will make Mr. Saleh the fourth Arab leader to be forced from power this year by popular uprisings that have shaken the Middle East and North Africa. But the deal offers no guarantee that it will restore calm to a nation fractured by 10 months of political instability and suffering from a power vacuum that groups linked to Al Qaeda have exploited with increasing boldness.
Troubled by the collapse of security, the United States, other Western powers and Persian Gulf leaders had aggressively pushed for the agreement, even as protesters argued that it would preserve the status quo by keeping the country’s elite, including members of Mr. Saleh’s family, in power. On Wednesday, some of the movement’s leaders indicated that they would not back down without more fundamental changes.
It remains unclear how the country’s interim leaders will resolve a bitter three-way power struggle between Mr. Saleh and two rivals — including a renegade general who commands well-armed defectors — that has recently eclipsed the popular protests.
Under the terms of the deal, a presidential election will be held in three months; a consensus figure, probably the vice president, is expected to be the only candidate.  In the meantime, a national unity government, consisting of members of the Yemeni opposition and the current ruling party, will be formed, along with a military commission to restructure the country’s badly fractured armed forces.
In Sana’s “Change Square” on Wednesday, a tent city that has become one of the epicenters of the revolt, protesters held aloft photographs of colleagues killed by Mr. Saleh’s security forces or his loyalists in a crackdown that left hundreds of demonstrators dead. Many protesters, who said they felt that their popular revolt had been hijacked by political elites and their foreign backers, were especially angered by reports that the president and his family would receive immunity from prosecution.
In Sana’s “Change Square” on Wednesday, a tent city that has become one of the epicenters of the revolt, protesters held aloft photographs of colleagues killed by Mr. Saleh’s security forces or his loyalists in a crackdown that left hundreds of demonstrators dead. Many protesters, who said they felt that their popular revolt had been hijacked by political elites and their foreign backers, were especially angered by reports that the president and his family would receive immunity from prosecution.
“We will never accept any agreement that does not meet our goals,” Hamzah Alkamaly, a 23-year-old activist, said Wednesday night. “We will stay in the square.”
The deal, signed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, allows Mr. Saleh to retain his title and certain privileges until new elections are held. Yemeni lawmakers are also expected to pass a law granting him immunity from prosecution, said Abdullah al-Saidi, the former Yemeni ambassador to the United Nations.
It was unclear when, and if, the president intended to return to Yemen.
Mr. Saleh, a former military officer with little formal education, survived for decades in part by dividing or co-opting rivals and building a patronage system that he alone controlled, leaving Yemen with a barren political environment and hollow institutions. Moreover, Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s wealthy and autocratic neighbor to the north, has never wanted to see democracy flourish in its backyard.
Mr. Saleh’s move on Wednesday appeared to take Yemenis by surprise after months of broken promises and skillful political maneuvering that confirmed his reputation as a canny politician.
The president had agreed to sign similar agreements several times, then backed out — once standing up diplomats who were waiting to witness the deal and found themselves trapped for hours in a building by hundreds of armed Saleh supporters.
In a signal of how wary Yemenis have become of Mr. Saleh’s intentions, there was little public rejoicing on Wednesday, a day that could prove to be a crucial turning point for the country.

Iraq Veterans Against the War

A long time ago, I belonged to The Viet Nam Veterans Against the War, even though I was only a Viet-Nam-Era veteran, no combat experience. Watching this video, it occurred to me that not only have things not changed, they've gotten way worse. Now the stakes are so much higher.

The only hopeful idea I can take from this is with the new technology, the internet and social media, that is available today, the charade that we need to be involved in perpetual war, will not remain hidden.

Like other pressing issues, popular opinion can make a difference. Our involvement in Afghanistan and Libya and Yemen and all the other hidden engagements has to be brought into the light and in many cases, stopped.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

Yemen the New Hotbed

Well, at least we've ended our combat mission in Iraq and will be completely out of there this year.

via Phuck Politics.

It's Deja Vu All Over Again

Truthout reports on the situation in Yemen and its relationship with the United States. (Thanks for the tip Laci).

...there has been a dramatic turnaround in the fluctuating love-hate relationship between the two countries.

And this week's aborted attempt to blow up a U.S. plane by a Nigerian student, with ties to a terrorist group in Yemen, has brought the political spotlight back on a country which is proud of its gun culture.

Yemen reportedly has over 60 million handguns and small arms spread over a population of some 21 million people.

Yehya al-Mutawakil, a former interior minister, was quoted as saying that everyone in Yemen is armed with handguns, while members of various tribes have gone upscale: they are armed with assault weapons, rocket launchers and submachine guns.

Between 2002 and 2008, Yemen received some 69 million dollars in U.S. military aid; and 496 Yemeni military personnel were trained under the International Military Education and Training programme (IMET).

William D. Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New York-based New America Foundation, cites press reports to suggest that Washington will rapidly ramp up U.S. military aid to Yemen over the next 18 months.

The projected total, he said, is about 70 million dollars, or roughly the amount provided during the entire administration of former President George W. Bush.

"U.S. military aid to Yemen is a double-edged sword," Hartung told IPS.

On the one hand, the Yemeni government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh has participated in strikes against al Qaeda and al Qaeda-inspired groups within and around its borders.

On the other hand, he said, "The Yemeni government is one of the most unstable regimes in the world, and there is a danger that U.S. weapons and training could be turned against U.S. interests, if there is a change in government there."

This is my biggest disappointment with Obama. I was hoping he'd get us out of Iraq, wind down the business in Afghanistan and quit policing the world. I thought this was a characteristic of the Bush years. I was wrong. Now the only question seems to be, which will it be next, Iran or Yemen.

What's your opinion?