Speaking of Yemen - It's Not Pretty

With the recent attempted attack over Detroit by the underwear-terrorist there has been alot of talk in the news about the Republic of Yemen; the only republic in that neck of the desert. However, it was naturally not always so. Formerly a British protectorate the Kingdom of Yemen lasted until 1962 when the republicans took over and a civil war ensued between republicans (backed by Egypt) and royalists (backed by Saudi Arabia). Typical monarchy done in by dastardly republican traitors right? Not so simple in this case as the fall of the Kingdom of Yemen was aided in large part by the mistakes of the royals themselves, the last presiding royal figures being King Ahmad bin Yaha and his son Crown Prince Muhammad al-Badr. Working blindly against their own interests they broke from the British and the Hashemite monarchies of the north and aligned themselves with the republican nationalist movement of Nasser in Egypt and established friendly relations with Soviet Russia and Red China (and they are still best buddied with Communist China today). Of course, in the end this spelled the end of the monarchy which was instigated by the Egyptian Arab nationalists whom the Crown Prince had invited into the country to "modernize" it. Once he realized his mistake he rallied the devout people of the desert interior against the Egyptian-backed republicans but they were outmatched and when Saudi Arabia finally gave in and recognized the new leftist government in Yemen al-Badr was forced to go into exile, ironically enough, in Great Britain. Never trust a communist folks -it's not a hard concept to grasp.
(flag displayed is that of the late Kingdom of Yemen)