Yemen is not the next Afghanistan
Yemen and Afghanistan are not interchangeable as some media coverage suggests, Gregory Johnsen says in the video below, a half hour talk about the country for bloggingheads.tv. Johnsen is a scholar and expert on Yemen (see here). He’s much in demand these days as news outlets scramble to learn more about this small nation.
Other topics touched on in the interview hosted by Mark Leon Goldberg of American Prospect magazine include what the news media gets wrong about Yemen, and what the U.S. and the UN should do there.
Two things I especially like in listening to Johnsen: One he is young, so this may be why cynicism doesn’t murk up his opinions. And that’s more than a little refreshing. Two, it’s evident that Johnsen loves Yemen, its culture and its people, so his analysis includes respect and concern for his subject.
Here’s the video:
