Waq al-Waq

Earlier today I answered five questions for PBS' NewsHour on the elections in Yemen and what it means going forward.  Since I covered a lot of ground in the Q-and-A with P.J. Tobia, and since I would inevitably repeat myself in any blog post, I will link to it here and let it serve as my post on ... Read More

Several months ago, I wrote a brief post about Yemen's then acting president Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi.  Tomorrow, as you all know, he is set to remove the "acting" from his title, and take over as president thanks to a one-man election sponsored by the US and Saudi Arabia. Hadi emerged as the ... Read More

Tomorrow, February 21, will mark the last day of President Ali Abdullah Salih's nearly 34 years in power, at least officially. In his place, Yemenis will head to the polls tomorrow to elect his long-serving vice president, Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi, in a curious one-man election.  Hadi's is the only ... Read More

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.  (Yes, I did received all your e-mails, and thanks for your concern.) Thanks also to the crack team at Big Think those now seem to ... Read More

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 of 38.   This is a horrible and unbearable loss for his wife and two young children, who ... Read More

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 by Adil al-'Abab, AQAP's chief cleric, has released its first publication. The 3-page newsletter, which is dated from September and ... Read More

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 done to help show Salih the door. You can watch the video here.  Read More

In the days since the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, the debating lines surrounding him have hardened.  Some have kept the conversation civil; many have not.  There are, as I see it, two main questions around his death. 1.  Was it legal? 2. Was it wise?  Or, to put it slightly differently, will his ... Read More

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 al-Jazeera English. I will be making my way through some of the articles today and I hope to have a round-up of what I consider the best work ... Read More

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 was the different roles that Anwar al-Awlaki plays, which has been pointed out to me by some very smart people. There are a couple of ... Read More

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 of Alqaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Awlaki was targeted and killed 8 KM from the town of ... Read More

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 the country.  And that these missed opportunities will have important long-term consequences for US national security interests. I have ... Read More

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 early fall in Yemen, detailing how the country has reached such a precarious point. The article gives an excellently sober overview of ... Read More

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 tricked both the US and Saudi Arabia last week when he returned to Yemen, or in the words of one - unnamed, of ... Read More

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 fact that Salih called for early elections (in fact, here is an early al-Jazeera piece saying just that).  But ... Read More