visionary

More killing by security forces in Yemen and Syria. YEMEN I heard reports on Al Jazeera earlier of people saying they and their families had been paid protest for the president. Remember by the way that Yemen is an extremely poor country. Saleh however has much personal power and wealth and his relatives are all in key political and security positions SYRIA http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/201148131548860250.html http://twitter.com/#!/calperryAJ

YEMEN I thought he asked for it in the first place. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114811731250712.html SYRIA I'm seeing reports of protests all over Syria and calls for anti-government unity from Allawites and Sunnis rallying together. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/201148104927711611.html Eyewitnesses says that at least 7 are dead in Daraa today. EGYPT Massive crowd in Tahrir Square. Many are saying that even those who never protested before are out to support the protesters today. Just saw a picture on CNN TV. Some info from earlier when the crowd was still small: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114875513229751.html Some military officers and other soldiers have joined the crowd to cheers. They may pay for it later from the leadership though. There were also protests in Iraq today against occupying forces, meaning the US. And yep, they were burning our flags. (I'm not really sure why we're still there though actually.)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/04/08/egypt.protests/index.html?hpt=T2

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/201147203148789269.html

Nothing too new in Ivory Coast, check the Syrian news though. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/2011471422594168.html SYRIA http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114711251531744.html

YEMEN http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/07/us-yemen-idUSTRE7310ON20110407

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12997461 http://twitter.com/acarvin

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12932427

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12932427

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/2011466238287412.html

Apparently Gbagbo has not surrendered yet, or at least they are still working out the terms for what happens afterward. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12932427

From Al Jazeera English's website http://english.aljazeera.net/ Gbagbo has been reportedly hiding in the basement of his residence with his family, according to AJE tv. I also saw some reports on twitter earlier that there was more snipering of protesters in Yemen today AFTER the clashes that I posted an article about earlier. http://twitter.com/acarvin

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/20114513659812234.html ---------- Post added April-5th-2011 at 12:17 PM ---------- http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114593648199344.html

The latest news from the Ivory Coast is that the presidential palace has been supposedly taken earlier and that Ghagbo is negotiating his surrender. According to a Ouattarra aid speaking to French media. A Gbagbo adviser from outside the country though has denied that the palace was taken at all. Clearly there has been some heavy attacks on the palace by rebel forces and even some of the French and/or UN airforce.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12967610

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/201144134848651549.html The UN and France are running a wide range of military operations in the Ivory Coast. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/2011446577547697.html

http://twitter.com/yemen_updates http://twitter.com/alguneid http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/April/middleeast_April61.xml&section=middleeast&utm_source=Khaleej+Times&utm_medium=twitter

And it goes on and on. I just caught another update on Yemen from Al Jazeera English. Now the death toll has risen in Yemen today to 16 and it's expected to go up and up. Yemeni security forces have fired on protesters in 3 cities today now. Also one of the 'protests' that was fired on earlier was apparently a bunch of people gathering to get petrol. One small boy in that crowd was killed by security forces when they shot the crowd. http://twitter.com/acarvin From AJE it seems the number of wounded in Hudaida from attacks by the security forces and Republican Guard has now risen from 200 to 400.

I honestly don't know what is going through Saleh's mind. I'm thinking it may not be good enough for him to resign at this point. People are going to want his blood over there. I guess the nearly 2000 wounded wasn't enough in Taiz http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011449582611447.html ---------- Post added April-4th-2011 at 09:29 AM ---------- AJE is reporting that things are getting even more tense in Yemen. As people watch on tv and listen to news of what happened in other cities they are going out into the streets to join the demonstrations and protest as well. At the same time it seem that Saleh has given orders to his Republican Guard to shoot on protesters now across the country.

http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia/2011/04/20114323502180260.html And the anti-government candidates all received 50 years in jail. :pfft: JK! But this whole thing is pretty ridiculous.

Aaaaaand, here we go: This could be trickier than I thought though. The opposition's position is harder than I realized, not that I blame them. And of course, Saleh and his loyalists are not making it easier. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/world/middleeast/04yemen.html?_r=1

What the hell is going on there? The numbers keep jumping up. I saw reports earlier of people saying poison gas was used and people were shot. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114311371087507.html WTF???? http://twitter.com/acarvin http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=205081549511851&oid=113533228724893&comments ---------- Post added April-3rd-2011 at 08:08 PM ---------- More from Yemen: http://twitter.com/alguneid The US needs to apply any pressure they can to get this guy to go before things get a lot worse. I've heard the VP isn't that unpopular there. In any case, Saleh has to go now, if they want to hold onto some stability.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114311371087507.html Seems like a lot of injuries from tear gas.... I wonder how badly they're hurt. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114310256650100.html http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/20114215401513945.html

I knew something was coming between these guys and Iran. I said there was some tensions growing a few weeks ago. http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/kuwait/gcc-may-consider-severing-iran-ties-1.786718 I still think a war by them against Iran may not be too far off. Though I don't expect anything big to happen for a while. While I like them taking a stance against Iran...I think this is a dumb way of making Iran look like the good guy in this. Few in the Middle East really think Iran is driving any of these revolutions and to try to shift blame to them and condemn them now of all times, will just make these countries look worse. I don't remember them making a big deal when Iran was killing their own people a couple of years ago. To now criticize Iran for sticking up for people in these countries, would send a really bad message. "It's ok to beat your people to death, just don't criticize us when we do it too."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/20114215401513945.html Battle for Abidjan rages Reports of carnage emerged with the Red Cross saying at least 800 people were killed in Duekoue town. Last Modified: 02 Apr 2011 17:51 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/20114264023646362.html