Yemen: Dancing on the Heads of Snakes

Description

"Once famous for its lucrative coffee trade and the strategically crucial port of Aden, Yemen - the dark horse of the Middle East - is making headlines today for its links with radical Islam. As journalist Victoria Clark argues in this riveting book, we have been neglecting Yemen at our peril. For centuries a thorn in the side of any foreign power seeking to exploit its valuable location, the most beautiful but also the poorest state in the Arab world is dominated by its tribal make-up, increasingly fractious and an ideal haven for jihadists." "Born in south Yemen when it was still a British colony, Victoria Clark returns to the country to untangle its complex past and hazardous present. Meeting politicians and tribal leaders, oil workers and Islamists, she discovers a fragile state facing a perfect storm of exploding population, diminishing water supplies, dwindling oil production and two separate wars of secession, as well as a vigorous regional al-Qaeda movement. This is a lively, thoughtful and up-to-date account of a little-known country now at the top of the international security agenda." --Book Jacket.