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 an interest – or possibly just want to critique me like I do to others – you can tune into CNN later this evening (say a little […]
As most of the wires are reporting, AQAP has put up a statement, #29, taking credit for the parcel bomb plot as well as for bringing down a UPS plane […]
US Senator John Kerry has an op-ed in The National today on the way forward for Yemen.He makes a number of very good points. The most important of which, in […]
Now that I have returned to the Princeton and given all the news that has been coming out of Yemen – or perhaps more accurately, been coming out about Yemen […]
Lolita C. Baldor, who does excellent work for the AP, has this story on the Treasury Department freezing the assets of certain individuals who are either “involved in piracy off […]
My contributor copies to the forthcoming issue of The American Interest just came in the mail, and for those of you hoping to get your hands on a copy of […]
Well, what we reported earlier this morning with caution, is now being confirmed by the Yemen Embassy in Washington. Muhammad al-‘Awfi was arrested and sent back to Saudi Arabia according […]
Khalid al-Hammadi writes about violations of press freedoms in al-Quds al-Arabi, which goes well with this report from the National on a proposed new press law in Yemen.Of course Minister […]
The BBC is reporting that five have been killed at a rally in the city of ‘Ataq in the governorate of Shabwa. The local Yemeni press meanwhile has different casualty […]
Yemen’s Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi: “I think there are a lot of experts on Yemen who write a lot of articles about Yemen, and analyses, and they have never […]
The war in Sa’dah continues to escalate, and although I don’t have time for a full or comprehensive post on the war today one is in the works. In the […]
I’ve been away from the internet for most of the weekend, but I returned today to find that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has posted a statement taking responsibility for […]
News Yemen, which is run by Nabil al-Sufi, has an absolutely fascinating article today on a tribal meeting that was convened by the Arhab tribe in an attempt to decide […]
The new video AQAP posted on the Battle of Marib today – September 8 – is by far the most technologically impressive piece of propaganda I have seen it produce […]
It has been so long since I blogged that I couldn’t even remember my username or password. I’m not sure what that means, but it must mean something.Anyway, I’m breaking […]
Western papers are leading with the news that Yemeni forces have killed two al-Qaeda suspects. Not so fast, says Mareb Press, which actually names the two individuals killed – Nur […]
There is too much and it is too late for an actual post, but the week ahead at Waq al-waq will feature:1. Commentary on AQAP’s statement on the Huthi attacks […]
Thanks to the beauty of wireless internet (it is called WiFi, yes?) and Philadelphia, which has become one of my favorite cities over the past few months, I have a […]
The more I read this piece from the NY Times on al-Qaeda moving from Pakistan to Yemen and Somalia the less convinced I am. There seems to be a great […]
You have got to admire a journalist who does not mess around with burying a cliche, but just goes ahead and leads with it. I disagree with a handful of […]
Muhammad al-Qadhi has this article in the National, which discusses the latest clashes between al-Huthi supporters and the potential for a sixth round of all out war between the two […]
Waq al-waq wishes all of our readers the best during the month of Ramadan. (A bit late, but we won’t let that stop us.)
There is a new AQAP audiotape, The Crusader Attack on Yemen, out today from one of the group’s religious figures, ‘Adil al-‘Abab. Al-‘Abab, who also goes by the kunya Abu […]
It is another rainy Saturday and Nebraska has yet to kick-off, so I suppose we have time to at least temporarily resurrect our morning papers section of the blog.By all […]
A little over seven years ago, an unmanned US drone killed the head of al-Qaeda in Yemen, Abu ‘Ali al-Harithi, and with his death it effectively destroyed al-Qaeda in the […]
I’ve said this before, but sometimes things bear repeating. Plus, I don’t always have new ideas. But I think an incident from today in Shabwa illustrates the difficulties of assigning […]
Some in Yemen are worried about the potential influence of Saudi Arabia and the kingdom’s religious thought on Yemen, following a meeting Sunday in San’a between Islamists from both countries. […]
The Yemeni government’s official daily, al-Thawra, is reporting that the five people were killed in yesterday’s ambush. (Sorry it is a PDF so no link – but it is on […]
Both Marib Press and News Yemen as well as a number of wire reports are reporting that Yemen has arrested Muhammad Ahmad al-Haniq, the individual from Arhab it has been […]