

Ta'izz - ingve
http://www.idlewords.com/2015/05/ta_izz.htm

======
616c
I hope to God, despite the date, this is post-dated. I know Yemenis where I
live and they cannot even enter ... because the airport has a giant fucking
whole in the runway and now and they might have been landing in a downtown
neighborhood with a long drag, if I understood one of my co-workers correctly.
Or maybe that was the Iranians and other people that inspired raid-runs. God
bless United States of Arabia Air Force (this is my joke name for the KSA
strike teams; I do not see this as a positive).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sana%27a_International_Airport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sana%27a_International_Airport)

Shit there is terrifying. If you have money, please donate. You can say what
you want, but there are so many people who were struggling before that
privileged asshole friends who live in the GCC, and I like to tell "Yemen
stories" I hear from these dudes to ground the shit out of them.

And imagine your tribe repelling the army, the Houthis, and Al Qaeda in Yemen
at the same time. Most of these dudes run their own villages, and no outside
influence is welcome. The Yemenis are the ultimate libertarians, so help em
out.

(Watch me roast for that joke; oh well, I tried.)

~~~
idlewords
The post is about a trip I took in June of 2014. Agreed that what's happening
now is horrific. For starters, pretty much every place I describe has been
bombed.

~~~
foenix
In 2007 I got to visit a lot of family in Syria. My cousin took me from
province to province while he was making sales calls for my grandfather's
welding shop in Damascus.

In 2012 my cousin was shot in the head at a roadblock and died a few months
later. My grandfather has fallen into a deep depression and the rest of my
family has experienced a diaspora the likes of which we haven't felt since the
50s.

I'm not a religious person, but I thank probability every day that my family
has Canadian citizenship and green cards and that I have an amazing job as a
programmer. Even if I can't do anything about the place of my heritage, I've
been able to buy a house in the US for my grandparents and have been able to
donate to the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS Foundation) on a regular
basis.

I have so many photos and journal entries from that time. I really need to get
them online to show what Syria was like before all the shit hit the fan. Thank
you so much for these writings. I hope they shed light on a humanity that gets
robbed by conflict.

~~~
616c
I can relate. My first Arabic teacher grew up in Syria in the 70's, and the
last 40 years has been brutal emotionally. Both parents died as I grew up, and
once her mother died (maybe after 2004?) and all the bureaucracy and bribes
she was so disgusted she never went back. Years later, we were talking about
Egypt and she said things like that would never happen in Syria, ever! And now
look at the ironic state of things. Her sister still lives in Damascus. And
when we talked recently, first time in years, and that came up, she almost
cried. But it was out of sheer anger. People I meet do not even care about the
emotional loss, but how they have watched their country implode so rapidly
while everyone voluntarily fucks it up more.

Thanks, for the tip about SAMS. I assume this is them.

[http://sams-usa.net/foundation/](http://sams-usa.net/foundation/)

I am trying to pool people together with some people I know here and the MENA
region to do fundraising for the Jesuit relief fund (I know, I know, but they
are very cool and have no religious stake; I have met Iraqi Lebanese and
Syrian employees from all backgrounds and their dedication to crisis
assistance, religion is not even on the radar) and want to tap the Syrian-
American community to help fundraise.

Email address is in my profile. I would love to get people like yourself
involved.

------
idlewords
For anyone interested in what's going on in Yemen right now, I've found
Twitter to be a much better source than news sites. A good starting point is
@altoflacoblanco and @yemen_updates. @ionacraig is excellent too but seems to
have stopped tweeting for now.

If after reading these streams you find the conflict incredibly confusing and
complicated, that's a good sign! You have a better grasp on things than 99% of
the Western media.

~~~
tptacek
Among other things: it sure seems like "Al Qaeda" means something subtly
different in Yemen than it does in Afghanistan.

~~~
idlewords
Subtly!

~~~
tptacek
Is it unsubtle? It seems like something more akin to a grassroots local
political movement in Yemen than an international terrorist organization. A
terrible political movement, but one nonetheless. Am I totally wrong there?

~~~
idlewords
I really don't think there exists an international terrorist al-Qaeda at this
point (at least not in the sense we imagine, with a Cobra Commander in some
hollow island). It's more like a franchise, and regional groups use the name
since it gives cachet and suggests a global, the-Caliphate-is-coming kind of
power that makes these guys feel good.

It's also in the interests of the United States and other Western powers to
sustain the impression of an international terrorist conspiracy potentially
capable of harming people in the West. The branding has switched to Isis now
that al-Qaeda has kind of fallen apart. I don't know to what extent this is a
cynical ploy, and to what extent it's a natural dynamic where we kind of
manufacture our own enemies by showing how scared we are of them.

All politics in Yemen is grassroots and local and foreign governments forget
this at their peril. There's a tendency to assume the various Yemeni factions
are puppets being controlled by Iran, the Saudis, the US and so on, but in
practice the local factions are very adept at manipulating their various
sponsors. The important divisions in Yemen are regional (north, south, and
Aden) and tribal, and the tragedy of the country is that it is trying to
stitch together very dissimilar regions while outside powers work hard to
destabilize it.

With regard to al-Qaeda specifically, the Yemeni branch has always been quite
distinct. Bin Laden has deep ties to Yemen, which ironically has made AQAP
even more of a tribal, regional force, since unlike Afghanistan it's a bunch
of locals.

I think it's good to remember that southern Yemen used to be a highly
ideological, Marxist state(!). The fact that all these Marxists have vanished
without a trace suggests how hard it is for any transnational ideology to gain
a foothold in this deeply conservative, tenacious country.

