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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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First, a big and heartfelt thanks to all of you who have continued to check Waq al-waq over the past few months as I’ve struggled to overcome several technical issues. […]
Brian O’Neill, co-founder of Waq al-waq, remembers Chris: As most people reading this today already know, Chris Boucek- suddenly, unexpectedly, tragically, passed away this morning, at the shockingly young age […]
Earlier today Aaron Zelin over at Jihadology pointed me to a new release on the forums. Ansar al-Shariah, the group we first heard about earlier this spring in a talk […]
Last Thursday I recorded a bloggingheads session on Yemen with Afrah Nasser. In the 43-minute video we talked about the current stalemate in Sanaa and what, if anything, can be […]
Was the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki legal? Was it wise and did it make Americans safer?
For those who want more al-Awlaki, although I don’t see how you possibly could. Here is a radio spot I did for the Takeaway this morning. And a video from […]
The al-Awlaki stories continue to fly off the presses at an astounding rate. (But more on that later). One of the things I neglected to mention in my earlier post […]
Early this morning the Yemeni government released the following statement: The government of the Republic of Yemen announced today the death of Anwar Al-Awlaki, the American born terrorist and member […]
For the past several months I have strongly criticized US policy in Yemen, arguing that the US is missing a key opportunity to be a force for positive change in […]
If you read one article on Yemen today, it should be this one by Charles Schmitz up at Foreign Policy. In concise prose, Schmitz walks us through the summer and […]
Easily my favorite article of the day is this piece from the Financial Times by Anna Fifield, Roula Khalaf and Abigail Fielding-Smith. The piece claims that President Ali Abdullah Salih […]
Days after dramatically returning from Saudi Arabia, President Ali Abdullah Salih did what he does in these situations: he gave a speech. The international media will likely lead with the […]
Throughout this spring and summer, while Yemen’s protesters have continued their call for President Salih to step down, myself and several other Yemen observers have repeatedly warned the US not […]
Remember back in June when President Salih narrowly escaped an assassination attempt and flew to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment? A number of people predicted that was the end. Analysts […]
I’ve spent much of today traveling, but there is still a lot going on in Yemen. Hopefully in the next couple of days Waq al-waq will have more of a […]
Most of us have little idea what the fighting in Sanaa over the past several days has been like. We can imagine if not quite comprehend the daily struggles that […]
At a time like this, when so many of us are dependent on the brave reporting of journalists in Yemen, it is fitting that the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression […]
Today the Washington Post has a story up about the constellation of secret drone bases the US is building in and around the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa […]
Over the past couple of days as the international media has once again focused on the bloody fighting in Sanaa, they have invariably asked themselves, Yemenis, and outside observers the […]
Six months after the bloodiest day in Yemen’s uprising, forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Salih were at it again. That time, six months ago on March 18, snipers loyal […]