Socialist-Al-Qa`idah-Iran conspiracy in Yemen

`Ali `Abdullah Salih is losing his mind, literally as Joe Biden ends every sentence. I heard him make speeches this week, and I heard official statements by the Yemeni government. Basically, the Huthi rebels are accused of links with Iran, although no evidence has thus been produced. The Yemeni government and media keep promising us some damning evidence, to no avail. And the government is also accusing the Huthi rebels of connection with Al-Qa`idah, although the latter was very clear in a recent statement about the need to combat Shi`ites in the peninsula. And this week, Salih topped himself. He accused the separatist movement in the South, which is led by socialists, of links with Al-Qa`idah. I am not making this up, by the way. And the events in Yemen have to be studied in the context of the power struggle inside the Saudi royal family. As is known, many Saudi princes are assigned certain regions in the Arab world. Like Prince Muqrin deals with Lebanon, and Crown Prince `Abdullah (when he was Crown Prince), dealt with Syria, while Prince Sultan (who is dead in Morocco where his body is rotting comfortably) dealt with Yemen. After the Yemeni decision to align with Saddam back in 1990, and to refuse to vote for war at the Security Council, the Saudi government decided to sponsor and fund the socialists of South Yemen to stir up trouble for Salih. You may read about that in David Ottaway's new book, The King's Messenger. Damn. I am supposed to write something about this book here. Remind me.