~~~
tptacek
This is pretty close to what I understood. (Thanks for truing me up).

So, not to put too fine a point on it: I have more of a problem with military
attacks on 2015 Yemeni AQAP than I do with attacks in, say, Waziristan. It
seems like attacking Yemeni AQAP implies attacking whole tribes.

~~~
idlewords
I found this article gave a good sense of what drone attacks really mean for
the people in the area, and what it means to be "a member of al-Qaeda" in
Yemen, in the eyes of US policymakers:
[http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-
tonight/ame...](http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-
tonight/america-tonight-blog/2014/1/17/what-really-
happenedwhenausdronehitayemeniweddingconvoy.html)

In my mind, the worst thing about American military attacks in Yemen is that
the government refuses to reveal what our policy even is. Everything about
them is being kept secret, removing any hope of democratic accountability.

~~~
tptacek
Frontline did something similar w/r/t/ the impact of US drone targeting for AQ
in Yemen.

[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/frontline-fight-
for-...](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/frontline-fight-for-yemen/)

The Frontline Yemen episode was one of the more depressing Frontlines I've
ever seen.

------
L_Rahman
Maciej's travelogues never disappoint, but this one is especially poignant
given the events currently unfolding in Yemen:

[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-
east-32776430](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32776430)

We've lost a lot of history over the last few months.

------
bambax
Maciej is not the best photographer; and he should put legends next to his
images.

But he's really a fantastic travel writer. Or writer. One of the best ever.

~~~
idlewords
Come on, I put over four thousand words of legend!

Thanks for the kind words :-)

~~~
bambax
We actually met in Paris two years ago. At a Pinboard meeting.

I'd like to travel with you some time.

~~~
idlewords
Oh yeah, hi! By all means, and bring your camera :-)

------
chrissnell
I really enjoyed reading this but it makes me a bit sad. I have a dream to
someday traverse the Muslim world in my old Land Rover 110. I would start in
Dakar and make my way clockwise through the Sahara all the way to Egypt. I
want to see the Bekaa valleys of Lebanon where my ancestors came from; I want
to float the Euphrates and cross into Pakistan via Iran. I want to drive the
Khyber Pass into Afghanistan and I want to visit the Wakhan Corridor. 45 years
ago, I could have done all of this and lived to tell the tale. Today, it's
virtually impossible, especially for a pale-skinned American like me. Now, in
2015, it may be hundreds of years before it's safe for my kind to go there. It
makes me sad.

~~~
mimac
If you didn't already, you should check out The Way of the World by Nicolas
Bouvier. Excelent book about a roadtrip from Geneva via Khyber pass to India
in the 1950s.

------
konsptheory
_It was a dark day when Islam met the loudspeaker._

Tell me about it, bro!

It was a hellish day indeed and it went from bad to worse ever since.

I live in a predominantly Muslim country and Islam seems to have an insecurity
& inferiority complex so large that it needs ear deafening audio signals
broadcast at dawn time to notify the population of its suffocating and heavy
presence in their daily lives.

------
hobo_mark
They don't have peace, or even reliable electricity, but they have free
facebook sms, I really don't know how to feel about that.

~~~
balls2you
You should feel good about it because they are able to communicate without
reliable electricity or peace.

------
jdimov9
I've never been to Yemen but somehow am in love with it (and so wish I could
visit).This film started my obsession:
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478213/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478213/)

So sad and inexcusable what is happening there right now - everyone playing
for their own shallow political interests, doing enormous harm and grossly
disregarding international law while pretending to help.

As others mentioned, all mainstream media reporting of the current events in
Yemen is horribly biased, misleading and just ignorant. Twitter is a much
better place to get a more objective feel of events as they unfold. My
favourite source is @omeisy

------
ishi
"the owner bitterly congratulates me on striking a bargain he would never had
agreed to in less desperate times. I am as crafty as a Bedouin, as wily as a
serpent, and his only request is that I not tell anyone how good a deal I
struck tonight lest he become the laughingstock of the city. Then he
undermines his words by throwing in a couple of pieces for free."

One of the funniest things I've read this month :)

------
octatoan
> Ali is a virtuoso on the car horn; driving with him is like sitting in on a
> session with Charlie Parker.

Goodness, you're gifted.

------
nashashmi
> The accident rate is high (about fifty times the per-vehicle rate in
> America) but nowhere what you’d expect given that everyone is driving at all
> times like a maniac.

I feel like this is the theme in every Arab and Asian country. How stuff keeps
getting done and how people get to their destinations safely is indeed a
wonder. It is a surprise, and often a testament of God's care, that the world
still turns in these regions.

------
meriororen
Hey, the first time I read the Hadith from Bukhari about Prophet (PBUH) had
once overslept! Thanks. :D

------
statictype
My only observation is that the breakfast looks a lot like a north-indian
dinner.

------
scott_karana
Typo:

> My hopes have riding on the jerry cans tied to our roof

