“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Monday, December 4, 2017

Yemen's Saleh: the ex-president who clung to power

Yahoo – AFP, December 4, 2017

Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh addressing loyalists in Sanaa on
March 10, 2011 (AFP Photo/MOHAMMED HUWAIS)

Sanaa (AFP) - Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed on Monday, ruled the Arabian Peninsula country for more than three decades, remaining a key player long after his 2012 resignation.

Adept at navigating Yemen's complex politics, he survived civil war, rebellion in the north, an Al-Qaeda insurgency in the south and a June 2011 bomb attack on his palace that wounded him badly.

In 2014 he allied with his former enemies, Huthi Shiite rebels from Yemen's north, to seek revenge against those who forced him from power.

But the collapse of their alliance was the beginning of the end for the wily leader.

A stocky man with piercing eyes and a moustache, Saleh was for decades Yemen's most powerful man.

In 2015, a UN panel of experts accused him of corruption, saying he may have amassed up to $60 billion the country descended into poverty during his 33 years in power.

Hailing from the same Zaidi minority as the Huthis, Saleh joined the army aged 20 and took part in the 1962 coup against Yemen's Zaidi imamate.

The ensuing six-year civil war ended in victory for Egyptian-backed nationalists who in 1968 formed the Yemen Arab Republic, also known as North Yemen.

A few months earlier, an independent South Yemen had been formed following the British withdrawal. It would eventually become the Communist-ruled People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

Reunification

Saleh showed his leadership skills at an early age and swiftly climbed North Yemen's military and political ladder.

Following the June 1978 assassination of president Ahmad al-Ghashmi, a constituent assembly elected Saleh -- by then a colonel -- president of North Yemen.

A picture from June 1, 2000 shows Ali Abdullah Saleh diving during free time 
at his private presidential club (AFP Photo)

He immediately surrounded himself with close aides, notably his brothers, appointing them to key military and security posts.

Saleh deftly steered the country towards reunification in 1990 and four years later crushed a southern secession bid.

He became Yemen's first directly elected president in 1999, winning more than 96 percent of the vote, but elections during his tenure were widely criticised and he was accused of stifling dissent.

Saleh became a US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda, allowing drone strikes on Yemeni territory, the first of which in 2002 killed the group's Yemen chief, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harithi.

Between 2004 and 2010, Saleh fought several wars against the Huthis, who had long complained of marginalisation.

In the late 2000s he also grappled with growing pro-independence demonstrations in the south.

But the first real challenge to his rule came with the eruption in 2011 of Arab Spring-inspired protests that brought thousands of people onto the streets.

Saleh clung to power amid a deadly crackdown on demonstrators demanding an end to his regime.

He left Yemen for Saudi Arabia in June 2011 to receive medical treatment after being burned in a bomb attack on his presidential compound, but returned less than four months later.

He eventually ceded power in February 2012 under a Gulf-brokered deal that granted him immunity from prosecution.

'Dancing on snakes'

Vice President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi took power after Saleh's resignation but struggled to assert his authority.

The ex-president remained behind the scenes, refusing to go into exile and remaining head of his General People's Congress party.

Ali Abdullah Saleh addressing parliament in Sanaa in
October 2001 (AFP Photo/KHALED FAZAA)

The Huthis' seizure of Sanaa in September 2014 would have been impossible without support from Saleh loyalists, analysts said.

An expert report to the UN Security Council alleged Saleh provided "direct support" to the Huthis through funding and the backing of elite forces still under his influence.

Hadi in February 2015 fled to the southern city of Aden after escaping house arrest in Sanaa, then to Saudi Arabia as the rebels advanced south.

Yassin Makkawi, an adviser to Hadi, in 2015 described the ex-president as a "tyrant", saying "the Huthis are puppets in the hands of Saleh".

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which feared the Huthis would help its arch-rival Iran spread its influence in Yemen, launched air strikes and sent ground troops to Yemen in support of Hadi.

That escalation has since killed more than 8,750 people and dragged Yemen towards what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The intervention helped loyalists win back control of large parts of the south but they were unable to dislodge the Huthis from Sanaa and other key strongholds.

Saleh was reported to have remained in the capital and boasted: "I will never leave Sanaa."

But in mid-2017, his alliance with the Huthis began to collapse amid simmering resentment over money, power-sharing and suspected backdoor dealings.

When Saleh reached out to the Saudi-led coalition last week, the Huthis accused him of "great treason" and staging a "coup" against "an alliance he never believed in".

A smart tactician who had portrayed himself as a "saviour" after his resignation, Saleh once compared ruling Yemen to "dancing on the heads of snakes".

But Saleh's gamble in quitting his alliance with the Huthis proved to be a fatal step.

As gun battles rocked the capital on Monday, the Huthis announced that Saleh had been killed, and a video supplied to AFP by the rebels showed what appeared to be his corpse.

Hours later, his party confirmed the news.

At the age of 75, the man who had shaped much of Yemen's post-independence history was dead.

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