Interview by Harem Karem: Luay al-Khatteeb is a nonresident fellow in the Brookings Doha Center and founder of Iraq Energy Institute, focusing on the geopolitics and political economy of the GCC and Iraq. His experiences in the private sector span more than 20 years, and he is a frequent commentator on issues related to energy…
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Category Archives: Iraq
Is the US Merely Agitating the Iraqi Government..?
By Yara Kamaran Ismael: In the warfare with the exceedingly forceful and well-equipped ISIS, the minorities in Iraq are demanding to be armed in order to safeguard their areas that were neglected by the official Iraqi military. Arming those forces through the Iraqi government is muddling the affair even more. The weapons and ammunition that…
Fall of Ramadi Should Be Last Chance for Iraq’s Abadi Government
By Arian Mufid: While the Iraqi government, together with KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) and US-led coalition forces, have been busy developing a plan to re-capture Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, the news of the fall to IS of Ramadi, the third largest city, has shocked millions, for two main reasons. First, it has happened despite…
Peshmarga: The Only Effective Forces Fighting Daesh
By Arian Mufid: The USA and other Western powers are ‘backing the wrong horse’ by supporting the failed Iraqi army – instead they should be fully assisting and equipping the Peshmarga When Haider Abadi, the current Iraqi prime minister succeeded his notorious predecessor Nuri Maliki last September, two things were on everyone’s mind. First, how…
International Community Must Cooperate With Kurdistan
By Yara Kamaran Ismael: ISIS has been advancing almost continuously. Take, for example, how, after the refugee crisis in Shingal (Sinjar) and the seige of Kobani and many other tragedies, now ISIS has recently set its sights on another battle and commiting another atrocity in Al-Anbar Province in Iraq. The Iraqi army evacuated this area, just…
A Few Days’ Life of Revolution in Halabja
By Yasin Aziz: Published on Amazon, 24th April 2015 This is the story of my generation’s experience from the time of the 1961 September (Aylul) Revolution. As a child in Halabja I witnessed most of what was happening when the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown, with the hope of a democratic government and equality for all…
No End in Sight to Violence and Persecution: Iraq 12 Years after the Fall of Saddam Hussein
Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights Press Release: Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights calls on Iraqi government to ensure access to rehabilitation for survivors of the Ba’ath regime and victims of recent human rights abuses. Erbil, 9 April 2015 – On the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the fall of the Ba’ath regime, the Jiyan…
Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s Post-War Era Chamran
By Ramyar Hassani: As the new Middle-East has become the battlefield of different extremist groups linked to the regional countries, Iran knows how to conduct proxy wars. The Sunni-Arab countries are on one side and Shiite-promoter Iran is on the other side of an ideological war. However, sometimes they are fighting from the same trenches and…
Yazidis Demonstrate for International Protection and Asylum
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: On March 23, 2015, 1500 Yazidis demonstrated in Brussels to plea for International Protection and aid from countries of the world. They were supported by demonstrations of thousands of Yazidis in Europe and refugee camps in Turkey and Iraq holding up signs written in both Arabic and English for the…
The Wounds Have Not Healed: Commemorating the 1988 Chemical Attacks on Halabja
Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights Press Release: On the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the chemical attacks on Halabja, the Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights calls on the Iraqi government to provide victims with the much-needed medical and psychological care, financial assistance and rehabilitation they are entitled to. Amidst the current refugee and IDP…
Why Does ISIS Fight the Kurdistan Region?
By Nawzad Jamal: Answering a simple question like this can cause us a headache because there is not only one convincing response. I keep myself away from arguments like the one that a Kurdish political party is suspected of having dealings with ISIS at the time of the first attack on Mosul. Those kind of theories…
Liberating Mosul: Why Should the Kurds Care?
By Goran Abdulla: The fall of Mosul to the barbaric Islamic State of Iraq and The Levant (ISIL) was seen by many Kurds as a golden opportunity to finally achieve our ancient dream of statehood. The embarrassing collapse of the US armed and trained Iraqi army in Mosul, they argued, heralded the dismantling of the Iraqi…
Fighting and Mourning for Kurdistan
By Dr Jan Best de Vries: Three years ago I wanted to travel to Aleppo and help there the wounded Kurdish, female and male freedom fighters in the northern district Sheik Maksud. Fate decided otherwise and now I’m teaching, with intervals of half a year, Kurdish history and archaeology at the Mesopotamia Academy in Qamishlo…
Finders keepers, losers weepers
By Evin Cheikosman: Congratulations to the Kurdish men and women, who have expelled the Islamic State from Kobanê on January 26th, and are now working harder to extend their influence to the surrounding areas currently under IS control. Support for the YPG, YPJ, and the Peshmerga is growing on many levels: Internationally: The U.S. led…
The Dawn of an Independent Kurdistan
By Dr Jan Best de Vries: Hawler (Erbil) is the international capital of Bashur, public life is well organized, both streets and offices of American and many other foreign oil companies are well protected by the police, and, notwithstanding the permanent threat of IS at the borders of this part of Kurdistan, the atmosphere is…
