Protests in Yemen? Business as usual

  A basalt statue in Sana’a’s military museum stands as a testament to a bygone era. Two figures stand locked arm-in-arm, a traditional sword-wielding Yemeni tribesman and a Kalashnikov-toting soldier. They represent the hard-fought war in defense of Yemen’s republican revolution, in which thousands of Egyptian soldiers came to the aid of embattled tribal allies in the South Arabian nation. Nasser’s Egypt once inspired the whole Arab world to shake off ancient monarchies and colonial occupiers but the Egyptian regime today, ideologically bankrupt and under unrelenting assault from its own people, is unrecognizable in that picture of ascendant strength. Many now wonder whether the uprising in Cairo’s streets foreshadows a new regional upheaval, especially in Egypt’s old ward, Yemen, after as many as 16,000 citizens and activists gathered in Sana’a on January 27 to express their indignation with the country’s ruling party and President Ali Abdullah Saleh. But for those