The internal political crisis in Iraq is the result of its occupation in 2003 by the United States and Great Britain. Washington is first reducing and then increasing (and vice versa) its military presence in Iraq, which is divided into three contradicting parts: Sunnis, Shi’as and Kurds. Heads of diplomatic missions are changing in Baghdad, but the essence of US diplomacy is not changing.

On May, 31 the UNSC extended the mandate of the Iraq Assistance Mission (UNAMI) for a final 19 months before its complete termination in December 2025. Having adopted S/RES/2732 (2024), the UNSC requested the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, jointly with Baghdad to decide on a transition plan to transfer the tasks and responsibilities of the mission to the Iraqi government. The liquidation of the…

Most politicians and experts would agree that over the past 15-20 years relations between Turkey and Iraq, even leaving aside the historic Mosul issue, have had their ups and downs, mainly as a result of three different problems. The first of these is Turkey’s military presence in Iraqi Kurdistan, the second is the sharing of water resources in trans-boundary rivers, and finally there is the issue of Kurdish…

Turkey is planning a massive ground operation in Northern Iraq with the aim of liquidating the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq, which it designates as a terrorist organisation. According to Hürriyet, a publication with close ties to the Turkish government, the operation is scheduled for this summer and will be supported by the intelligence services in Baghdad and Erbil, which will also take measures against PKK activity in Sulaymaniye and Sinjar. The operation aims to close off the Turkish-Iraqi border completely…

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Sabbar Al-Sudani will visit Moscow in the near future, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fuad Hussein announced after meeting with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. “The Iraqi side is working on completing necessary preparations for a visit by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al Sudani to the capital Moscow during the coming weeks,” Fuad Hussein said…

After months of political negotiations and four days of voting, Iraq’s parliament has finally approved the largest budget in the country’s history. The draft bill for the 2023 document was initially approved by the cabinet and received the green light from the legislature in June 2023. Experts believe that the planning and swift approval of this financial plan represents a telling achievement of the country’s current administration. The adopted budget amounts to a staggering 198.91 trillion Iraqi dinars, equivalent to US $153 billion. However, it has a deficit of 64.36 trillion dinars. Projected oil revenues are estimated at 117.25 trillion dinars…

Since taking office as Iraq’s president in October 2022, Mohammed Shia’ Sabbar Al-Sudani has made, or at least formally announced, a battle against corruption the centerpiece of his domestic agenda. Its progress has been, to put it mildly, underwhelming despite this long-overdue attempt to address the most difficult and crippling issue that is literally eating away at every aspect of society. An entrenched sectarian and tribal system of power sharing does not reduce systemic corruption. Iraq still struggles with inefficiency, bureaucracy, widespread kleptocracy, and a robust patronage system despite its massive oil resources…

For two decades after the 2003 brazen and unprovoked invasion by the US, Iraq has been experiencing chaos, instability and significant problems, primarily due to the destruction of their state by the Americans. Although the number of internal armed conflicts has decreased in recent years, the country still faces many complex problems that need addressing for any stability and security to be achieved in the country. This has been the result, and Iraqi media constantly writes about it, of the US aggression and the hubristic policy towards Iraq that various American administrations have pursued since 2003. One of the difficult problems…

Despite the creation of numerous US programs and plans ostensibly aimed at solving problems and crises, Iraq is still seen as a place where such problems are deeply rooted through the fault of the West. Even though there have been several “celebrations” in American and European research institutes and centers, customary for a situation of setting up the electoral process or installing a new administration, no progress has been achieved. One of the paradoxes of the situation in Iraq is that even the major Western institutions that have been persistently imposed on the country over the past two decades…

On March 20, 2003, the United States, the UK and a subservient “coalition of the willing” made a thuggish invasion of Iraq with the stated goals of establishing democracy, developing the nation, and toppling the oppressive dictatorship. Many duped Iraqis embraced the chance to see the old administration overthrown in favor of a new government…

Two bloody events have enraged the entire country, raising the painful question of whether the negative effects of the brazen, unjustified invasion of Iraq by hordes of US troops 20 years ago are still wreaking havoc on all Iraqis today. When Jassim al-Assadi, a leading campaigner for the preservation of Iraq’s famous southern marshes, was kidnapped by unknown...

In its first 100 days in power, the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani has already left the first, and not very positive, signs of what may await the country in the near future. To say the least, the government’s heavy-handed actions have largely deviated from the promises al-Sudani made before taking office, resulting in unwanted disruptions...