THREAD: Research Fellow @hu_rdman writes about the attack on Aden airport on Dec 30, 2020, when he and other colleagues narrowly escaped death at what should have been a celebratory occasion welcoming the arrival of the newly formed Yemeni government.

At the #Aden airport, "the crowd was divided in two: to the right were #STC supporters... and to the left were supporters of the #GoY. However, the groups soon mingled and exchanged greetings... I whispered to a colleague: “It seems Santa Claus has been generous this year."
But around 2:00 pm, the airport was hit by three explosions, & it took @hu_rdman awhile to realize what had happened. "Five minutes & just 20 meters saved us from certain death. A loud explosion rocked the airport lounge, where we were supposed to go to carry out live coverage."
The attack caused a frenzied chaos and people ran either toward the ICRC aircraft or ditch in the dirt. "I thought to myself that perhaps it was better to stop than run blindly with no direction, but with my family in mind I decided to keep on running."
Ten minutes passed without hearing any further explosions, and everyone began checking on friends via phone. We then returned to the scene of the explosions to help the injured and examine the damage.
The first missile had hit the passengers lounge; the second targeted a grassy area in front of the lounge; and the third struck Square 1 of the runway, where the aircraft was supposed to land... A fourth missile was supposed to target the airplane but had failed to launch.
The next day, PM @DrMaeenSaeed met with the rest of the cabinet ministers at Ma’ashiq Palace, where they announced that the government held the #Houthis and experts from the #Iran-ian Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for the terrorist attack.
The #GoY's placement of blame was initially denied by the #Houthi authorities in Sana’a, but later on, there were remarks by hawkish Houthi figures closer to #Iran hinting otherwise... The Houthis’ “deterrence” formula took the lives of more than 20 people and injured dozens.
News reports confirmed the martyrdom of my colleague, fellow journalist Adib Al-Janani, a correspondent at Belqees TV, and provided a final count of the dead and injured, which was much higher than my initial expectations.

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How does a government put a legislation on 'hold'? Is there any constitutional mechanism for the executive to 'pause' a validly passed legislation? Genuine Koshan.


So a committee of 'wise men/women' selected by the SC will stand in judgement over the law passed by


Here is the thing - a law can be stayed based on usual methods, it can be held unconstitutional based on violation of the Constitution. There is no shortcut to this based on the say so of even a large number of people, merely because they are loud.


Tomorrow can all the income tax payers also gather up at whichever maidan and ask for repealing the income tax law? It hurts us and we can protest quite loudly.

How can a law be stayed or over-turned based on the nuisance value of the protestors? It is anarchy to allow that.
This article by Jim Spellar for @LabourList misses the point about why Labour needs to think seriously about constitutional reform - and have a programme for it ready for government.


The state of our constitution is a bit like the state of the neglected electric wiring in an old house. If you are moving into the house, sorting it out is a bit tedious. Couldn’t you spend the time and money on a new sound system?

But if you ignore the wiring, you’ll find that you can’t safely install the new sound system. And your house may well catch fire.

Any programme for social democratic government requires a state with capacity, and a state that has clear mechanisms of accountability, for all the big and all the small decisions that in takes, in which people have confidence.

That is not a description of the modern UK state.

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