Yemen

After nearly nine months of protests, more than 900 deaths and approximately 25,000 wounded, the President of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh has transferred power to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

The GCC deal presents possibly the most realistic short term resolution to the Yemeni quagmire. It lessens the chance of civil war that would set Yemen back by decades. Nevertheless, it does not meet the demands of the vast majority of those who started the revolution.

The United States and Pakistan engage in a war of words. Iraq to strengthen air sovereignty with the acquisition of 18 F-16 jets. Protests continue in Andhra Pradesh as demands increase for Telangana state. Unguarded weapons depots in Libya cause concerns. Anwar al-Awlaki is killed, but his legacy remains. All this in today’s briefing…

The establishment and deepening of a democratic culture is a long-term project and is intergenerational. As divisions open up between the elites and the street as well as within the elites, the events of 2011 across the Middle East and North Africa represent a powerful first step in a larger process of transformation.

Afghan forces, aided by ISAF have managed to end the attack on the US embassy, Nato headquarters and police buildings in Kabul. A bomb planted on a military bus in Iraq has killed 15 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 20 others. Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh has authorized his deputy to negotiate a power transfer. Turkey insists its warships will escort aid vessels to Gaza as it also requests US to base predator drones on its territory.

Thoughts on the Arab revolution from an Arab nationalist.

Bypassing the civil society that started the revolution leads to two options for Yemen's future, and neither bodes well for stability.

The repositioning of the United States’s military strategy includes a great expansion in the use of armed-drones to attack targets in Pakistan and Yemen. But this development raises profound legal and ethical questions that are now entering the public arena.

Al Qaeda are trying to make up for the Arab spring in several areas, including Yemen.

The Salafi-jihadist movement is losing its recruitment pool in the Arab world. Its latest strategies look elsewhere, and the death of Osama Bin Laden will not affect these plans.

A new word is needed to describe these events of recent months. They should be called ‘refolutions’, radical refusals of the old choice between reform and revolution - remarkably sensitive to the grave dangers and high costs of using violent means to get their way

President Saleh's response to the protests has increased in violence, causing him some major defections, yet he has clung to power. International supporters are concerned that an end to Saleh’s era may result in chaos, possibly allowing al-Qa’ida room, however the tribes of Yemen are likely to prevent this as it threatens their interests and way of life.

While the fate of Yemen's president remains unclear, so does the country’s future. The fundamental question is whether the unrest can succeed in addressing the aspirations of Yemen’s youth, or further empower its entrenched tribal leaders.

There are many different strands to the protest under way in Yemen, including old and new grievances, and signs that some of them are coming together.

International pressure on Gaddafi mounts. Belarus violates Ivorian arms embargo as violence escalates. Rangoon bomb blast. Yemen to announce government of national unity within 24 hours. North Korea threatens war over leaflets. All this and more in today’s briefing...

Gaddafi uses planes to attack protesters. Ivorian troops fire on protesters as AU leaders seek resolution. Congo colonel sentenced to jail for rapes. Saleh rejects demands to go as Yemeni troops fire on demonstrators. All this and more in today’s briefing.

Yale University Press have issued this sampler from recent books on the Egypt, Yemen and Algeria. All provide important background information on the histories, societies, politics and economies of nations now thrust into the media spotlight.

The uprisings sweeping across the Middle East portend a political transformation as significant as those of 1989. The economic stagnation of the region, the failures of corrupt and repressive autocratic regimes, conjoined with a disenchanted youthful population wired together as never before, have triggered a political struggle few anticipated. Yet 1989 is not an entirely clear point of reference - the emergence of peaceful mass movements of change is a parallel, but the pull of the West, so marked in 1989, is weaker and more complex. Accordingly, the path ahead for these brave, inspiring, challenging movements is more uncertain.

The signals of growing turbulence in a range of military environments - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen and beyond - send a worrying message to Washington.