Yemen

I found the Yemen lecture to be well thought out and generally informative. I had very little knowledge of Yemen and its customs before attending the lecture, and I came out with a fairly strong idea about its history and culture. Yemen is considered a liberal mid Eastern country. With a population of about 18,000,000, it is the second largest country in its peninsula next to Saudi Arabia. A unified religion compiles most of the mountainous regions that make up Yemen. However, there has been a history of violence and segregation due to differences in political views. The country was actually segregated into two separate entities (North and South) from 1963 to 1990. Upon being re-unified, 3 years of economic depression led to yet another civil war. This was, at least in part, due to lack of support from other Arab countries. Throughout the 90's, Yemen suffered through a civil war fought with many advanced Western weapons. These weapons were useless because many soldiers did not know how to use them. In the present, Yemen's main export is oil, although watermelon and fish are also sent overseas. However, much of the money that is raised from these exports disappears into the corrupt government. Currently, Yemen receives a lot of economic support from the Japanese and the Dutch. According to the speaker, the people of Yemen would like to their country as a historical landmark, without the influence of great Western powers such as the United States.

The dissolution and chaos that has been building up in Yemen for nearly a decade finally came to a head earlier this week. As a possible attack against Western influence, suicide terrorists bombed the American destroyer Cole outside Aden on Friday, October 13. The blast killed 17 American sailors and wounded 30 others, at least five of them critically. The United States responded by sending a F.B.I. team of special investigators to the scene and fortifying security with the frigate Hawes and the destroyer Donald Cook. Unfortunately, the incident will most likely lead to repercussions from the United Nations, and further corruption in Yemen. However, the magnitude of the damage caused by the attack cannot be judged at such a critical time.

Works Cited

The New York Times. "Elite US Team Investigates Ship Attack." Sunday, October 15,

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