Winds of change

Headline this morning is that the leader of Yemen might be ready to step down. This is step in the right direction.

Surprisingly in Syria, despite their lousy record for killing protesters, they are actually willing to take down the emergency law from 1963 and make changes to improve the situation of the people. However the people are taking more and more to the streets. What seemed to be isolated protests in Daraa, now seems to have spread and the Syrian's are marching in numbers in "days of dignity rally".

As the UN imposed the no fly zone over Libya it doesn't seem like Gadafi is ready to step down.  The biggest fear people have is will it be enough? Will those involved be stuck in an endless crisis in Libya? Will it help the country achieve peace or are they contributing to more problems ahead?

In Amman Jordan, protesters have established a protest camp and won't leave until the prime minister leaves and they get wider public freedom.  From what I've read they have been clashing with government supporters.

The weirdest news from the middle east is the 7 Estonian tourists that got kidnapped from the Bekka Valley near Zahle in Lebanon.   One of the stories I read about it was a spoof by a Lebanese going on about how Lebanon should market "terrorism" vacation packages. Gotta love Lebanese humour :) Hopefully the Lebanese army will find the  7 tourists unharmed. This is not good for tourism in Lebanon.

Despite crushing the protestors in Bahrain, they are not detered. They are calling for a day of rage on Friday and nine demonstrations appear to be planned, across different parts of Bahrain, despite the fact martial law was imposed last week.

People will not be ignored.