Monday, November 1, 2010
Yemen on the verge of collapse?
Yemen's finance minister talks about how the country is in dire need of financial aid, all the way up to $50B. He says that the country is not inevitably failed, but that with the recent discoveries of planned bomb attacks on planes, and the knowledge that Yemen is a breeding ground for terrorism, namely al-Qaeda, he says that without jobs and in bad times (no water, food, electricity, inadequate shelter, etc.) people get upset and have a lot of time on their hands to do something about it. The question now becomes, how to help (if at all), to what extent do foreign actors aid, and where does the money come from?
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2 comments:
While Yemen may not literally be on the verge of collapse, I agree that its economic problems are especially disturbing considering the potential for terrorist threats to emerge. One argument is that the United States should increase foreign aid to Yemen to display our commitment to raising living standards in order to win the hearts and minds of the people of Yemen who are in danger of being radicalized. If we help supply means for economic development, less people would be unemployed and would be less likely to result to terrorism out of desperation from lack of alternatives.
There may not be a direct correlation between economic downfall and dangerous political environments but some cases are historically acurate. Post WW1 Germany followed Hitler's propaganda as an alternative to their struggling economy and political unrest. Perhaps providing some sort of aid would prevent the people from finding alternatives in terrorist activity.
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