nPostednon May 22, 2014
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nIndidn’t know much about Yemen, other than the fact that it is a fairlynsmall nation on the southern end of the Arabian peninsula. On the map below, Yemen is colored darker orange.
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nWhennI read that Yemen was considered a kleptocracy, I had two thoughts:
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nWhat’sn a kleptocracy?
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nIn bet it’s NOT a good thing.
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nOnnthis date in 1990, North and South Yemen unified, becoming thenRepublic of Yemen. The first president of the republic was AlinAbdulla Saleh. And apparently he wasn’t as honest and democratic anleader as Yemenis could have hoped for!
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nBecausenhere is the definition of a kleptocracy:
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nA corrupt government, innwhich the government exists to increase the personal wealth and powernthe officials, at the expense of the people of the nation, usuallynwhile pretending to provide services to those people.
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nThenword comes from the same Greek root word, kleptes (thief), asnthe word kleptomaniac.
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nInlive in the U.S., and many of us are worried about the amount ofnmoney and corruption in government. I think we are right to worry –nwe don’t, after all, want our country to be listed in Wikipedia as ankleptocracy! – but when I read about some other nations, I againnrealize how lucky I am (and many other peoples of the world) to livenin a relatively well-run nation.
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nFornexample, as I said, Saleh was Yemen’s first president in 1990. What Inhaven’t told you yet is that he was president until 2012 – that’sn22 years! And he was attempting to change the nation’s constitutionnso that he could stay president for life. And many Yemenis feared that henwas trying to have his son Ahmed Saleh in a position to become president after hendied.
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nUmm…hownis this a “president”? Isn’t this more like a king?
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nManynYemenis protested against the unemployment in their nation andnespecially against the lack of democracy and the corruption in thengovernment. The government’s police fired on some of the protestors,nkilling 50 Yemenis. At this point international pressure was put onnSaleh, and the U.N. called for Saleh to give up the presidency.
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nSonfar this hasn’t led to a blissful democratic nation. Saleh gave upnhis power, but his vice-president was unopposed as he ran for (and,nof course) won election as the next president. And Saleh was givennimmunity from prosecution for any of his crimes against his people,nto the disgust of thousands of street protestors.
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nWhat’snYemen like?
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Itsneconomy is lopsided!
Itsneconomy is lopsided!n
nI’venshown some of these “export trees” for other nations in earliernposts, but look how much petroleum and natural gas dominate Yemen’sneconomy! And you know that the gas won’t last forever!
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Therenare some areas in Yemen that are very, very arid—that is, dry—andnthat cannot be used to grow food. The Rub al Khali desert isnpopulated only by camels and their herders. n
Therenare some areas in Yemen that are very, very arid—that is, dry—andnthat cannot be used to grow food. The Rub al Khali desert isnpopulated only by camels and their herders. nn
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nSomenof the islands in the Red Sea belong to Yemen. Somenof them are volcanic; one volcano created a new island in Decembern2011 (seen below in a NASA satellite image).
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nThenkingdom of Sheba, which is mentioned in the Old Testament of thenBible (also known as the Hebrew scriptures) and the Koran, wasnprobably roughly where Yemen is now. The Queen of Shaba was supposednto have traveled to visit the Israeli King Solomon. She is describednas arriving in Jerusalem in a large caravan with precious stones,nspices, and gold. This sort of wealth is probably appropriate for ankingdom that lay in a great spot to promote and control trade betweennAfrica, India, and the European/Asian continent.
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nChecknout these pictures of the Queen of Sheba. Archeologists andnhistorians are not positive about the location of Sheba, but as I said, they think it isnlikely that it was located in the southern region of the Arabiannpeninsula, and that its queen had skin of a medium brown — somewhere between these twondepictions.
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nDidnyou know…?
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nThenRed Sea is a rift zone, in which two of Earth’s tectonic plates arenslowly ripping apart, allowing hot magma to rise upwards and make newnseafloor. n
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nActually,nYemen lies close to a triple-rift zone, called the Afra TriplenJunction: the Red Sea Rift meets the Aden Ridge meets the EastnAfrican Rift.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nInternationalnDay for Biological Diversity
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nArtistnMary Cassatt’s birthday
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nNationalnMaritime Day
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nPlannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nMayn holidays
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nMayn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in May
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJunen holidays
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nJunen birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in June
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