Gregory Johnsen
Near East Studies Scholar, Princeton University
Gregory Johnsen, a former Fulbright Fellow in Yemen, is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Johnsen has written for a variety of publications on Yemen including, among others, Foreign Policy, The American Interest, The Independent, The Boston Globe, and The National. He is the co-founder of Waq al-Waq: Islam and Insurgency in Yemen Blog. In 2009, he was a member of the USAID's conflict assessment team for Yemen.
Today is just one of those days when, try as I might, I just can’t keep my mind on the work I’m supposed to be doing and am instead sucked […]
Here at Waq al-waq we rarely take a stand on issues (unless it is how to transliterate Arabic words) or endorse different things, but from time to time we break […]
Today’s papers are, as you can imagine, full of stories about Muhammad al-‘Awfi and how and when he turned himself in or was captured.CNN has this story on al-‘Awfi that […]
The big news coming out of Yemen today is that roughly 40 prisoners – southern activists – escaped from a jail in al-Dhala after a guard threw a hand grenade […]
For those with an interest in hearing me talk as opposed to just reading the blog, I will be on the Takeaway at the very early hour of 7:30 am […]
Not surprisingly there is a lot of attention being paid to Inspire, much more than is paid to the Arabic releases by the al-Malahim media wing. I can only say […]
Al-Jazeera, as regular readers of Waq al-waq are well aware, is not endearing itself to Yemeni authorities as of late – but then really few newspapers or media outlets are, […]
There are more arrests in Yemen. First, another one in Taizz, of someone that 26th of September is identifying as Abu Hadhifah, which tells us exactly nothing. Mareb Press has […]
President Salih announced at a meeting of Yemeni journalists that the government was dropping charges against ‘Abd al-Karim al-Khaywani. Not everyone it seems is happy with the delay in Parliamentary […]
Today I have an op-ed in the New York Times, arguing that killing Anwar al-Awlaki will likely do little to protect the US homeland from AQAP attacks and that instead […]
Today marks Waq al-waq’s last day on blogspot.com. After some thought and several discussions I have decided to move Waq al-waq to Big Think. I am incredibly excited about the […]
A little less than a year ago Brian and I started this blog. What for me began as an amusing diversion has, nearly 12 months later, become an unhealthy distraction. […]
On a visit to the 29th Mechanized Division, President Salih has said that the military would changed tactics to deal with the Huthis, recalling Yemen’s experience in wars in the […]
I had meant to post on this fascinating new report from the Middle East Institue on Friday when it showed up in my in-box, but events over the weekend prevented […]
This report in the New York Times details the latest drone attack in Pakistan, which killed at least 25 people Saturday.Yemen has long been compared unflatteringly to both Afghanistan and […]
There isn’t much in the pan-Arab papers today with the exception of a small UPI piece in al-Quds al-Arabi denying that the 176 released prisoners have any link to al-Qaeda. […]
For those who missed it or who can’t get enough of me spouting off here is a link to a radio segment I did this morning with Robert Worth of […]
This is an excellent article by Mohammed al Qadhi in today’s National on the water problem in Ta’izz, which is even worse there than it is in San’a. In other […]
For those new to Waq al-waq – and that is most of you – you should be aware that we will delete any comment that uses profanity, as I did […]
Khalid al-Hammadi has an excellent report on the surprise visit of Khalid Mishal of Hamas to San’a, where he offered to serve as a mediator between Yemen and Iran. Very […]
Here is a link to a piece I wrote for Common Ground News Service on the fighting in Sa’dah.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat is reporting that the Huthis and Yemeni security forces are clashing in the north. The fighting, which is being described as heavy, comes as Yemen has arrested more […]
I was going to leave this alone, as I am worried about turning Waq al-waq into a place that only critiques the media and has nothing positive to offer, but […]
For those that missed the streaming video of the morning session of the fascinating conference on al-Qaeda hosted by the New American Foundation and the NYU Center on Law and […]
People have been saying for a number of years that Yemen could easily become the next Somalia. I’m not sure that the country will actually go that way; I think […]
While we were away on various trips and excursions over the weekend a great deal happened in Yemen, some of which we will try to highlight below.The security director in […]
The other day I got an e-mail from someone (I assure you this was a real person) who said he enjoyed links to articles and radio and tv spots, so […]
Robert Haddick of Small Wars Journal recently argued in his weekly column for Foreign Policy that Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Huthi conflict was good news for the US. The […]
I’m still trying to figure out al-Hayat’s newly reconfigured website and find where al-Ghad went to on the super-web, but in the meantime al-Sharq al-Awsat does us all a favor […]