Syria and Yemen Continue to Bleed

It's clear that a significant number ofr of demonstrators were killed in theYemeni city of Ta'izz yesterday, and also that Syria's crackdown is continuing. The almost complete exclusion of foreign journalists from Syria makes it hard to verify all the accusations being made or to confirm that YouTube videos are current. Nor is coverage of Yemen's provincial cities much better.

I;'ve talked a lot about Egypt lately, and will have a lengthy piece up soon, but only because there, change is already under way, albeit in a two steps forward, one step back sort of way. Simply listing the number of protesters mowed down by live fire does little to illuminate likely outcomes, but we all should keep in mind that these ongoing conflicts are almost certainly going to continue. Despite wishful thinking by some Syrian spokespersons, the Syrian uprisin shows little sign of slackening, and Yemen remains at a boil. And tomorrow if Friday.