After a year of bloody protests the people of Yemen could today enjoy the Saudi/US arranged elections for a new president.
Despite the demand in the Yemeni constitution that there must be, at least formally, several candidates, the sole candidate is Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who has for 17 years served as vice-president under President Saleh. There isn't even a Yes and No vote to gauge his support. The only candidate is Hadi, the only vote is a Yes and there is no way that he will not win by a 100% majority.
Then again, is there really much difference for policy choices in presidential elections in the U.S.?
The dictator Saleh, who ruled for 33 years, got immunity for all his crimes as part of this election deal. He is currently as a U.S. guest in New York but will be back after the election to "attend the inauguration" of the new president and he will certainly keep pulling the strings. His son and his nephew are still controlling major parts of the security establishment in Yemen.
Obama’s top counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said “Yemen has proved ability to move from the past to the present via ballot boxes”. Unlike me, Einstein might have had ideas why moving from the past to the present would not have happened without this sham election.
In a letter to Hadi Obama said that Yemen has become a model for peaceful transition in the Middle East. He did not mention the thousands of people maimed and killed during the last year up to this fake change no one can believe in.
The southern separatist, who were betrayed by the southerner Hadi when he joined Saleh to be made vice-president, the defected general Ali Muhsin al-Ahmar and his tribe, the Salafist and AlQaeda groups in the south and the Houthi tribes in the north boycotted the election. Some polling stations were attacked and at least 4 people were killed today.
The U.S. missed the chance to use the movement against Saleh for some real transition in Yemen. This will come back to bite it.
http://www.informationclearinghouse....ticle30618.htm