US and Yemen sign agreement on military cooperation

On the 10th of November Yemen signed an agreement on intelligence and training with Yemen, official news agency SABA reported. The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries to eradicate ‘terrorism, piracy and smuggling’. More here.

Iran and Saudi Arabia clash in Yemen proxy war?

Fighting continued for a sixth day on Monday between the Saudi military and Yemeni rebels on their countries’ border, with the rebels releasing a videotape of what they said was one of several captured Saudi soldiers. Saudi Arabia hammered the rebels with airstrikes and artillery fire, and captured about 280 rebel fighters, said a Saudi [...]

Saudis being dragged into Yemen war

According to UPI, the Saudis, who don’t want Iran stirring up trouble on their porous southern flank, have been financing Saleh’s counterinsurgency campaign to the tune of millions of dollars a week.There have been repeated reports, largely from the northern rebels who are known as al-Houthis after the clan leading the rebellion, that the Saudi [...]

Internet filtering in the Middle East and North Africa

The Open Net initiative just released it’s 2008-2009 report on filtering trends across the Middle East and North Africa. Overall, there has been an increase in filtering practices since 2007, and further measures to monitor Internet activities, particularly in Internet cafés, have been introduced. Additionally, countries that have been filtering political content continue to add [...]

John Brennan on the US counterterrorism policy

Remarks by John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, As Prepared for Delivery “A New Approach to Safeguarding Americans, 6 August 2009. Read the speech here.
Interview with Brennan here. Comments in the LA Times and the WSJ.