Helena Cobban of Just World Books invited me to “curate” a collection of my articles about Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula from the archives of Middle East Report. Her proposal came in May 2014, amidst veritable chaos in southwest Arabia, soon after the start of the Saudi-led military campaign. Along with Middle East Report editor Chris Toensing, we decided to include a cross-section of authors and a longitudinal perspective beginning with the early days of Middle East Report and Information Project (MERIP), as well as include blog posts that stand the test of time and Middle East Report Online (MERO) entries. They are presented for readers who follow current events but are not conversant with the politics of the Peninsula. Indeed, even avid news junkies and prominent pundits would not be conversant in the internal dynamics of what has remained Arabia Incognita.
The articles in this volume come from the annals of the Middle East Report and Information Project (MERIP) about the Arabian Peninsula, including both articles for the print magazine and online materials. From the rich, robust archive collection of dispatches, those republished here most directly explain the social, economic, political and military background to the convulsions in the Peninsula during 2015/16. Most selections are abridged or excerpted from more detailed accounts, and some are short vignettes from longer pieces (which you’ll find set apart in gray boxes throughout the book). Note that copious end notes from magazine articles and scrupulous links from web publications are deleted. Therefore, academic researchers or others seeking further detail and documentation are strongly encouraged to consult the original print or electronic versions.
The montage of articles, excerpts, vignettes, and visuals presented here capture memorable moments from contemporary Arabian history in approximately chronological order. While most readers would logically start reading “at the beginning,” which is roughly the middle of the 20th century, I must say that readers struggling to make sense of headlines but quite unfamiliar with the politics, cultures and economies of the Peninsula might prefer to begin with the readings in the last part of the book, about the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, and then back to the “Arab Spring,” earlier aspects of the (Anglo-) American relationship with Gulf oil monarchies before, during, and after the Cold War, and social dynamics in a sub-region of the globe that is paradoxically both pivotal and peripheral.
The book features two kinds of original illustrations graciously donated by colleagues. First, Director of Spatial Analysis Lab at the University of Richmond Kimberley Brown, GIS Technician Taylor Holden, and interns Marissa Parker, Olivia Mobayed, and Andrew Talbot created a series of custom maps for this volume. Secondly, the Sana’a-based political cartoonist Samer Mohammed al-Shameeri generously granted permission to reproduce several of his many satirical portrayals of Yemeni politics and the Saudi-led intervention (note that the originals are in color). Al-Shameeri, a graduate of the media studies program at Sana`a University, has won awards from the International Yemen Cartoon and Caricature Contest and the 11th International Cartoon Contest in Syria, and was nominated for the Arab journalism award.
My thanks go out to Helena Cobban, Kim MacVaugh, Diana Ghazzawi and Brian Baughan for their help in producing this book