21 March 2019
Articles
What Next For Kurdistan? Friday, 03 November 2017 09:46
The independence referendum in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq has resulted in a tumultuous aftermath that recalls the old adage that the Kurds have no friends but the mountains. Reaction by all neighbors, including the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, has been harsh. Iraqi, Iranian, and Turkish-backed forces have occupied Kurdish areas in the month following the referendum. KRG president Masoud Barzani is stepping down. But the referendum has brought attention to the Kurdish cause and exposed the machinations…
Trump’s Iran strategy will secure Middle East Tuesday, 31 October 2017 21:48
For those of us who have suffered and warned of the Obama administration doctrine, which has allowed Iran to roam freely in our midst and interfere unimpeded in our domestic affairs from the GCC states to the Mediterranean and brag about controlling four Arab capitals under Obama’s watch, the newly declared Trump administration strategy announced in the middle of last month, decertifying Iran’s nuclear agreement, sanctioning Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and doubling down on Iran’s mischief, rogue state behaviour and ballistic…
Iraq Now an Iranian Colony Sunday, 29 October 2017 16:02
The recent takeover of Kirkuk by the Iranian backed militias and Iraqi army clearly illustrates that now Iran is calling the shots in every important decision of Iraq. This whole operation and withdrawal of PUK Peshmerga, without resistance to advancing Iraqi forces was planned by Iran Quds force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani. The extent of involvement by the Iraq Prime Minister’s office in this whole episode is still unclear, but one thing is certain -- decisions were made in…
Terrorist commander is behind Iran's meddling in Iraq Tuesday, 24 October 2017 21:59
Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The interference of the Iranian terrorist commander Qasem Soleimani in the internal affairs of Iraq has reached scandalous proportions that should sound alarm bells in the West. It has emerged that the general, who commands the terrorist Quds Force, responsible for foreign operations by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, orchestrated the reoccupation of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and many other Kurdish regions in Northern Iraq. Kirkuk and other disputed areas bordering Kurdistan had been held by the…
Tillerson seeks Arab help in US effort to isolate Iran Sunday, 22 October 2017 20:45
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the Trump administration's case for isolating and containing Iran in the Middle East and beyond to two Gulf Arab nations on Sunday, pushing for Saudi Arabia and Iraq to unite to counter growing Iranian assertiveness. He also called for a quick resolution to the ongoing crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbors, which he said was unintentionally bolstering Iran. In Saudi Arabia and later Qatar, Tillerson denounced Iran's "malign behavior" and urged nations of the region and…
Abadi needs to pull Iraq back from destructive course against Kurds Tuesday, 17 October 2017 07:08
As Kurdish Peshmerga troops are preparing for a possible Iraqi Army and Shiite-majority Hashd al-Shaabi attack on Kirkuk, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi needs to demonstrate real leadership and political acumen by working to avert any possibility of a destructive war breaking out. After the Iraqi parliament compelled Abadi to send the army into the city and seize its oil facilities late last month, the Iraqi premier tweeted that: “We defend our Kurdish citizens as we defend all Iraqis and will…
Isis is facing near total defeat in Iraq and Syria – but it has been beaten and come back before Wednesday, 11 October 2017 21:12
Jihadis have been preparing bunkers with weapons caches in the desert, ready to wait out the storm Isis has fought desperately and skilfully to hold the Syrian city of Raqqa, under siege by Kurdish-led forces for more than four months, but will soon lose it in the latest defeat for the Islamic fundamentalist movement. Little is left today of the Caliphate declared in 2014, which once ruled most of western Iraq and eastern Syria. Isis battled far longer than anybody expected…
Middle East Kurds in Iraq vote in historic independence referendum Monday, 25 September 2017 19:55
IRBIL, Iraq — Kurds packed polling stations across northern Iraq on Monday in a historic referendum on independence despite vigorous opposition from the country’s central government as well as regional and world powers. Church bells tolled and imams implored Kurds over mosque loudspeakers to vote when polls opened across the Kurdish region — a swath of mountains, oil fields and desert that has been run as a semiautonomous enclave for decades. The poll is expected to produce an overwhelming yes result…
Is balance of power changing in Iraq to Iran’s detriment? Saturday, 16 September 2017 13:21
The reality in Iraq today is that the defeat of ISIS has provided a vacuum in its politics, which will have significant impact on the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country next year. In recent months, Iraqi people have witnessed new moves from political and religious groups who dominate the country’s politics. After 14 years of internal violent conflicts, part of the pro-Tehran Shi’ite alliance have finally realized that the unconditional dependence on the Iranian regime will further exacerbate the…
Middle East ISIS is near defeat in Iraq. Now comes the hard part. Friday, 15 September 2017 20:31
MOSUL, Iraq — The collapse of the Islamic State in its most important Iraqi strongholds has brought a rare moment of hope for a country mired in war for most of the past four decades. It is also a moment of peril, as Iraq emerges from the fight against the militants only to be confronted with the same problems that fueled their spectacular rise in 2014. Old disputes between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds over territory, resources and power already are resurfacing…
Hezbollah and the Popular Mobilization versus the Armies of Lebanon and Iraq Sunday, 10 September 2017 21:12
In recent times, there have been two interesting developments in the efforts of the commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iraq and Lebanon. Both events fall within the scope of the bid to impose the model produced by the Iranian Revolution, of creating a parallel military structure alongside the regular army, whereas the Popular Mobilization Units in Iraq operate in parallel with the Iraqi army, and Hezbollah in parallel with the Lebanese army, just like the IRGC operates…
