Brian Barron has a segment within the latest FOOC program on 24/11/07. You can read it / download it here

For anyone who just reads or downloads it here’s my smackdown to a story that does nothing but enhance the ’failed state’ image that has plagued Yemen.

Anyone who has spent time in Yemen will know that:

• you can buy good quality footwear for a lot less than $90! Brian, you were in Yemen 40 years ago..you shouldnt be wearing your best brogues!
• there are new laws banning the bearing of weapons for all but those with special permits or the military
• the weapons souks where you used to be able to buy AK47s etc are now closed. If they arent, someone please let me know which are still running because Barron seems to know some info that makes me want to go and get myself a ’customised AK47’!
• the “enormous set of mobile airport steps that had the shakes” dont exist and if they did how the hell would women wearing balto holding children manage to walk down them?!

Not only that, but i also question where Brian Barron gets his evidence for saying that there is an ’ambivalence about Al-Qaeda across Yemen’. Barron goes on to describe ’fit looking military veterans carrying backpacks full of weapons and communications gear’. I have lived here for over a year, with no close protection and the only action men figures i see are wrapped in plastic, made in China and are for sale in Shumaila Hari (a supermarket like WalMart or Tescos)! Brian, this is Sana’a not Baghdad!

Barron goes on to say that Oil revenues are drying up. Er, hold on a minute, hasnt there just been a load of oil blocks awarded to a multitude of companies for drilling, extraction, refining and selling? According to Barron, ’corruption is allegedly on a huge scale’, come on Brian, make the allegations. Tell us what you know. Or maybe it would be better to tell the world what you DO know about how the Yemen Government is looking to fight it. The Yemen government is rapidly and energetically implementing new measures for more transparency in all government business and procurement procedures.

Barron mentions ’the failed states’ of Somalia and Ethiopia in a cute journalistic way to build image association. Somalia is a failed state that occupies its own category. Ethiopia has long shaken its starved, famined image of the 80s. Yemen has nothing in common with either of them. Moreover, Barron builds the negative image of Yemen by making associations with the ’rich neighbours’ of UAE, Saudi etc. And no Brian, i dont see what you mean by Yemen being ’just north of south’.

So, what is there in this article / broadcast that us Yemen-dwellers can relate to?

The suicide bombing of the Spanish tourists in Marib was a terrible event. Thankfully all the protagonists seems to have been captured or even killed. This seems to have been a one off and there has been no kidnappings at all in the last few years. Movement in Yemen is closely monitored by a protective net of checkpoints and the intelligence services have their ear to the ground. Indeed there are concerns about the water supply.

Qat agriculture sees to that. But it is a problem all in Yemen are acutely aware of and are dealing with. The Old City of Sana’a IS a captivating labyrinth of souks. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site. There is also a population explosion which will see the population double in a very shortspace of time and of course the government should be planning to deal with it.

Anyone who spends more than 48 hours in this amazing country will know that they are not in the middle of the hell that is Iraq, the tribal and uncontrollable Afghanistan or the lawless bullet fest that is Somalia. They will also realise that they arent in Jeddha, Dubai or Doha. Yemen’s time will come. And so should anyone else with the slightest interest in pursuing new business opportunities, experiencing a new and exciting tourist destination or to just feel the warm welcome of the unique Yemeni people.

Technorati Tags: General, Our Stories, Yemen

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