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.
… on Tuesday when I return from traveling. In the meantime, I have added a great blog by Daniel Martin Varisco, an old Yemen hand, and all around great guy. […]
Mohammed al-Qadhi has a good piece detailing the latest kidnappings both in ‘Amran and in Sa’dah. He explains government accusations that the Huthis were behind both – a charge the […]
This is another wonderful piece from Mohammed al-Qadhi and a great companion piece to today’s article by Khaled al-Hammadi. This is just one of many reasons why the government is […]
We all know Yemen is in trouble: A resurgent al-Qaeda, a revolt in the north, increasingly violent actions in the south, no oil, no water, a growing youth bulge, declining […]
Well, if you are Ra’id al-Harbi, whose last will and testament was posted to jihadi forums over the weekend, you ride your camel nine hours across the border to Yemen. […]
Christopher Boucek at the Carnegie Endowment has released his long-awaited Yemen paper today. It is available in PDF here in both English and Arabic. I read a portion of the […]
Work has heated up with little time for blogging, so instead of actually taking the time to write a blog post on a rainy Saturday I thought it be would […]
Brian O’Neill of Always Judged Guilty has an op-ed on Yemen and the future – post AQAP strikes on the Huthis – in the National. You should read it.I have […]
I would also direct your attention to this piece by Mohammed al-Qadhi in the National on al-Iman University.I don’t think it is terribly difficult to get access to the university. […]
Check out Charles Schmitz, professor of Geography at Towson State and President of the American Institute for Yemeni Studies, on Democracy Now. Charles is a good friend and while we […]
A couple of weeks ago, I was part of a panel on Yemen hosted by the National Council on US-Arab Relations.The video for that event is now on-line and available.
Still little discussion on the forums about the sentences handed down to the Tarim Cell today, although one post mistakenly claims that all 16 were sentenced to death. In the […]
I’ve been holding off linking to this article under the mistaken impression that I would have time to give it a close read, but as the days have gone by […]
I go out of town for a while only to return having learned two things. First, never, ever go to the driving range in sandals and second, our excessively shy […]
Waq al-waq’s multi-media team has recently been busy preparing a new series of what could most accurately be called “sporadic conversations on Yemen,” but we have instead elected to call […]
With everyone talking about Ibrahim Asiri and a number of reporters asking what I knew about him, I thought it would be useful if I put together a little biographic […]
This is what happens in a war – conflicting reports based on hearsay and rumors and no one really knows what is happening.Lets review three security incidents from today.1. First, […]
The big Sa’dah post that I have been promising is on the way – I promise. But in the meantime, while Iran is calling for a political solution and while […]
Earlier this month I wrote about the possibility of a replay of 2001-2002 and the US targeting al-Qaeda operatives with drones. The news that the US “assisted” with this week’s […]
Today’s papers are full of news of the continuing conflict in the North. In English Heather Murdock has this curious offering from the Global Post in which she kills off […]
Abdillah Haydar al-Shay’a has published the text of his interview from a few weeks back with Anwar al-Awlaki on al-Jazeera.Update: It is difficult to square al-Awlaki’s description of this e-mail […]
Presumably there is more news than me finally being able to transfer al-Wahayshi’s latest speech on to my i-pod so that I can listen to his creaking voice as I […]
The Yemen Embassy in DC has posted a video of the Dec. 17 raid on an al-Qaeda safehouse in Arhab to You Tube.The video is fascinating – just over 7 […]
Yemen and fears of secession is the topic of the “Big Question” over at World Policy Journal’s blog. I helped a bit with the project – not in putting it […]
Waq al-waq is proud to link to Jarret Brachman’s blog on all things Jihadi. Jarret was kind enough to let me sit beside him at a conference last year back […]
In recent days there has been a series – does three equal a spate? – of articles on the attempted assassination of Muhammad bin Nayif, which I have written about […]
Saudi Arabia has finally revealed the names of the two individuals killed in the shootout in Jizan. (I am seeing this spelled two different ways in Arabic one with an […]
A number of my favorite commentators on Yemen have been speaking and writing on Yemen lately and here is an assortment of their varied views:First up is Daniel Varisco of […]
The new issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin is out, and it has an article on the delaying of the elections in Yemen. Marine Poirier gives an overview of the […]
This is an extraordinarily powerful piece of writing from an aid worker, Saddam al-Abdeeni, in Sa’dah.