Whirlwind of freedom

The evidence suggests that Yemen, buffeted by the popular revolts that have been shaking the Arab countries since January, has crossed a decisive barrier since last Friday's massacre in the capital Sana'a, when snipers killed 52 demonstrators who were demanding the resignation of the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The dismissal of the government, a state of emergency and the army's solemn proclamation on Monday of its support for the Arab dictator - in power for 32 years - enhance the impression of decomposition of a regime that in recent hours has seen the desertion of high-ranking military officers, ministers, relevant ambassadors and parliamentarians, who have gone over to the opposition side.

In a poor country of 23 million, which is divided and corrupt from the top down, discontent has not been appeased by Saleh's recent promises not to run for reelection, to set up a government of national unity and to draft a new Constitution. The wind of liberty is blowing further and further east. In tribal, divided Yemen, which is not far from the crucial Gulf; in the absolutist petroleum monarchy of Bahrain; and in recent days, in the politically petrified regime of Syria - where the army has been brought out to violently silence the protests - what those who are coming out on the streets at the risk of their lives fundamentally want is that the compact cliques of despots and thieves who have been in power for many years give way to new regimes compatible with the dignity of the average citizen.

In Syria, a regionally decisive country, a single party - the Ba'ath - has exercised power with an iron hand and emergency laws for more than 50 years. Damascus is the closest ally of Iran, and gives unconditional support to militias such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In Syria, too, a country where no one lifts a finger without the government's blessing, the spread of protests - in spite of recent cosmetic economic measures - indicates that rejection of the regime of Bashar al-Assad (heir to his father's dictatorship) comes not from a political opposition that is practically a virtual one, but, as in the rest of the inflamed Arab world, from the overflowing bitterness of ordinary citizens who have put up with decades of oppression.

Yemen, where the 32-year-old feudal arrangement is crumbling day by day, poses an added problem for the Western powers, and for the US in particular. Saleh, a close ally of the White House in the region, has been a key piece in the struggle against Al Qaeda, which in the Arabian peninsula has one of its most active branches. For years Washington has armed and trained special units of the Yemeni army, under the direct control of the president and his sons.

The lack of a clear political alternative in Sana'a places Barack Obama in a tight spot. As in the case of Tunisia and Egypt, the president has been somewhat taken aback by events, and must recalculate his regional strategy in the short term. All this must be done amid variables as destabilizing as a new civil war, and a possible struggle between military factions within the Yemeni regime.