Search
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.
Read Less
Two new articles – in English – today give me an excuse to write on the Huthi conflict and also discuss some new media outlets that are publicizing their side […]
Apologies for the extended absence from blogging. It couldn’t be helped. A lot has happened in the last two weeks, some of which I’ll even be blogging about in the […]
I was going to entitle this post “Waq al-waq hearts Robert F. Worth,” but decided that might be a bit much. As it is, Worth’s post has warmed the collective […]
Just a quick note from Firestone’s dungeon, to recommend that anyone interested in what is going on in the south should read Nasser Arrabyee’s report in al-Ahram weekly.For me, the […]
After weeks of speculation and false leads Yemen has identified the suicide bomber that attempted to attack a South Korean convoy in March. The attacker was 20-year-old Khalid Abdullah Ali […]
So here I am sitting at home on Spring Break, writing up a report on Yemen, and just as I come to the section on press freedoms in the country […]
Waq al-waq’s spring cleaning goes on, as we continue to ignore stories in nearly every sector. But I think it is time for a quick round-up.First is this story about […]
Mareb Press is reporting that a mediation team under the leadership of Shaykh Faris al-Mana’a arrived in Ghamir in Sa’dah in an attempt to bring the situation back under control […]
I have been traveling to DC the last couple of days – and on the train most of the morning – which means I’m playing a bit of catch-up with […]
There is a great deal of news coming out of Yemen and Saudi Arabia this morning. Khalid al-Hammadi, in al-Quds al-Arabi, as well as a number of others write about […]
I will be traveling for the rest of the week, consequently postings will be sporadic. I will, however, do my best to post from the road and the hotel. But […]
It seems clear from everything I have been able to put together from news reports, Yemeni officials I’ve spoken with and Yemenis back in Yemen that the 6 hostages are […]
There is not much in the way of analysis in this piece by Mareb Press, but I do completely disagree with the headline. I think al-Wahayshi’s statement was, in fact, […]
The head of the criminal investigation unit in Marib was kidnapped yesterday, and is reportedly being held in exchange for the release of tribal prisoners.Al-Sharq al-Awsat is reporting on the […]
Well, having spent more time than even I like talking about Yemen today (for those keeping score at home apparently the limit sans qat is eight hours – nine hours […]
There have been numerous reports on Yemen in English that have been released in recent days – some good and some not so good – but few on which I […]
I have a new article out in Newsweek that argues that any benefits from assassinating al-Awlaki should be weighed carefully against not only the questionable legality of such a strike […]
One of the things about thinking so much about one particular country is that everything tends to be processed through that one filter. This can be both good and bad. […]
Al-Tagheer republishes this piece by Faysal Mukrim of al-Hayat, which happens to be strangely similar to the piece written by Muhammad al-Ahmadi in al-Ghad, which is edited by Mukrim. Mareb […]
Yemen has announced that it has arrested 6 of the 12 potential suicide bombers that were on the loose. There is little information about when, where or how. Such is […]