Reaching a quorum in Iraq’s presidential election remains an insurmountable obstacle so far for Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr and his tripartite parliamentary alliance.  The last round of voting for the president, which went nowhere, showed this quite clearly. Negotiators and political leaders believe, local media reported, that the influential Shiite cleric and his political allies...

Since Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr won Iraq’s widely boycotted elections last October, there has been a steady stream of news reports, forecasts and analyses claiming that this could be the beginning of the end of Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs. While such estimates are certainly optimistic, they are perhaps somewhat naive and misguided. Iran remains the most...

Even though the US has been seeking to withdraw from the Middle East to relocate its sources to the Indo-Pacific region to tackle China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia, extricating itself from a region the US has been dominating since the end of the Second World War has proved to be a lot harder than the US policy makers might have expected when they decided to revive...

The daring assassination attempt on Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at his residence in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone came as no great surprise, according to many observers. As al-Kadhimi himself said a few hours later, the perpetrators are known and will be punished. The fact is that, throughout the time since the early legislative election results...

Iraqis voted for a new parliament in the October 10 election, but it could be weeks or months before a viable new government takes office. This is why locals didn’t go dancing in the streets at all after the last election. Still, a healthy democratic process seems to have resulted in the best possible outcome, which nevertheless leaves most parties dissatisfied. It was a free...

The upcoming October 10 parliamentary elections in Iraq can lead to real changes in the country only if there is a high voter turnout, especially among young people. This opinion is expressed by many international analysts and political scientists. If the apathy observed in society and calls for a boycott of the electoral process persist, the chances of reform remain slim...

After Washington’s announcement of its decision to withdraw American troops from Iraq, the question of establishing the sincerity of the USA’s declared step remains at the center of attention for the international community. Yes, on the one hand it was confirmed that the USA would reduce the contingent at two military bases in Iraq...

French President Emmanuel Macron’s two-day visit to Iraq, during which he visited several cities and was the special guest at a regional conference in Baghdad, ended on August 30. The president of France previously visited Baghdad In September 2020, where he met with Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and President Barham Salih. At the press conference...

Recently, the United States has been actively redistributing its financial and military power from the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region, refocusing all its forces against China. Washington sees that country as its main competitor and rival in its future struggle to ensure unrestricted global leadership. For this reason, and against the backdrop...

It may only be a matter of time before the states of the Middle East, whose instability has been embodied by the West led by the United States, begin to feel the echoes of the Taliban’s rapid conquest of almost all of Afghanistan. The consequences of the Sunni Islamist triumph will not be lost on non-state actors and militant nationalists active in countries where the US still has troops...

Iraq is about to celebrate its centennial of statehood established on August 23, 1921, when Faisal I bin Al-Hussein, son of the Grand Sharif of Mecca, was proclaimed king of the newly artificially created kingdom. After World War I, Britain took the future king from the Hejaz (now a region in the west of Saudi Arabia.  Faisal had been chosen by British colonial officials five months...

Against the background of the frank failure of US policy, not only in Afghanistan but also in Iraq and Syria, as well as the decline in activity and authority of the European Union in the region, the course taken by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to create a broad coalition of pro-Turkish forces in Asia has become increasingly apparent in recent years...