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All at once, it seems, Yemen's neighbors have decided the whole "let it become a failed state" plan might not be in their best interests. Kuwait has agreed to float Yemen a cool $50 million loan, in the framework of the $200 million pledged to Yemen at a donors conference. The money is supposed to ...
I have never had to leave my home in an evacuation from a natural disaster. I'll put that out there right now. So, I might not fully understand the emotions going through people when they find out that they have to leave their home by no fault of their own because nature has decided that where ...
Kelly McEvers of NPR has a piece on al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Yemen on Morning Edition this morning. It features both Thomas Hegghammer and myself talking about Saudi and Yemen respectively.
Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new audio tape yesterday, which focused on four different subjects. The second of these was on Yemen. His message was not that different form al-Wahayshi's last week. Namely, he called on the tribes in Yemen to live up to their reputation, and act more like the tribes ...
Nothing much to report on the Redoubt front except more of the same. The latest report from AVO says (6:44 AM): Redoubt Volcano has not erupted. Volcanic tremor and intermittent discrete earthquakes continue. Data for the past few hours (since 00:00 AST on 2/23) has consisted almost entirely of low ...
Evangelical pastor Ray Stedman knows the root cause of everything that's wrong with the world: It is not nationalism, it is not racism... it is the human heart. It is the pride of man that fancies he can get along without God. But not to worry, because he advises us how we can conquer ...
Lava issuing from the current eruptions at Kilauea have started a third ocean entry (and the second within the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park). The entry is not as dramatic as some, forming a slow, dripping entry of lava into the ocean (see linked video footage), but every little drip adds a ...
Today's Poetry Sunday introduces a new poet: the freethinker, civil libertarian, and Renaissance man extraordinaire, Charles Erskine Scott Wood. Born in 1852, Wood graduated from West Point in 1874 and served as an infantry officer in western campaigns, including the Nez Perce War. He was ...
Last week, James Adkisson was sentenced to life in prison. Adkisson was the right-wing terrorist who went on an armed rampage against the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville last July, killing two parishioners, Greg McKendry and Linda Kraeger. He had intended to kill many ...
I'm pleased to announce the launch of the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, an umbrella organization representing freethinking student groups from schools and universities throughout the United Kingdom. Similar to the U.S. Secular Student Alliance, the AHS will ...
Getting a bit tired of short blog posts, and looking for something more to really sink your teeth into over the weekend? Well, then, I would suggest this piece at Foreign Policy by "Gregory D. Johnsen and Christopher Boucek." A bit pretentious to insist on being listed with your middle initial ...
If you are anything like me then you can't wait to read each new issue of the New York Review of Books. The latest issue, which arrived in my mailbox yesterday, features a review by Fred Halliday of Steve Coll's book on the bin Laden family. Now, I have to admit that this book has been sitting on ...
Faysal Mukrim of al-Hayat has a decent overview of a number of recent events in Yemen. He mentions the transfer of al-'Awfi, al-Wahayshi's recent audio tape and he says that Yemeni authorities claim to have arrested roughly 30 al-Qaeda suspects, including seven Saudis, over the past few weeks. He ...
Galeras, in Colombia, appears to have entered a new cycle of activity as it has erupted for the second time in a week. A large explosion occurred this morning that was accompanied by falling ash and rocks (ballistic bombs) from the event. It is unclear how far the volcanic products travelled ...
Jonathan Castro has reminded me that I need a refresher on the proper terminology for ash columns related to volcanic eruptions. It is very easy to start mincing words and using them inappropriately - and that is the sort of sloppy reporting and discussion I am trying to avoid. So, to refresh ...