NO WATER for the FLAMES

Yemen’s problems are myriad: the World Food Program estimates that one in three Yemenis cannot afford sufficient food, a level of malnourishment unmatched even in sub-Saharan Africa. Unemployment cripples 40 percent of the workforce. The currency of this import-dependant economy tumbled to record lows against the United States dollar last month and violent rebellions against the central government simmer in both the tribal north and secessionist south. Yet for the international community, the only concern that has received significant attention is that Yemen could become “another Afghanistan.” While a 2006 conference of donor countries in London produced $4.7 billion in pledges for Yemeni development, barely a fraction of this was ever distributed. World attention only turned to Yemen with urgency after the failed Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner, in which a Nigerian allegedly affiliated with the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) tried to blow up