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.
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
… 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. […]
The Washington Post follows the New York Times’ report last week on the potential for Yemenis in Guantanamo to head to Saudi with one of its own. Since there is […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It should come as little surprise to readers of this blog, despite the fact that I attempted to fly under the radar, that I have been in Yemen for the […]