The War Diaries

Kuala Lumpur- The new issue of MLM is out and online at Jamestown for subscribers. I have an article about the life and connections of Hamburg’s slippery Mamoun Darkazanli and briefs on the IMU finally confirming the death of Tahir Yuldashev and naming a new emir as well as one on the return of Adnan el-Shukrijumah to the AQ scene. Here is the line up for our August issue:

Los Angeles- The May issue of MLM is out. Worked hard on this one. Enjoy! If you’re not already enjoying, subscribe! 

New York- We have a new book out on Yemen and its three primary security struggles of the Saada war/Houthi rebellion in the north along the Saudi border, the rejuvenation of secessionist sentiments in the south, and as if those weren’t enough, threats from AQAP leaders.

“The Battle for Yemen is a rare and comprehensive volume that tackles the facets of instability that currently plague Yemen. It offers a wealth of analysis and keen observations from the experts of The Jamestown Foundation, who have monitored the developments within Yemen since 2004. Combining indigenous sources with original analytical insights, this book represents a vital research tool for those seeking a detailed account of Yemen’s struggle for stability, the various movements that shape the security environment, and the radical personalities that strive to undermine the Saleh government and its partnership with the United States.”

Order your copy from Jamestown here for $24.95.

Only in Washington would a Central Asian autocrat no Americans have ever heard of commission a bus stop ad campaign. While New Yorkers are bracing for an onslaught of dreck for Sex and the City 2, Washingtonians are treated to information (with no context) about the Soviet nuclear testing near Semipalatinsk when Kazakhstan was the communist Nevada minus the casinos. ©2010 Derek Henry Flood

Washington D.C.- We had a very interesting conference on Yemen last week at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on think-tank row. I headed down from New York to meet some of my new colleagues from Militant Leadership Monitor and to help out with the event. After our Jamestown event concluded, I rushed over to Tenleytown to the campus of American University to attend the tail end of Jen Marlowe’s Rebuilding Hope screening and a night out at a vaguely themed Afro-Middle Eastern bar called Soussi in Adams Morgan. Just another 18 hour day in D.C.. Good thing I don’t live down there!

MLM's third issue.

New York- The new issue of Militant Leadership Monitor is online. In this issue we have two pieces from two of Yemen’s three fronts. A profile of Adel al-Abbab of AQAP by Murad Batal al-Shishani and a bio of Abdulmalik al-Houthi leading the Zaidi rebellion in the country’s north by Michael Horton. Moving across the Arabian Sea up to Pakistan, Syed Adnan Shah Ali Bukhari tells us of the brutality of Ibn-e-Amin in the strife-torn Swat Valley. Heading west, we have a profile of Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, a hard bitten Tuareg rebel leader hailing from the Mali-Algeria border. Additionally, I have briefs on the arrest in Karachi of Mullah Omar’s son-in-law and the death of JI’s Bali bomber, Dulmatin, in a suburb of Jakarta last month.

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New York- I have a new report out with the Jamestown Foundation from our December 9th, 2009 conference.

“While the Arab Middle East is political Islam’s ideological and historical core, South Asia and Southeast Asia, concentrated in the Indonesian archipelago, make up the modern demographic core of the Muslim world. Advocates of political jihadism have been adept at exploiting pre-existing territorial and ethnic grievances, both perceived and real, in these highly complex and fragmented states. Terror networks in these tumultuous mega-regions have also been cleverly calculating in their agitation of simmering disputes that have arisen from the communal tensions of religious difference that have existed in varying degrees since the region’s violent Cold War-era decolonization.

To better understand the social fabric of terrorism in South and Southeast Asia, The Jamestown Foundation held a panel entitled, “Terrorist Trends in South Asia,” as a component of its annual terrorism conference on December 9th, 2009 at the National Press Club, “The Changing Strategic Gravity of al-Qaeda”. The contents of that panel, including full transcripts, question and answer sessions, executive summaries, slide presentations, panelist biographies and the full transcript of keynote speaker Bruce Riedel’s presentation.”

Order your electronic copy here for $20.00 or hard copy for $25.00

New York- The new issue of Militant Leadership Monitor is online over at the Jamestown site. In our 2nd issue, I have another article on a recently killed Abu Sayyaf leader named Albader Parad who was recently taken down in a firefight in Jolo with Philippine marines. The death of Parad may yield the eventual decline of the ASG and could be significant to the future of U.S. involvement in the southern Philippines.

Other articles in this issue include:

• A profile of AQAP leader Said al-Shihri by Murad Batal al-Shishani

• A profile of AQIM leader Abedelmalek Droukdel by Camille Tawil

• A profile of radical Jamaican cleric Sheikh al-Faisal by Chris Zambelis

• Briefs by me on the capture by Iran of Jundullah leader Abdolmalek Rigi and capture by Pakistan of Afghan Taleban leader Mullah Abdul Salam

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"All Done, Go Home." Baghdad, Iraq, April, 2003. ©2003 Derek Henry Flood

Washington D.C.- The Jamestown Foundation is hosting a conference on Thursday, March 4th at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (at 1779 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest; Metro Dupont Circle) on the country-wide elections to be held on March 7th and the future of the country’s stability and security. The lunch hour will feature keynote speakers Zalmay Khalilzad & Dr. Colin Kahl.

The topics will include:

•The Iraqi Elections and the Shifting Political Landscape

•Iraq’s Changing Security Environment

•Foreign Relations & Energy Policy

•Future Challenges to Iraqi Stability

To register for the conference, please click HERE.