The Arab Spring

Of course there is little way to know how much division there is within the government/royal family on the Yemen issue. And there is apparently a rally round the king/flag thing going on among some of the population as well.

Oh god, Salman, why. Last I heard they had publicly declared an end to the campaign because it wasn't stopping the Houthis, so they moved the goalposts to "we killed their Scuds, mission accomplished".

This is going to be horrible, isn't it.

Nobody wants to admit defeat, I see.

Hopefully Oman will just sit out.

Haven't they sat out everything in the Middle East since forever?

File under "unconfirmed" and "huh?"

On Twitter, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal promised a Bentley for a hundred of the fighter pilots in Decisive Storm.

Yeah, Oman just sits out. They're the Swiss of the Middle East. Which is good, because the most stable province in Yemen is Mahra, which borders Oman.

I've always kind of figured them for the Amish of the Middle East due to the close association with Ibadi Islam, though I appreciate the more apt comparison to the Swiss in terms of size, sovereignty, and the willingness to repel any attempt at occupation like some sort of horrible meat-grinding turtle.

I want to inquire about Ibadi Islam. Anybody who knows something, respond in the religion thread.

An expert talking to the Jerusalem Post reckons that the current chaos in the Middle East could last for at least a decade.

It will be over in as little as a decade? Good news!

It will be over? Good news!

Sorry :p

I thought I'd see how the Arab Spring was developing according to Wikipedia. They now describe it in the past tense - it ended and has been replaced with the Arab Winter, which has its own page. That's kinda a bummer, though I can't disagree.

edited 26th Apr '15 7:01:01 AM by betaalpha

Eh, I say its still going on. The Arab Winter page on wikipedia is barely more than a stub. I think it will only truely be over when what is going on in Syria and Iraq is over, be it for better or for worse. It was never going to be pretty, and I agree with the assessment that it will last another decade. Hell, that was my own assessment back when this was all "fresh".

I think of it as the "Arab Summer"- i.e. much more heat.

The Method Behind the Islamic State's Madness, from War on the Rocks.

It looks like there's more and more consensus recently about the Baathist role in ISIL's rise.

Was there ever confirmation that al-Douri is dead, speaking of Baathist influence?

Wikipedia is currently discussing it.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32537543

The Houthi have launched a retaliatory attack on a Saudi border outpost. The Saudis claim that they held off them and killed dozens of attackers. That's pretty gutsy of them, I wonder if they are trying to provoke a ground intervention?

edited 30th Apr '15 8:50:10 PM by Rationalinsanity

The Houthis have long claimed what is known as the "lost provinces", which were the territories immediately to the north of yemen along the Red Sea ('Asir) that Ibn Saud seized in his last campaign of conquest. This may be a twofold attack to both raise propaganda that they the Houthis are willing to take back formerly Yemeni territory as well as an attempt to force Salman's hand into sending ground forces into the Arab Vietnam.

Why the Gulf state's went to war in Yemen Among other information, the article reports that Satellite footage showed the Houthi's moving Scud's to the Saudi boarder before the airstrikes occurred. They also claim to have captured three Iranian trainers in Aden,who are now interned in Oman.

Interned, or interred? Massive difference.

Being held, assumably for the rest of "the conflict" or for some other reason. Of course they could just be making this whole thing up.

I suspect the latter as long as they do not prove their claims.

Your post said they're interned - as in, buried. That's why I asked if you meant "interred" - meaning held as prisoners. Could've been either one, although it would've been a bit weird for there to be news of Iranian troops being buried in Oman.

I thought interred meant buried.