Elections

Divisions in the Da`wa Party and Iraqi Nationalism pose Challenges to Tehran

Arabs, Thomas Friedman and the “iron fist”

By Brian Whitaker | ( Al-Bab.com) Writing about conflicts in the Middle East for the New York Times yesterday, columnist Thomas Friedman talked of “the power that is lost to a society like Syria or Iraq that needs an iron fist to make its many into one, and when that fist is removed, how the […]

Democracy

Trump’s ‘Election Integrity’ Commission Hearkens Back to Jim Crow

contributors

By Diallo Brooks | (Otherwords.org) | – – Politicians have stolen our right to vote before. They’ll do it again if they get the chance. Joseph Cox watched his friends and neighbors go to the polls for the first time. The fight to get to that moment had been long, bloody, and vicious. But as […]

Democracy

Iraq’s Next Elections will be the most Important in its History

contributors

Mustafa Habib. | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – In Iraq, larger political parties disagree on everything except maintaining the status quo: Parliament just passed a law that will badly affect the smaller parties competing in the next elections. It has been said before. But this time it may well be true: Iraq’s next elections […]

Central Intelligence Agency

How our Intel Agencies Screwed us by Letting Sessions, Trumpies get away with Russia Scheme

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller at WaPo report from a US intelligence source that former Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, told Moscow that he had discussed campaign-related matters with Jeff Sessions twice in the summer of 2016. This revelation directly contradicts Sessions’ […]

Corruption

Who are the Trumps’ Russian Fixers? Meet Rinat Akhmetshin

contributors

By Mike Eckel | ( RFE/RL) | – – WASHINGTON — As recently as last year, Rinat Akhmetshin could be seen regularly pedaling through downtown Washington, D.C., nattily dressed, with a pocket square and heavy-framed thick glasses, riding a retro hipster orange bicycle. He also showed an affinity for vintage motorcycles, which he parked for […]

Corruption

Sessions on Harris’s Questions re: Russia: “It makes me Nervous”

contributors

TeleSur | – – Sessions’ testimony did not provide any damaging new information on alleged Trump campaign ties with Russia. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday denounced as a “detestable lie” the idea he colluded with Russians meddling in the 2016 election, and he clashed with Democratic lawmakers over his refusal to detail his conversations […]

Democracy

Is Rouhani’s Reelection a step toward Democracy for Iran?

contributors

Ebrahim Deen | (Informed Comment) | – – Hassan Rouhani’s victory in Last Friday’s Iranian presidential election, by a large majority, portents a continuation of the country’s path toward global reengagement, both on a more popular level and in terms of economic and political cooperation. The intensified nature of this electoral campaign does however point […]

Elections

Rouhani’s win a Victory for Reform, will Trump waste Opportunity?

contributors

By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | – – In Iran’s election, Hassan Rouhani’s re-election was not a forgone conclusion. Criticism of Rouhani’s performance focused on growing unemployment, as the economy was not keeping pace with new entries into the workforce. Official rates put unemployment at 12% but this rate is estimated to be much […]