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Yemini President Flees to Saudi Arabia

(Der Spiegel-Germany) Susanne Koelbl - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh landed in Saudi Arabia with two wives, an entourage of 59 people, including three cabinet ministers - and a 3 inch piece of shrapnel in his chest. Saleh, 69, is the third autocrat to be swept out of office by the tide of Arab unrest in the region, and the second to find refuge in Saudi Arabia. By sending troops to Bahrain, billions to Egypt, goodwill to Damascus and oil to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, which is expected to earn $300 billion in oil revenues this year alone, is leaving no doubt as to what it intends to do with its power and money in the region. There is no sign in Saudi Arabia of a public political discourse that could be compared with the debates with which the unrest began in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria. But like everywhere else in the Arab world, the Internet and television are used intensively in Saudi Arabia. The divorce rate is 40% today, families are shrinking, and 26% of men are unemployed.
2011-06-15 00:00:00
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