Terrorized Terrorists Run For Cover

May 6, 2010: The southern separatists have, so far, been unable to get a large number of people to actively (get out an demonstrate) back their cause. But there are thousands of devoted activists who keep hitting the streets. The separatists have real grievances. The government is corrupt and inefficient, and always has been. Trying to change this has been very difficult. In this part of the world, it always is. Several hundred al Qaeda activists are still in Yemen, but spending more of their time trying to stay out of jail. Some have showed up in Somalia, and others are believed to have gone to Europe and Saudi Arabia. Many of those who have stayed in Yemen have done so because they have family ties in Yemen. This provides considerable protection from the police, but does not always make it possible to carry out terrorist acts. The tribe that shelters these terrorist, do not necessarily agree with al Qaeda goals or method.
The government is investigating claims of fishermen that Russian and Indian warships and helicopters attacked them and destroyed or damaged their boats while seeking pirate mother ships. The Russians and Indians deny any misbehavior, but some of the fishermen are demanding compensation.
Russian commandoes freed a Russian tanker, seized by pirates yesterday some 600 kilometers from a Yemeni island. The tanker crew (of 23 Russians) had taken refuge in a safe room, disabled the engine and called for help. One of the nearest warships was a Russian frigate with commando detachment on board. The Russian frigate rushed to the scene and landed about a dozen commandoes on the tanker. One pirate was killed in a brief gun battle, before all of the pirates surrendered. The tanker was carrying $50 million worth of oil from Sudan to China.
The UN is unable to get foreign donors to provide food (or cash to buy it) for 3.5 million hungry Yemenis (15 percent of the population). Currently, only half rations (about a thousand calories a day) can be provided to some 400,000 Yemenis who recently fled the Shia rebel violence in the north. Foreign donors are reluctant to give, in part, because of the corruption in Yemen, that results in food aid being stolen by officials or bandits, and never reaching the hungry (except via markets where they can buy it, if they have the money.)