Reports

Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Barham Salih’s recent return from Baghdad and the KRG-Baghdad agreement over oil and the budget is yet another episode in the never-ending cycle of tense disagreements between Erbil and Baghdad.Unfortunately, there is no end in sight for the ongoing disputes between the two cities. Every few months, we...
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The way things stand now, one can predict that in the next 50 years Kirkuk will still be one of the sticking points between Baghdad and Erbil.Today, the rhetoric is that Kirkuk is the heart of Kurdistan — the Quds of Kurdistan. In reality, it is the sick child of Iraq. The whole family...
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Walking through the streets of Najaf, the city appears to be just another place in Iraq that requires extensive development and services. But the truth is that this holy city is capable of tipping the political balance in Iraq.Not many people in the Sunni world appreciate the importance of Najaf. Since 2003 it has...
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Iraq’s failure to appoint its security ministers is a black mark on the new government, and is yet another indication that the country’s politics remain dysfunctional.The irony here is that security is one of the most urgent challenges for Iraq, and yet it is still the most problematic and controversial portfolio for the government.Iraq’s...
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While the international community our leaders, the media and the public are preoccupied with the petty politics of Iraq, a dangerous place is emerging – a society that is intolerant of difference, breeds extremism and is getting more and more isolated in this age of integration.With every day that passes the signs of this...
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Iraq’s volatile politics, punctuated by a hard-fought national election and protracted negotiations over a new government, dominated the headlines in 2010. IWPR Iraq senior media adviser Hiwa Osman analyses the performance of Iraq’s party-driven media over the last 12 months. How would you assess the Iraqi news media’s coverage of politics this year, and...
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