The tensions between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan contributed to jitteriness in the oil markets that drove the prices to as high as $88.20 at one point on Tuesday before falling back to over $87. The oil price spike in turn frightened investors and hit stock markets around the world. The United States consumes about 21 […]
Guest Op-Ed: PKK Terrorism Undermines US Policy in Middle East
An informed observer writes anonymously: ‘“With our understanding of the worries of the Turkish friends, we are ready to undertake urgent negotiations with senior Turkish officials to discuss all points of disagreement,” he said. (NYT) The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Authority (KRG) is not a party to the “negotiations” because they are not a state Turkey […]
Iran and Afghanistan
At the Global Affairs blog, Farideh Farhi weighs in on Iranian human rights activist Emadeddin Baghi. She suggests that “it also suggests a shift of approach by Ahmadinejad’s paranoid government from the harassment of well-known human rights activists to their arrest.” Barnett Rubin weighs in on reports of the Afghanistan government negotiating with the Taliban. […]
Polish Base Attacked by Shiites Harthiya Bombing in Baghdad kills 4, wounds 25
Shiite militiamen rained mortar shells on the Polish base at Diwaniya on Monday, and the fighting that thus broke out left 4 civilians, 3 gunmen, and at least 5 Iraqi children dead, along with 28 wounded. 15 houses were also partially destroyed in the fighting. The Polish ambassador was targeted, recently, as well. The recent […]
Close: Israeli Intelligence behind Syria Strike not Persuasive
The NYT has been pushing the story that the Israeli air strike on Syria on September 6 came in response to intelligence that Syria was building a nuclear reactor at the site with clandestine North Korean help. There are reasons to question the accuracy of the Israeli story, which at some points has included allegations […]
Turkey Shells Iraqi Kurds; Pilgrims Bombed in Baghdad; Ammar Visits Sheikhs of al-Anbar; Muqtada Condemns Soft Partition;
The sectarian civil war in Iraq left dozens of persons dead and wounded on Sunday. One major bombing targeted Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad heading to the shrine of Kadhimiya, in the north of the capital, killing 10 persons in a minibus, including women and children, and wounding two dozen. There were other bombings and firefights, […]
Iraq Sermons this Week
The USG Open Source Center rounds up this week’s sermons at major mosques, mostly Shiite, in Iraq. The comments focus on the peace agreement between Abdul Aziz al-Hakim and Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militias had been fighting with one another; on the danger posed by the Sunni tribal militias called ‘Awakening Councils;’ on the recent statements […]
2 US Soldiers Killed Ammar Calls for ultimate US Withdrawal Sistani Aide Calls for Laws to Rein in contractor, US military lawlessnes
The killing of two US soldiers and the wounding of 5 more in a mortar attack were reported on Saturday. Sawt al-Iraq reports in Arabic that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim (leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) returned to Baghdad from chemotherapy in Iran and was welcomed by a big crowd of admirers at his […]
Karbala’i: Parliament Must regulate Security Firms, US Military
The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases reports in the Iraqi press on the sermon of Abdul Mahdi al-Karbala’i, the representative in the holy city of Karbala of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, calling for parliament to regulate foreign security firms and ‘occupation forces’ (i.e. the US military) operating in the country. Al-Karbala’is sermons are […]
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