Yemen's unresolved economic crisis

Posted By Peter Salisbury Thursday, April 5, 2012 - 11:09 AM

In late 2011, the British government sent one of its top humanitarian advisors to Yemen after a year of protests, bloody crackdowns, and inter-elite fighting. Drawing on his experience from a career spanning three decades, the advisor reported back that Yemen faced the most complex set of circumstances he had ever seen.

Some of the key issues at the time, such as fighting between elite military and tribal factions in the capital of Sanaa and north Yemen's second largest city, Taiz, have since eased off. But others, including rising violence between Shiite Houthi tribesmen, government forces, and Sunni Salafists in the northern Saada province and the rise of Ansar al-Sharia -- the local al Qaeda affiliate -- in the south, are still causing mass displacement on a daily basis.

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MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images

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Gaza’s economic mirage

Posted By Wasseem El Sarraj Thursday, July 28, 2011 - 3:31 PM

GAZA CITY — A predominant, if misguided, narrative holds Gaza to be a Mediterranean secret, where food is plentiful and joy is unabated. Such statements are not exactly false. As a Gazan, I can say I have laughed, dined out (not just falafel), and been able to embrace my proclivity for consumption -- recently purchasing a 37" flat-screen TV. But this has been a product of the stubbornness and creativity of capitalism under an enforced closure (where goods flow into Gaza, but what goes out is very limited). Not to mention the sheer luck that I hail from an elite class and of the simple fact that humans, in desperate circumstances, still muster the ability to "look on the bright side of life."

Two recent developments in Gaza have propped up the "there are no problems in Gaza narrative," and will undoubtedly feature in a soon-to-be-shot promotional video by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One is the pool-hall-cum-lounge called Carrino's; the other, Munib Al-Masri's six-star Movenpick hotel.

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AFP/Getty images

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The sick man of the Middle East

Posted By Blake Hounshell Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 7:39 PM

At around 11 p.m. Tuesday, U.S. East Coast time, unconfirmed reports of a coup in Tunisia spread across Twitter like wildfire, fueled by a rumor mill that has gone into overdrive since riots broke out this month outside the Tunisian capital.

"Phone confirmation that the army has surrounded the ministry of interior," tweeted Wessim Amara, a user based in Tunisia. Another, Fouad Marei, followed: "Tweeps unanimously confirm: #coup against #BenAli regime. Mainstream media continues to talk of clashes, no confirmation of #SidiBouZid coup."

What hunger looks like

Posted By Marcus Bleasdale Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - 11:48 AM

Marcus Bleasdale, a distinguished war photographer, has documented the scars of conflict in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kashmir, and Nepal -- places where years or decades of war have left local populations taking shelter in bombed-out buildings or makeshift dwellings, with little food or safe water. What he found when he visited Djibouti, a small, little-known country on the Horn of Africa, felt eerily familiar. Only this time, the deprivation was not the result of war, but of poverty; as Bleasdale says: "The conditions make it almost feel like a conflict zone."

View the photo essay.

Marcus Bleasdale

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