Program in Arabic Language at the Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies

The National Council is proud to serve as the American Main Office for the Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies (YCMES), whose campus is centrally located in Sana’a, the capital of the Republic of Yemen. YCMES is a fully accredited, non-profit college that provides students and scholars from around the world the opportunity to develop a complex knowledge of the Arabic language and the contemporary Middle East. Students can study at YCMES for 5, 10, or 15 weeks, or more — programs are tailored to meet students’ needs.

Sana’a, Yemen is an ideal location for language acquisition and cultural immersion. Unlike many other Middle Eastern cities where English and/or French are pervasive, Sana’a is one of the few remaining places in the world where Arabic is spoken exclusively. In short, it is nearly impossible to remain isolated in a Western bubble.

The Program in Arabic Language (PAL), the Arabic language department within the YCMES, was the first private institution in Yemen dedicated exclusively to teaching Arabic as a foreign language. The PAL has served the needs of international students, researchers, and the resident expatriate community since 1989. The YCMES’ Arabic Language Learning Program is open to international students of all ability levels, with program lengths from five weeks to a full calendar year.

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“Regional Geo-Political Dynamics: The Arabian Peninsula (GCC Countries and Yemen)” at the 2012 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, Professor of Political Science, United Arab Emirates University (Abu Dhabi) and lead author, 2008 Arab Knowledge Report, at the 2012 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

Dr. John Duke Anthony, Dr. Abdel Aziz Abu Hamad Aluwaisheg, Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, and Dr. Abdullah K. Al-Shayji  gave remarks on “Policymaking Opportunities and Lessons Learned From Regional Geo-Political Dynamics: The Arabian Peninsula (GCC Countries and Yemen)” at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ 21st Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference. The conference, on the theme “Arab-U.S. Relations Amidst Transition within Constancy: Implications for American and Arab Interests and Policies,” was held October 25-26, 2012 at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

Watch session in the C-SPAN Video Library

Listen to a podcast of the session

Read a transcript of remarks as delivered

Fixing Yemen

Yemen.

Yemen is an ancient and beautiful country – but today it is fraught with danger. Though barely a blip on the world’s radar screen, Yemen poses serious potential risks to the great oil producers of the Gulf region, and thus to the world economy at large.

Yemen, the southwest corner and geographical anchor of the Arabian Peninsula, has been torn by strife for years. But unlike Syria, where today’s media attention is focused, Yemen is so remote and so little known to the outside world that its wars and crises are rarely noticed by Western (particularly American) news media and seldom highlighted by foreign affairs gurus. Apart from the al-Qaeda suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen’s Aden harbor in the year 2000, few Americans have heard anything substantive about that country from their favorite television news channels, and major newspapers tend to consign its travails to the inside pages.

The difference is that Syria has long been a major player in the Middle East, and its fate is of great interest to many, but so few people know anything about Yemen that it is hard to generate concern for its future.

Yemen? Isn’t that what the Romans called Arabia Felix – Fortunate (and Fertile) Arabia? Wasn’t it the land of the Queen of Sheba?

Old Sana’a is considered by many historians to be one of the oldest, continuously-inhabited cities in the world. Declared a World Heritage City by UNESCO in 1984, Sana’a’s historic section has 103 mosques, 14 hammams (public bath houses), and over 6,000 traditional residences in which Yemenis still live with their families. Photo: Yemen College for Middle Eastern Studies.

Yes, it was those things, but that is about the extent of most Americans’ knowledge of the country. In addition to being an important leg of age-old land and maritime trade routes, Yemen was a formidable ancient sea power at the time of the Phoenicians, and later a medieval center of scholarship and learning. In modern times – up until recent years when the fighting got bad – Yemen was a popular tourist destination for Westerners living and working in the Middle East. Yemen drew tourists looking for a taste of the old Middle East, with its colorful traditional markets, stunning medieval architecture and exotic tribal lifestyles.

For years now, though, this kind of tourism has proven risky. The north of Yemen has been wracked by a revolt of Zaidi Shi’ites called “Houthis” after their late rebel clan leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, killed by government forces in 2004. (His brothers continued the insurgency.) Zaidis, whose faith is an offshoot of mainstream Shi’a belief, make up a sizable chunk of the population in the north. The Houthis agreed to a ceasefire in 2010, but unrest continues.

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“A Window onto the Gulf Cooperation Council” – Remarks by His Excellency Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani

“A Window onto the Gulf Cooperation Council,
Together With a View Regarding Its
Involvement Of Late With Yemen”

Remarks by

His Excellency Dr. Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani,
Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council

to the

Gulf Research Center’s Third Annual Gulf Research Meeting,
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

July 11, 2012

Introduction by Dr. John Duke Anthony,
Founding President and CEO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations

 

The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations is privileged to publish the remarks made earlier today by H.E. Dr. Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, who has granted his permission.   The occasion is the three-day Third Annual Gulf Research Meeting (GRM) presented by the Gulf Research Center (GRC) with offices in Jeddah, Geneva, and Cambridge, UK.   Founded by Dr. Abdalaziz Sager less than two decades ago, with the overriding strategic maxim of “Knowledge for All,” the GRC has rapidly become a leading institute specializing in research, education, seminars, workshops, publications, and consultancy.

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Crisis Yemen: Going Where?

On June 26, 2012, the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, the U.S.-GCC Corporate Cooperation Committee, and the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (U.S. Department of Defense/National Defense University) hosted “Crisis Yemen: Going Where?” at the City Club in Washington, DC. Participating specialists were: Ambassador Barbara Bodine, Mr. Gregory Johnsen, Dr. Charles Schmitz, and Mr. Robert Sharp. National Council Founding President and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony served as moderator.

Links to a podcast and video recording of the program are available below. The podcast, along with recordings of other National Council programs, is also available through iTunes: http://bit.ly/itunes-ncusar.

“Crisis Yemen: Going Where?” podcast (.mp3)

Gulf in the News – June 20, 2012

The Ghalib al-Zayadi Problem

Source: Gregory Johnsen, Waq al Waq (Read full story)

Over the past few years as I’ve thought about al-Qaeda, Yemen and US policy I have returned time and time again to what I have termed “the Ghalib al-Zayadi problem.”

Basically, this is the idea that just because someone in Yemen has a beard, carries a gun and talks about Islamic law doesn’t mean that he is a member of al-Qaeda.

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Background, Context, and Perspective on Yemen

YemenOn May 22, Yemen marked its National Day in the aftermath of a suicide bombing in al-Sabin Square in Sanaa, which claimed the lives of more than 90 soldiers and injured 222 people. Earlier this month, Fahed al-Quso, an alleged planner of the USS Cole attack in 2000 and a top al-Qaida leader, was killed in an air strike by a US drone. In light of such events and the ongoing national and international focus on Yemen, the National Council is pleased to provide the following materials for background, context, and perspective.