How can you relate the ongoing protest in Yemen with its geographic location?

This is in some ways a difficult question because the
issues that have caused the uprising in Yemen are not explicitly related to geography. 
Instead, the uprising has mostly been about the poor economic conditions in the country
and the corrupt and autocratic nature of the government.  The question, then, is how to
connect these issues with the geographic location of
Yemen.

One can argue that Yemenis are upset with the
economic conditions in their country partly because of their proximity to Saudi Arabia. 
Saudi Arabia, of course, is oil rich while Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle
East.  This juxtaposition might help to drive discontent among
Yemenis.

One can also argue that Yemen's geographic
location makes it more likely to have developed an autocratic government.  Essentially
all of the governments in the region are relatively autocratic.  Because of this, it is
not surprising that Yemen would have a similar government that would breed resentment
among the people.

In these ways, you can argue that
geography helps cause the conditions that have created the uprising.  Of course, what
geography really does is to make the uprising significant to the outside world.  Any
instability so near to the oil fields and the Persian Gulf and the Suez Canal is
relevant to the world as a whole.