politics

The lifting of the United Nations’ Chapter 7 Sanctions against Iraq, imposed after executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, may be very good for Baghdad’s international standing and image. But it does not mean the country is ready or mature enough to be free from Security Council or international supervision. In its...
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Iraq’s volatile security situation and the central government’s failure to resolve ethnic and religious tensions are dividing the country into three de facto regions: The autonomous Kurdistan Region in the north, a turbulent “Sunni triangle” in the middle and a Shiite center and south. Every development on the political front is followed by security...
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The phased withdrawal of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas from Turkey into Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region must be followed up with serious moves by Ankara to settle the Kurdish issue. Otherwise, it will create many problems. The peace agreement, which is hoped to settle a three-decade conflict in Turkey, seems to have been made...
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Judging from its agenda, an important oil and gas conference at month’s end in Erbil will focus on the new relationship between Turkey and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). It seems that the aim of the conference is to lay the groundwork for the Kurdistan Region’s emergence as an energy exporter, as it...
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Much has been written about the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war, the US-led invasion, the liberation from Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, and the reconstruction and rebuilding of the nation. Most of the debate still centers around a specific event: The war, and its aftermath. The discussion still revolves around the question of whether the...
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By their absence from both the central government in Baghdad and from parliament for weeks, Iraq’s autonomous Kurds have been expressing their extreme displeasure with the Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. But while the boycott of cabinet meetings and other official functions is understandable, the Kurdish absence in parliament creates the impression that the...
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