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johnslat · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:10 pm Post subject: Back from Yemen

Here's a link to a story in the Albuquerque Journal - it was written by a friend of mine who has recently returned from Yemen.

SAVING YEMEN
Recent headlines from this country haven�t been good. Once an optimistic nation and a popular tourist destination, it could become another failed state unless the terrorist challenge is met.

http://epaper.abqjournal.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=SkQvMjAxMC8wMS8xNyNBcjAxNjAy&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin

Regards,
John

jdl · Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 632 Location: cyberspace

Thanks John. Good article. Peace in the peninsula is always fragile with 'elements' in all the states just under the surface awaiting a disruption. It is a difficult time. Oman, 'The oasis of Peace in the MIddle East', is about to be tested.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

It's your own fault for conspiring to get rid of the Ottomans !

johnslat · Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 4:04 pm Post subject:

Dear scot47,

Hey, don't blame me; I didn't conspire. In fact, we have a lovely ottoman in our living room:

http://www.greatpricedfurniture.com/images/website/products/11667/1.jpg

Regards,
John

sliim · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Posts: 55

Yemen has so much potential and if it were managed correctly, Yemen could be a great place.

The obstacles preventing this from happening are huge, though.

Corruption is perhaps the biggest of them--and not only govermental corruption--but corruption (to borrow and expression from Rober Fisk) from the "shoe-shine boy to the president."

With all due respect to the above comment, the contemporary situation is beyond the historical issues between the Arabs and the Ottomans. There is conspiracy and mistrust that is deeply set in the minds of many.

Myself, while in Yemen, I had made a point of working only for local organisations, because I had always believed that the path toward development does not come from foreign handouts, but by local sweat and goodwill.

Unfortunately, my goodwill was met with mistrust--and that is a social desease that will keep Yemen from reaching its true potential for a very long time.