~~~
idlewords
That's not a typo, that's wabi-sabi.

~~~
dredmorbius
Your writing (and insights) _are_ excellent. But you _really_ <strike>need
to</strike> <replace>would improve the content</replace> go<add>ing</add> back
and scan<add>ing</add> for both typos and tag glitches.

Still haven't fixed the missing inter-page in your "Internet with a Human
Face" article. I really wish you would.

#ads and #conclusion, FWIW.

[http://idlewords.com/bt14.htm#ads](http://idlewords.com/bt14.htm#ads)

[http://idlewords.com/bt14.htm#conclusion](http://idlewords.com/bt14.htm#conclusion)

Also, put your name and datelines on stuff.

I also have it on good authority from a some-time NPR anchor that the spider
image specifically turned them off the page. I know, but a point to consider.

~~~
idlewords
Why do I _really_ need to any of that? I've written tens of thousands of words
for you, for free, etc.

From my perspective, catching flak for picayune errors is a powerful
motivation-sapping force. I realize nobody likes typos, but in revising these
things for publication I generally go over them N-1 times, where N is the
number that would make me delete everything and replace it with a 410 Gone
page.

The fact that some NPR person is afraid of spiders makes me happy that I used
that image.

Finally, you should have written "turned them off", not "turned them of". See?
Not so easy.

~~~
dredmorbius
Granted, "need" may overstate the case. I've revised my comment above on that
point and the typo (keyboard issues are making those somewhat more frequent).

But: I consider writing as a communication done, generally, for the reader's
benefit. Not a novel viewpoint. HN featured a bit from Vonnegut on that point
yesterday. Among his points:

Pity the readers: They have to identify thousands of little marks on paper,
and make sense of them immediately

[http://peterstekel.com/PDF-
HTML/Kurt%20Vonnegut%20advice%20t...](http://peterstekel.com/PDF-
HTML/Kurt%20Vonnegut%20advice%20to%20writers.htm)

I guess I belong to the school which says that a thing worth doing is worth
doing well. I try to fix bugs in my code, I try to write clearly, I try to be
accurate in what I say and acknowledge errors.

And yeah, sometimes I get really annoyed at nitpickers who seem to have lost
the thread:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9567882](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9567882)

Does this mean you've got to do the same?

No.

But it's a _very_ small point frequently, one that can make the difference
between a good (or even _really_ good) piece, and one that's truly epic. Which
on a site such as HN which focuses in large part on executing both technical
and conceptual brilliance, seems a good candidate for a general community
value.

And yes, editing (especially for professional publication) is a sort of penny-
ante death. I've been watching authors Charlie Stross and Ksenia Anske grouse
about it lately on Ello. It's a bit of a pain for my own stuff. But obvious
glaring shit? I'll fix it if possible.

Sure, there's the Zen ideal of imperfection as its own perfection. And there
can be other reasons for errors and faults to creep in or be unfixable (HN
locks comemnts from further editing, something that leaves me cringing
frequently).

I find it just plain sloppy myself.

~~~
tptacek
How about for starters: if you have boring notes to offer on someone's web
page, send it to them privately, instead of posting it for the approval of the
whole community.

Sometimes we have things to say about sites that are relevant to lots of
people. But these notes not so much.

I'm probably not great about this either and would be happy if someone took
the time to call me out for it.

~~~
dredmorbius
I've actually done that, several times in this case - 2-3 attempts, about the
maximum number I'll generally try. I prefer not to be a complete pest. Be
careful in what you presume.

I thought I'd make one more attempt online now when the opportunity presented
itself.

And while I try _not_ to flagrantly call out errors on people's stuff, if I
see them I'll note them as quietly as possible. On platforms that support it
(e.g., G+) that includes a "delete this comment" note, frequently.

I really like Maciej's work. I'd posted a link to "Human Face" just yesterday:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9574540](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9574540)

I find the self-defeating attitude discouraging. Thought really, that's his
call.

I've tried. He's made his views clear. So it goes.

------
k2enemy
Strange, I though HN de-duped submissions? I had submitted the same link
earlier today:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9575829](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9575829)

Anyway, terrific writing, as always.

~~~
dang
Using a slightly different URL bypasses the dupe detector, and we don't bury
stories as dupes unless they've already had significant attention.

