July 03, 2005

Imperial Grunts

Yes, it's true, I'm staying at home in on a Saturday night, reading and blogging; feeling too sick to do anything else. (I thought about not blogging and giving off the impression that I had some super-awesome nightlife, but eh, who would I fool?) That said, Robert Kaplan's soon-to-be-released book on the U.S. military's "adventures" in the developing world is really quite good, including this bit of advice on what to do if you're kidnapped in Yemen:
Adolph, trained as a hostage negotiator by Great Britain's New Scotland Yard, told me what to do in case I was kidnapped: "Don't protest. Be submissive. Show them pictures of your family to establish a relationship. After the first few hours, ask to see the sheikh. If they take you to meet him, it's all right. It's an authorized kidnapping, for the sake of convincing the authorities to give the tribe a new road or water well. They'll tell you the negotiations should be completed in a few days; figure two months. Foreigners have been known to gain weight in the course of being held hostage in Yemen. Each family in the village will host you for a while, to divide the cost of your food. But if they don't take you to see the sheikh the first day, start to worry. Then it may be an unauthorized kidnapping, and it's okay to think of ways to escape."
Okay, then.
-- Brad Plumer 1:53 AM || ||