Five riyals just doesn't get you what it used to. This informative wall graffiti bemoans the decreasing value of Yemen's currency. The brother just wants to buy a coke, that's all. The drawing for 2015 is labeled "cap."
Yemen faces bigger problems than the increasing cost of a soda fix. Sana'a, Yemen's capital, is forcasted to run out of water in the next 15 years. Much of Yemen's current water supply is directed toward the cultivation of qat, a midly narcotic leaf chewed by a majority of Yemeni men. In addition, Yemen's oil production has peaked and the state's dependence on declining oil revenues has crippled the state's ability to co-opt regional and tribal leaders. The state must now compete with other forces, notably international terrorist organizations, interested in using the tribes for their benefit.
What can be done? In all honestly, while the West faces the consequences of state deterioration in Yemen (the possiblity that failed state border both sides of the entrance to the Red Sea and Suez Canal shipping?), it is not positioned to enforce solutions. Neighboring nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, that are also threated by Yemeni state instability but seen as at least relatively more legitimate must assume a larger role in promoting a more sustainable political and economic practices in Yemen. It matters.
All this thinkin' has worked up a thirst. Oh wait.
99 bottles of water on the wall, 99 bottles of water, take one down.....
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