'Yemen can spark total PG change'

Yemeni anti-government protesters in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, on March 5, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/172803.html

A wave of regime changes will sweep the entire Persian Gulf Arab states if the revolution in Yemen achieves its objectives, a Middle East expert says.

“A successful revolution in Yemen could mean the whole Persian Gulf region erupting into revolution,” Chris Bambery told Press TV.

“Yemen has been an important staging post for the Americans ... It is one of the major centers of the CIA in the region,” Bambery went on to say.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is an important ally for the US and the Saudis and they are trying to keep him in power to maintain their control over the Persian Gulf region, the analyst underlined.

Therefore, “There is no attempt [by the West] to reveal the realities of the Saleh regime: the torture, the repression, or the record of the Saudis constantly intervening in Yemen, carrying out bombing missions, etc.” he argued.

Inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, anti-government protests began to sweep Yemen in January.

More than 82 people have so far been killed and hundreds of others left injured in the brutal crackdown by state security forces on the protests.

Saleh has been in office for more than three decades, with several opposition members arguing that his long-promised political and economic reforms have not materialized.

There are concerns that intermittent skirmishes between anti-government demonstrators and forces loyal to Saleh could eventually spiral out of control and trigger widespread violence.