Iraq

By Balsam Mustafa | – When Muhanad Habib, a 22-year-old Iraqi from the Sadr City district of Baghdad, posted on Facebook in late September, he probably didn’t imagine that his demands for a better life and basic rights would be met with bullets. It will be a huge and angry public revolution in Baghdad … […]

Iraq

On Yom Kippur, remembering the Diversity Iraq’s Mosul has Lost with Nationalism and ISIL

The Conversation

By Stephennie Mulder | – On Yom Kippur each year, as Jews around the world pray for atonement, the biblical Book of Jonah is read in its entirety. Jews recall the story of how God summons Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh to tell its inhabitants to turn from their evil deeds. At […]

Iraq

Iraq protests expose the crisis in the regime’s integrity

Middle East Monitor

By Abdulwahhab Badrakhan | – A third wave of protests in Iraq, following those in 2015 and 2018, continues to shake the three pillars of the regime — the constitution, electoral law and an independent judiciary — although protesters’ basic demands are not political. There is, nevertheless, a general conviction that they are impossible to […]

Iraq

Baghdad’s Youthquake: Iraq’s Young Protestors ‘Have Nothing Left To Lose’

Mustafa Habib

(Niqash.org ) – Anti-government protests in Baghdad were led by the younger generation, one that has grown up under military rule, lived a more liberal life online and is now questioning the very basis of local, political culture. More than a hundred deaths and over 4,000 wounded as a result of five days of anti-government […]

Featured

Iraqi Gov’t Teeters as Protest Death toll Rises to 100, with 4,000 Wounded

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Protests broke out again in Baghdad on Saturday, leaving 15 dead. The government had shut down the internet a few days ago in a bid to quell the widespread rallies, but returned partial service yesterday, which allowed activists to call for further protests. The Neoconservatives and the Bush administration pledged […]

Afghanistan

From Baghdad to Kabul: One Officer’s Journey from True Believer in our Forever Wars to Dissident Veteran

Danny Sjursen

( Tomdispatch.com) – Recently, on a beautiful Kansas Saturday, I fell asleep early, exhausted by the excitement and ultimate disappointment of the Army football team’s double overtime loss to highly favored Michigan. Having turned against America’s forever wars and the U.S. military as an institution while I was still in it, West Point football, I’m […]

Iraq

How Iraq Is Standing Up For Itself, After Israeli Attacks

Mustafa Habib

(Niqash) – Mustafa Habib Often trapped between Iran and the US, Iraq’s foreign policy experts have been playing a wily game to avoid it happening again – especially after suspected Israeli attacks inside the country. 6.09.2019 | Baghdad Politics Unusual: Iraqi leaders came together to formulate a measured response. In Iraq, both politicians, military and […]

Donald Trump

Trump Awaits orders from Saudis; and Why the Houthis could have Done It

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s bizarre infatuation with strongmen and dictators was on full display in his response to Saturday’s drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. As our foremost Gulf expert, Kristian Ulrichsen, noted, The way you phrase it sounds like you are waiting for the Saudis to tell you what to do. […]

Iran

Iraq: The Middle East’s new battle front between Israel and Iran

Middle East Monitor

By Stasa Salacanin | – In the last two months, several unexplained explosions occurred in Iraq, significantly damaging ammunition warehouses and weapons storage sites. All targets have been associated with Iranian-backed Population Mobilisation Forces (PMF), suggesting that explosions could not be a mere coincidence as they were probably caused by precision air strikes. Though no […]