Poor Yemen… The most impoverished country in the Middle East really did not need to be kicked around any more, but it has been unable to avoid becoming yet another proxy battleground for the Shia vs. Sunni civil war now crashing through the Islamic world. We were fortunate enough to be able to visit the … Continue reading
* The Kurdish Peshmerga have fought their way deep into Iraq, to the edge of Mosul, and are now dug in, just waiting for the order to join in the final assault to take the city back from the Islamic State… Continue reading
A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter stands watch over a “no man’s land” between an outpost the Peshmerga have established inside of Iraqi territory and ISIS positions outside of Mosul: Continue reading
I provided an introduction to the mountains of Chechnya in a previous post, but with this post, we’re getting into the most restricted area where a lot of heavy activity went down in the recent Chechen Wars (and still does now). I’m referring to the region of Chechnya that borders Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge… The eight-mile-long … Continue reading
Well, I hate to be anticlimactic, but I’m afraid some might read a bit much into my title… Although, this confusion has delivered more than a few Yemenis into serious trouble when innocently responding with “Al Qaidah” when asked about their backgrounds or where they are from. The unfortunately named Al-Qaidah is a town in … Continue reading
North Korean government officials are, at least outwardly, very proud of their country’s accomplishments and seem to take a particular delight in one-upping the decadent, capitalist pigs in the outside world in any way possible. North Korea just can’t seem to let go of any opportunity to demonstrate that they are stronger, smarter, bigger, better … Continue reading
I’ve been profiling some of the cities and towns of Yemen for you, dear readers… However, you know that I also strive to show, as much as possible, what a place is really like aside from just the highlights. And it should not be shocking to hear that there is a lot more to Yemen … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 