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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.
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The following comes from Greg Miller’s article in the Washington Post on the second issue of Inspire:“The publication notes with evident pride that AQAP, as the group is known, has […]
Studying and thinking about groups like al-Qaeda can be an intellectually dangerous undertaking. Like most areas of study, the information one is dealing with is often heavily biased. Additionally, there […]
Every so often – say once or twice every few months – it really does seem, at least from the outside, as if Yemen is falling apart, and, gasp, could […]
Given some of the comments that have shown up on the blog over the past few days, Waq al-waq has decided to disallow anonymous comments. While we encourage different views […]
Yemen’s Ministry of the Interior has put out yet another wanted list. This time of 150 leaders of the so-called “Southern Movement.” Headlining the list as this Mareb Press brief […]
Despite the headline of this piece from Reuters, Gilles de Kerchove actually makes some very sober points:“I was in Yemen a month ago. It’s a state that really needs to […]
I respect Abdul Hameed Bakier’s take on Islamists and al-Qaeda, and I’ve always gotten along well with him, but for me this article is lacking his usual nuance, which often […]
I’m heading off for a few days of what I like to think is a much-deserved vacation later today, which means that postings will likely be sporadic over the next […]
In today’s Guantanamo files it appears that not only is al-Shihri still suspected of being involved in the September 2008 attack on the US Embassy (hopefully, returning readers know how […]
Today we would have seen parliamentary elections, but they were postponed, so instead, like everyone else, I’m waiting to see the results (if any) of today’s goings on in Abyan.
Ever wonder what happened to the two men Yemeni security forces captured back in August in a raid on an al-Qaeda safehouse in Tarim, which killed Hamza al-Qu’ayti and four […]
Postings will be even lighter than the new and reduced version of Waq al-waq, as I will be traveling for the next two days.
I was on al-Jazeera English yesterday talking about the recent attempted attack.
Given yesterday’s attack on Muhammad bin Nayif, I thought it might be helpful if I posted an excerpt from a talk I gave on August 19. The following is pasted […]
Waq al-waq has just learned that Hamid al-Ahmar will be a guest on al-Jazeera’s Bila Hadud on Wednesday. Watch, enjoy and then comment.
… with this confused and contradictory article. I have no idea who wrote this, but whoever it is needs a better editor – can one really say: “The last thing […]
Major newspapers employ individuals who fact check their articles, including the opinion pieces of columnists, yes? Someone please enlighten me if this is not the case. I have written a […]
In the experiment in vanity that is Waq al-waq, I have added a post, which has its own permanent link on the sidebar of a list of non-academic articles. So […]
This article (English) reminds me of the problems that certain academics (who shan’t be named here) had attempting to explain how something like the September 11 attacks could have happened […]
I made the mistake of listening to bin Laden’s newest tape, which comes with English sub-titles and both an Arabic text and an English translation, before my coffee this morning. […]