YEMEN FALLING APART – AT 8:50 A.M. ET:  The near civil war in Yemen is getting worse.  Why shold we care?  Because Yemen is one of the most important Al Qaeda bases in the world.  There is a frightening chance that Al Qaeda can actually wind up controlling Yemen.  From The New York Times:

SANA, Yemen — Heavy shelling north of Yemen’s capital threatened to close the main international airport Thursday as government troops and opposition tribesmen appeared to escalate bloody street battles that have pushed the country to the edge of civil war.

The airport, which lies roughly six miles north of the city, was open on Thursday and flights operated normally, the airport director, Naji Quddam, said in a statement, denying earlier news reports that it had closed.

But the main road to the airport from Sana remained dangerous to navigate because of government checkpoints, sporadic shelling and heavy fighting in the north of the city...

...The forces arrayed against the government have diverse and sometimes conflicting agendas, but the rising chaos appears to have emboldened them all, including the Yemen-based group that calls itself Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has become a major concern for the United States.

COMMENT:  But the U.S. isn't standing idly by.  President Obama has unleashed John O. Brennan, his chief counterterrorism adviser, who is rushing to the Mideast to consult on the situation.  You may know the illustrious Brennan as the guy who always says the wrong thing at a press conference following some major terror incident or counterterror action. 

We are probably helpless in this situation, as Obama seems to have lost any influence in the Mideast that he might have had.  So much for change we can believe in.

Like Syria, Yemen is a frightening situation in which the brutality of the regime might well be matched by the plans and ideologies of the regime's opponents.

June 2, 2011