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.
Sometimes the news just seems a little off. A few days ago I was watching al-Arabiyya and caught the tail end of brief about a former Guantanamo detainee, Jabir Jabran […]
The US and UK aren’t the only embassies shutting their doors in San’a – the French, Germans, Japanese and Spain have also closed.
Waq al-waq has a very narrow, if self-delineated, portfolio: Yemen. But sometimes Yemen has some strange links, as some of the Google searches that bring people to Waq al-waq indicate. […]
Thanks to all the readers who have been commenting as of late, it is nice to know that Waq al-waq isn’t (solely) an echo chamber. Yemen features prominently, if invisibly, […]
According to multiple stories Yemen arrested the Saudi national Hassan Husayn bin ‘Alwan on Friday in Marib. All of these stories are claiming that ‘Alwan is a “major financier” for […]
I have some unexpected free time this morning, so I thought it would be nice to return to the short-lived morning papers segment of Waq al-waq.US Secretary of Defense Robert […]
According to reports in al-Sahwa and al-Tagheer, soldiers from the 312th brigade have besieged the villages in al-Zuwar, which is located in the Surwah district of Marib in an effort […]
Waq al-waq expects better from the New York Times, we really do. This article from the NY Times’ Steven Erlanger includes this section: “Although Mr. Wuhayshi is still widely believed […]
The news from Yemen is a bit thin today because a) newspapers keep getting banned and b) I’m still struggling to maneuver through al-Ghad and al-Hayat’s new formatting, both of […]
Congratulations are in order to a good friend – who wishes to remain nameless – who successfully defended his/her dissertation this morning, and will surely play an important if behind-the-scenes […]
Waq al-waq topped 5,000 visitors yesterday, which is a new high for us, welcome to all you newcomers.For those that don’t know, I run a periodic (that is, whenever the […]
For those with an interest I did a Bloggingheads segment with Mark Goldberg here.
File this in the better late than never category: the US government is finally publicly acknowledging the Huthi conflict.The Huthis will focus on paragraph one:“The United States is increasingly concerned […]
Following a long day of meetings and talks, I found the new AQAP video on the forums as I was awaiting my train at Union Station (despite the decidedly unfriendly […]
Williman Maclean has this report in Reuters, which continues to pour cold water on the NY Times’ article suggesting al-Qaeda is relocating for the summer. The article cites Thomas Hegghammer, […]
One of Waq al-waq’s favorite Yemeni reporters, Mohammed al-Qadhi, has a new article out for the National on the Huthi conflict. My comments in the report shouldn’t be much of […]
There have been a number of news reports today, suggesting Yemeni war planes have carried out strikes against suspected al-Qaeda positions in in Bani Dhabayn territory just outside of San’a. […]
Intrepid Yemeni journalist, Arafat Madabish, scored an impressive coup for al-Sharq al-Awsat (he also runs the al-Tagheer website) by getting an interview with ‘Abd al-Malik al-Huthi. The interview is fairly […]
Munir al-Mawiri sums up this quite nicely in his article for Mareb Press today in which Waq al-waq shares top billing with Sada al-Malahim. He is referring to the fact […]
CNN and other news outlets are reporting on the possibilities of Yemenis being turned over to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation before they are returned to Yemen. I have been hearing […]
Yemen is saying that it is open season on al-Qaeda in the country, claiming that it will fight them wherever it finds them and warning Yemenis against helping them or […]
Waq al-waq should have much more this afternoon on the executions of the 9 hostages (the Yemeni Embassy in the US is only confirming three dead) in the North. At […]
Sorry for the delay in postings, but I have been busy with radio interviews this morning – if I can find a link I’ll post it later.But the real news, […]
Comments like this drive me crazy: “So it is a Saudi-Iranian proxy war,” he said. (The he being: Simon Henderson, director of Gulf and energy policy at the Washington Institute […]
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a deal to send the Yemeni detainees to Saudi Arabia is in the making. This comes out just as I argue in “How […]
Mareb Press is reporting that there was an RPG attack on a military check point in Shabwa this morning. The article suggests that the attack came in Ratiq days after […]
Throughout the summer AQAP has put out a number of statements, detailing its operations. Often times I would discuss these with a Yemeni friend, the only other one I know […]
One of the questions I am often asked is what if any links al-Qaeda as it is headquartered in Yemen has with al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia. Certainly, Sada al-Malahim has […]