Radio on Yemen

The other day I got an e-mail from someone (I assure you this was a real person) who said he enjoyed links to articles and radio and tv spots, so using his e-mail as a fig leaf for my own vanity. Here are a couple of posts.

The first one is from On the Point with Warren Olney and features Robert Worth of the New York Times, Brian Fishman of the New America Foundation as well as myself on Yemen. I found Brian’s comments particularly enlightening.

Next, for all of Waq al-waq’s readers in New Zealand (all two of you) there is the appearance on Nine to Noon on Radio New Zealand.

I will also be on Talk of the Nation this afternoon talking Yemen with NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston.

There are a few other radio discussions which, in the spirit of self-promotion, I will be posting as, you know, I actually do them.

And finally, saving the best for last, is this excellent program featuring Paul Dresch and Elham Manea – two incredibly smart people on Yemen. For those looking for a one-stop shopping experience for the history of Yemen, this is the place to go.

I didn’t think Paul Dresch did interviews, so you can imagine my excitement when I found this, bit like finding that a $20 bill in your pocket after laundry.

Just as a tease of what you will get from the whole thing.

Paul Dresch: Once the Egyptians have gone and the civil war is declared over, a rather nice scholarly old chap called Abdul Rahman al-Iryani was appointed president. He didn’t last terribly long; he was booted out in ’74. Really he was just too nice I suspect, and surrounded by squabbling factions and various other Arab governments with their fingers in the pie. So he was squeezed out in favour of a chap called Hamdi, who was an army officer. Hamdi lasts till ’78, he was assassinated, a short period of a chap called Ghashmi, again an army officer, and in ’78 the present ruler, Ali Abdullah Saleh, he takes over; another army officer. So although the army looked from outside to be a bit of a joke, certainly not terribly efficient, facts actually were Yemen’s leaders have come from, for the last 40 years almost