Article found in the Economist:
This current event briefly gives an overview of the state in which Yemen is in right now. Yemen is located in the south of the Arabian Peninsula west of Oman and south of Saudi Arabia. Recentl, two car bombs went off outside the American embassy in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital. This attack confirmed belief that a jihadist movement is indeed going on. Although this attack was the second attack in six months, Yemen’s ministry is reusing to enforce more security. Right now, Yemen is in a fragile state, politically and economically. Yemen is the smallest oil produced in the Middle East and is producing less and less oil each year. STate revenues states that oil in Yemen will dry up by the year 207 if no new sites are found. President Ali Abdullh Saleh is frequently trying to bargain for peace between Yemen and its enemies. Many Saudi Islamists ave crosed the border and settled in foreign minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, there is 1,000-1,500 al-Qaeda members and influenced fights in Yemen. In response to this, radicals are angered by Yemen, who receive millions of dollars of direct military finance by the US.
Question: With Yemen’s decline in oil production, unstable government, and al-Quaeda activity in mind, do you think Yemen will continue to “get by” through the direction of the president, or do you think Yemen will fall?
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Thanks, Pam! In the December 12, 2007 edition of Al-Sharq al-Owsat (”The Middle East” - a leading pan-Arab daily), a prominent Arab columnist Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed wrote that al-Qaeda was shifting its recruiting and training operations from the Afghan border region to the mountains of Yemen, thus setting the stage for a new phase in the “war on terror” which would likely mean more terrorist attacks in the Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia. (Abd al-Rahman Rashed, “Al-Qaeda tibdal qaedataha” (”The Base is Changing its Base” - a pun on the group’s name) Al-Sharq al-Owsat, Dec. 12, 2007)
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