I'm back from my secret trip.
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Friday, December 7, 2018
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[Yaqoob Walid, a seven-year-old in Yemen who weighs just over 30 pounds.](
Yaqoob Walid, a seven-year-old in Yemen who weighs just over 30 pounds. Giles Clark
In my last couple of newsletters, I mentioned that I was traveling somewhere that I couldnât tell you about. So now Iâm out and I can share: I was in Yemen, both government-held and rebel-held areas, and Iâve written [this Sunday piece]( about the unconscionable role that America and Saudi Arabia play in starving Yemeni children. [Please read and share](.
Iâve covered starvation before in many countries over the years, and itâs always heartbreaking. But often itâs caused by drought or other extreme weather, while this is a food crisis caused by Saudi and American policy to try to dislodge the Houthi rebels. I met everyone from the Houthi president to children dying from our policies, and I find our policy indefensible.
The Saudi coalition bans journalists from most of Yemen (it controls the air space and has ended commercial flights to most of Yemen, so it can do this) because it doesnât want you to see photos like Yaqoobâs above, or read about our [complicity in his suffering](. It took me more than two years to figure out a way through the Saudi blockade, and I found Yemen almost unrecognizable from my last trip. Ironically, I felt reasonably secure in the rebel-held areas (though I did worry about having an American bomb dropped on me) but was constantly alarmed in the areas nominally controlled by the American-backed âinternationally recognized government.â There was gunfire overhead, as well as some mysterious firefight outside my guest house at night. And the guest house offered not a mint on the pillow, but a flak jacket in the closet.
I was amused by the Yemen âarrival cardâ for immigration. It asked the purpose of travel and listed options like âholidays,â âmedical care,â and âconferences.â Not a lot of people traveling to Yemen for holidays these days.
R.I.P., President George H.W. Bush. His biggest failing was AIDS, and his greatest strength was foreign policy at the end of the Cold War. The team of Bush 41, James Baker and Brent Scowcroft was the gold standard for diplomatic excellence.Â
I think the financial markets are right to worry about the economy ahead. One reason is that when there inevitably is a downturn, we donât have good tools to address a recession. Interest rates are low, so monetary policy has a limited impact. And with trillion dollar deficits after the Trump tax cut, there is only so much room for more fiscal stimulus. That may mean that the next recession is deeper than it should be.
Boy, Iâm cheery today. To keep your own problems in perspective, [read my Yemen column]( and please pass it along. I think the best leverage we have to end the war is to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and Iâm hoping Congress will step up and do that. From Yemen, [hereâs my takeaway.](
Book Watch
On the long flight to Djibouti (my jumping off point to Yemen), I read Laila Lalamiâs forthcoming novel â[The Other Americans,]( which will be published in March. This may be even better than â[The Moorâs Account]( Lalamiâs last novel, which was a Pulitzer finalist a few years ago. âThe Other Americansâ is a combination mystery, love story and literary exploration of immigrants in America.
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