Iraq

Fire Teargas, Live Ammunition; Destroy Medical Tents

Did Ancient Iraq’s Huge Assyrian Empire Rise and Fall on Climate Change?

By Ashish Sinha and Gayatri Kathayat | – Ancient Mesopotamia, the fabled land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, was the command and control center of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This ancient superpower was the largest empire of its time, lasting from 912 BC to 609 BC in what is now modern Iraq and Syria. […]

Iran

Iraq Protests Heat Up Long-Standing Rivalry Between Iraqi And Iranian Shiite Religious Leaders

Niqash

By Elias Thomas | – ( Niqash.org) – Behind the scenes of Iraq’s demonstrations, a decades-old rivalry between two centres of religious learning and authority, one local and the other in Iran, is playing out. 3.11.2019 Politics Protests in Baghdad. In early October, snipers shot at unarmed protesters on the streets of Iraq, who were […]

Featured

Iraq: 17 Rockets target US Base, as Over a Dozen Protesters are Killed in Continued Massive Protests

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Some 17 katyusha rockets targeted a military base south of Mosul Saturday morning where US troops are based. There are no reports of casualties. In that strong Sunni area of Iraq, the attack was unlikely to be the work of Iran-backed Shiite militias, but ISIL remnants are more likely. This […]

Afghanistan

What hope for a New Generation of US Troops graduating into the Forever Wars?

Danny Sjursen

(Tomdispatch.com) – Patches, pins, medals, and badges are the visible signs of an exclusive military culture, a silent language by which soldiers and officers judge each other’s experiences, accomplishments, and general worth. In July 2001, when I first walked through the gate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point at the ripe young age […]

Assyrians

Unconstitutional: VP Pence Directed USAID Help for Iraqis to tiny Christian Minority

ProPublica

by Yeganeh Torbati | (ProPublica) | – Officials at USAID warned that favoring Christian groups in Iraq could be unconstitutional and inflame religious tensions. When one colleague lost her job, they said she had been “Penced.” Last November, a top Trump appointee at the U.S. Agency for International Development wrote a candid email to colleagues […]

Hizbullah

The Iraqi and Lebanese Popular uprisings Caught between Iranian and Israeli Geopolitics

Middle East Monitor

By Oraib Al-Rantawi | @OraibAlRantawi It is not only Iran that is paying close attention to the uprisings of the Iraqi and Lebanese people; Israel is also monitoring the situation closely, especially in Lebanon. It has also been involved in the Iraqi crisis recently and dealing direct blows to the Popular Mobilisation Forces and the […]

Featured

Biggest Iraqi Crowds in History Demand changes in Bush Constitution

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dubai’s Al-Akhbar al-An reports that further large demonstrations broke out in Iraq on Saturday, leaving 91 wounded and one dead. Friday saw some of the largest demonstrations in modern Iraqi history. Protesters are demanding an end to corruption and sectarianism and want a government that can deliver basic services. They […]

al-Qaeda

Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion of Iraq: Cole @ Democracy Now!

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! | Video Interview and Transcript | – Amy Goodman kindly had me on Democracy Now! Monday to discuss the US raid that killed ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its broader context in Middle Eastern and US politics. Transcript below the video. Democracy Now! “Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion […]