Amerikanische Hausfrau Frightens Yemen
(Conspiracy
Nation, 06/16/08)
– Jane
Novak (image, left), described by German publications as the
Amerikanische Hausfrau, so frightens the Government Of Yemen (GOY)
that it has blocked her blog. “My blog is blocked inside Yemen,”
writes Novak at her web site (http://armiesofliberation.com/)
“The entire Matoob blogging platform was blocked in March.”
Ms. Novak became fascinated by Yemen and in her spare time began blogging about the nation at the southern tip of the Arabian land mass. The more she learned, the more she did not like what she was seeing. Things came to a head with the arrest of Yemeni journalist Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani.
Americans do not widely know the situation in Yemen because of election distractions. The drearily long primary season has displaced real news. Instead, attention is focused on nonsense and non-issues to the detriment of reality.
But Hausfrau Novak has not been deterred. She has painstakingly studied the Yemeni situation and has shown what just one woman with a computer can do. And the macho men of the Government Of Yemen (GOY) are terrified.
GOY is also frightened by Yemen's Hashemite Shi'ites, who ruled the country for more than a 1,000 years. They were deposed in 1962 by an alliance of Shi'ite and Sunni military officers. But now the Hashemites are rebelling in the north. (“Unrest in Yemen drawing regional notice,” Washington Post, June 15, 2008)
Into this volatile mixture strode Yemeni journalist Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani. When the Yemeni government massively bombed the north of Yemen, al-Khaiwani went to investigate. He uncovered hastily dug graves containing bodies of victims of the bombs, including women and children. For this, al-Khaiwani was arrested and charged with “publishing information liable to undermine army morale.” He faced the death penalty. Due to international attention including persistent efforts by Ms. Novak, al-Khaiwani's sentence was eventually reduced to six years in prison. Yet even this is outrageous. Al-Khaiwani merely reported what he saw.
On Monday, June 9th, the U.S. State Department condemned the jailing of al-Khaiwani. To this GOY responded, such criticism “is surprising given the silence over (American) violations of human rights at Guantanamo, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and elsewhere.” (“Yemen rejects US criticism of journalist's jailing”, AFP, June 12, 2008)
The issue is neutralized because the U.S. government increasingly lacks moral authority. But private citizens such as Jane Novak cannot be said to be compromised. “I’m making sure it's understood that it's al-Khaiwani’s coverage of the government’s near genocide in Sa’ada that drew the ire of the regime,” she writes. “I’m also discussing the massive corruption of the Yemeni government, the criminalization of the regime, the smuggling, the poverty, child malnutrition, the appeasement of al-Qaeda and other such topics. By the time this is over, Yemen will no longer be a black hole in Western consciousness.”
Perhaps not. Perhaps some attention will be paid to the situation in Yemen instead of to “junk news” and political trivialities. But even if not, Jane Novak, the Amerikanische Hausfrau, will have at least lit a candle on the darkness.
Conspiracy Nation
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html