My brother is moving to Yemen tomorrow, the center of qat or khat in the Arab world. Yesterday night, over Strongbow ciders in a comfortable apartment in Vancouver, his girlfriend mentioned the use of Yemen’s fertile agricultural grounds for qat. Sucking the soil dry. Read more here.
Yemen has only recently become the subject of media scrutiny. However, K. says that when she lived there for two years, not long ago, the country was facing the same troubles: extreme poverty, lack of women’s rights, American interventions, hot bed for terrorism. With the recent arrest of the failed bomber who went to school in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, the media has found a new victim.