In late March, the US-led coalition, operating under the auspices of Operation Inherent Resolve, announced that it was relocating most of its personnel and equipment out of Iraq. By early April, the coalition already completed the transfer of four major bases hosting US-led troops back to Iraqi...
A widespread belief in Iraq is that the post-Baathist system has failed the country. Many Iraqis accuse their leaders of pillaging the nation’s wealth while providing poor services to citizens.
On August 14, a major explosion occurred in the gas transportation pipeline of the Electricity Distribution Station of Alhartha, located in Iraq’s southern governorate of Basra. Although local sources have talked of some “technical cause,” the blast’s reason remains unclear. In the...
The Kurds are unlikely to back down unless they receive an alternative deal, but this is unlikely to come from Baghdad. The year was 1639. For the first time in their history, the Kurds of present-day Iran were separated from their brethren due to a treaty signed by the Ottoman and Safavid...
The social, political and economic turmoil in the Kurdistan region reflects the crises in its educational system. On July 2, at a school in Iraqi Kurdistan, a 12th grade student, unable to hold it any longer, urinated himself during a baccalaureate exam. “I asked the invigilators and the...
The women and girls victimized by IS deserve to see their persecutors held accountable for their crimes in an international court. On August 3, 2014, Islamic State (IS) fighters attacked the Yazidi community in Sinjar, Iraq. Since then, the Yazidis have been the target of an explicit and...
Kurdish women have joined the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq. The aim: to destroy the so-called caliphate. Hundreds of Kurdish female fighters have sacrificed their lives at home in Iran to join the fight against the Islamic State (IS or Daesh) in northern Iraq. They train at an...
Even as Iraq’s prime minister struts around Mosul, fresh troubles lie ahead unless reform, reconciliation and reconstruction succeed. This week, the Trump family saga rolled on. After Ivanka, a true Americana princess, sat briefly on daddy’s throne at the G20 summit, it is her brother’s...
The abduction of children in Iraq by IS militants has sent minorities fleeing for their lives. “Infidels, pagans, nonbelievers”—these are terms that Islamic State (IS) militants use when referring to minority groups within their reach. The Islamic State’s offensive in 2014 victimized...
David Holdridge presents an extract from his book, The Avant Garde of Western Civ. Cross Border, Summer 2005 “They are imbuing the soil with their blood,” I said. “Sanctifying it and making it theirs. The field of Blackbirds for the Serbs,” I added as I turned toward my Serb program...
