Thursday, January 27, 2011

Thousands Protest Against Government in Yemen

This NYT story hits the nail on the head without even trying to. While the military in Tunisia (though small) is considered impartial and professional, that is not the case at present in Yemen. While huge protests may be occurring, the tell here is the reportage of President Salih's Sunday press conference (where he apologized if he had ever made errors, as only God is perfect), where he promised to "raise salaries for the army, by approximately $47 a month, and denied reports that he is preparing his son as his successor."

The average monthly salary in Yemen is about $200.00 USD.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Yemen Spotlight

This past Sunday, 60 Minutes ran a great story on Yemen, entitled "Yemen & The War on Terror." You can either watch the video or read the transcript of the story. (I want to thank my mom for calling and letting me know!)

The National also ran a story on Yemen today, where the author asserts that the real problem Yemen faces is "rapid resource depletion and a speedily expanding, underemployed population." This is not new news, and the article pretty much regurgitates a lot of what Yemen followers already know, but it is important to keep this type of story in the news until the general populace in the West finally comes to understand why Yemen is truly "in the spotlight."

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Yemen I Know

I was really glad to see Secretary of State Clinton making a trip to Sana'a, Yemen -- especially as the country is getting so much bad press in the Western media for the last year and a US Secretary of State hasn't been there in 20 years. As Nasser Arrabyee (a really great blogger/journalist about Yemen events) reported, Mrs. Clinton said her view of Yemen was changed after actually visiting Yemen. I think that would be the case for any Westerner. In light of that, I wanted to share this article Dan sent me from the Yemen Observer: "Yemen as Experienced by a Westerner Studing Arabic." It's a really nice anecdote about a largely understood country.