[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/09/art.amanpour.writer.jpg caption="Sr. Writer Tom Evans"]
On AMANPOUR. today - the botched Christmas Day terrorist attack on a U.S. airliner has shone a spotlight on one of the Arab world’s poorest nations: Yemen. Why is Yemen such a hot spot for al Qaeda? What makes it a safe haven for militants? Experts say the country is practically a failed state. Yemen was hit hard by the food crisis and never fully recovered. Its major export is crude oil and that could run out within 5 years. And the country faces one of the worst water crises in the world. In the meantime, the government has been spending 200 million dollars a month on a war against rebels in the North. So where do the Yemeni government, the Arab world, and the U.S. go from here? Christiane will interview the Yemeni foreign minister and the U.S. State Department ambassador at large for counterterrorism. Yemen also tops our news headlines today. Here are some perspectives on that and some other stories.
Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
YEMEN – How successful will the government’s crackdown on Al Qaeda be?
– Yemeni security forces arrest three wounded Al Qaeda suspects today as they pursue terrorists linked to a plot to attack Western embassies
– U.S. Embassy has now reopened, and British embassy is partially open for business again
– U.S. says terrorism in Yemen a threat to regional and global stability
QUESTION: Should the U.S. take stronger military action against Al Qaeda in Yemen?
RUSSIA – Has the world forgotten Russia’s war against Islamic militants in the North Caucasus region?
– suicide bomber kills at least 6 police officers and wounds another 16 at a police station in Dagestan
– similar bombing in neighboring republic of Ingushetia in August killed 24 and wounded more than 200
– Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya have all seen a sharp rise in violence between Moscow-backed governments and Islamic militants over the past year
QUESTION: Will the violence in southern Russia continue to escalate in the year ahead?
JAPAN – Is the world’s collective memory of the atomic bomb attacks on Japan in 1945 receding?
– only man officially recognized as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings at the end of World War Two has died
– Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who died of stomach cancer, was on a business trip to Hiroshima when U.S. dropped first atomic bomb, and then returned to his home town of Nagasaki just before second attack
– About 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki. Filmmaker James Cameron, who directed “Avatar”, reportedly considering making a movie about the atomic bomb attacks
QUESTION: Will Hollywood ever tackle one of the most violent periods of World War Two – the double atomic bombings of Japan?