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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:28 am Post subject: Yemen's President to Step Down |
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For the first time since 1978, Yemen will have a new President next year:
Saleh Says He Will Not Run For Re-election
This is the first Arab leader I know of that has agreed to step aside. Weird. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 10:40 am Post subject: |
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It's comforting to know that 27 years in power is enough for some people...
How long did you live in/visit Yemen for anyway?
Any personal insights? |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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I was there for 5 months. It has the most bleak prospects of any country I've visited. There are 20 million people there and the country realistically can only support about half of that. the reason people are able to survive is through western aid. The water supply is quickly drying up. They have no idea what'll happen in a decade or so when supposedly the water will be adios. Desalinization would work but that's extremely expensive and Yemen simply does not have the resources to do that.
But besides that worry, there is also massive corruption. The President's family owns most of the profitable countries as well. The political and business leaders blend together. Yemen is far from unique though; the same could be said about nearly every other Arab country.
The thing is, Yemen does have a lot to offer. The red sea is world-famous for diving and snorkeling, but Yemen hasn't developed its coastline at all. Sanaa is also an amazing city; there is no place like it in the world. Besides tourism, it is in a strategic location. THere is a reason the Brits controlled Aden for so long. It also gets the most rain on the Arabian peninsula, and if it weren't so crazy about qat, could become the breadbasket of the region. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
There are 20 million people there and the country realistically can only support about half of that. the reason people are able to survive is through western aid. The water supply is quickly drying up. They have no idea what'll happen in a decade or so when supposedly the water will be adios. Desalinization would work but that's extremely expensive and Yemen simply does not have the resources to do that.
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Sounds like it'll be an Al queda recruiter's wet dream sooner or later. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 5:32 am Post subject: |
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NEWS FLASH:
In a shocking turn of events, Hosni Mubarak has announced he will run for a fifth six-year term as Egypt's president. |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:44 am Post subject: |
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The most important step for the new Yemeni administration must be to clamp down on the smuggling in of rhino horn, the B@S*A&DS.
Poachers have reduced the world population of Black rhino over 95% since 1970 to satisfy the yemeni demand for ceremonial dagger handles.
South korea should follow suit and cease all use of powdered horn for aphrodisiac/stamina purposes. Zimbabwe was once the world's haven for black rhino. Now only about 3000 remain worldwide.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/trade/faqs_rhino.cfm
Black Rhino. More beautiful than a macho yemeni knife. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:04 am Post subject: |
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no offense rapier, but the Yemeni gov't has a hell of a lot more pressing issues to deal with such as 42% poverty rate, 50% illiteracy, etc etc. The number of knifes with the horns is quite small anyway.
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| In 1982 the government of Yemen banned the import of rhino horn, but even in the mid-1990s as much as 150 pounds (330 kilograms) of horn were being smuggled into the country each year. |
From 6,000 lbs to 150 lbs/year. Not that bad. When an avg. horn costs $27,000, it's like cocaine: it just ain't going to go away no matter how much clamping down there is.
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| From 6,000 lbs to 150 lbs/year. Not that bad. |
That happened because they'd exhausted supply. "wait til you've massacred 99% of the rhino population, then decide to ban it". |
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