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.
For those with a satellite or residences abroad, assuming of course, that you have any interest, I will be on al-Hurra this afternoon from 4 – 5 pm along with […]
In an article on the dilemma of the Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo, which I co-wrote with Christopher Boucek back in November 2008 for the CTC Sentinel, we argued that there […]
Despite appearances we have not gone AWOL here at Waq al-waq – we’ve just gotten busy. Article deadlines and preparations for a couple of public talks later this week means […]
I don’t even know where to begin with this piece, so I really won’t. Also I have better things to do with my time, but still check this out:“Awash in […]
News Yemen has a very interesting piece on the make-up of the tribal mediation committee that freed the Japanese engineer and his Yemeni kidnapper as well as a few insights […]
Khaled al-Hammadi of al-Quds al-Arabi has this excellent report from Aden today on what he describes the increasing tensions in the south. He opens the article by quoting some of […]
Letta Tayler of Human Rights Watch has this article at Salon. My favorite part is Murad Zafir’s quote. Murad is an old friend, and if you know him, then you […]
San’a is denying that it has any intention of starting a new round of fighting with al-Huthi supporters, according to al-Jazeera. Meanwhile, al-Sahwa is reporting new clashes today.Trey weighs in […]
The new semester began here today and with it a bit of blog fatigue, so I fear postings will be greatly reduced as I come to grips with the new […]
The trusty visitor counter suggests that Waq al-waq has had several hundred new visitors to the blog yesterday. So, first: Welcome. Second for those of you looking for history of […]
I’ve never understood people – usually much more important than me – who have their research assistants draft their op-eds before they polish and print them.But still when I saw […]
Al-Sharq al-Awsat leads the way today with this article about the trial of the 16 members of al-Qaeda currently on trial in San’a. The article, following the government’s designation, labels […]
Al-Tagheer is reporting that Faysal bin Shamlan has died today in Aden the result of a chronic disease.Shamlan, as many of you know, was the JMP’s candidate for president in […]
There is still no word, at least that I have heard on the two major mysteries of the past year in Sa’dah.1. What exactly happened to the remaining six kidnapping […]
Posting at Waq al-waq will be greatly reduced over the next two weeks as I take time off to celebrate Christmas and spend with my own family and another one […]
I have added a new site to the “sites of interest” tag on the side. This site is devoted to Jarallah ‘Umar, the YSP politician who was assassinated in December […]
Well, in my recent monastic-like silence I’ve ignored commenting on a number of things going on in Yemen over the past few days. But it is raining outside and a […]
Leading the way over the weekend is news on the al-Huthi front. We speculated last week on the possibilities of renewed clashes in the wake of the postponed elections and […]
Posting will likely be light throughout the rest of this week and throughout the weekend as the Waq al-waq team celebrates Thanksgiving with friends and family and watches Nebraska beat […]
There was much I missed in my two-day absence from blogging (although I greatly enjoyed the time off), only some of which I will recap here.First, for those of you […]
I went to a very nice party last night at the Reuters building in New York for aspiring young foreign correspondents. Besides the nice view from Times Square, I was […]
Lost in the news of all the AQAP terrorism talk has been news of the Huthi conflict. Recent rumors – when aren’t there any about the Huthi conflict – have […]
I don’t usually do this and this is not an attempt to embarrass anyone, but since I continue to get e-mails asking about my participation in the Wilton Park Conference […]
In a sign of just how sensitive it is to what I will call Islamist criticisms, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula wasted little time in responding to what it called […]
July 7th marks the end of the 1994 civil war, as the day that Aden fell to northern troops. The aftermath is, of course, not remembered fondly in the south […]
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has just released a special issue devoted to AQAP, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The issue reprints a number of articles that both Brian […]
Most people will probably find the confirmation that another former Guantanamo detainee, Yusif al-Shihri, has rejoined al-Qaeda the most interesting part of this story, but for me the most fascinating […]
Al-Ghad is finally out, and the paper is reporting about potential threats to oil facilities in Aden. This is of particular concern to a number of people, and there is […]
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is roughly three weeks late with issue 11 of Sada al–Malahim, and while there has been little word on the delay, the group has released […]
CNN chats about Yemen with Bernard Haykel.I talk about Yemen with a station in Seattle (I think somewhere in the middle)Brian talks to NPR’s On the Media.