MOUNTING DANGERS FOR JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ
Reporters Without Borders May 2014 Journalists were the victims of obstruction, threats and violence during Iraq’s 30 April parliamentary elections, the first since the withdrawal of US troops in late 2011. Violence by jihadi groups and inter-communal tension of a political and sectarian nature marked the security climate. “We are very concerned about the threats […]
Iran Seeks Shiite Consensus on Next Iraqi Premier!
Ali Mamouri – AlMonitor Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has received direct and ongoing support from Iran during the eight years of his mandate, and has maintained excellent relations with Tehran throughout this period. He refrained from criticizing the Iranian regime while he was making scathing comments against [other] countries involved in the situation in Iraq. […]
Iraqi Election Could Lead to Partition!
Mustafa al-Kadhimi – AlMonitor Today, with the country locked in a fateful election, the parties to Iraq’s conflict are using the issue of partition to threaten their opponents — and the electorate. Two key approaches will determine the Iraqi elections and the country’s unity. One is led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who thinks that the current elections […]
Trade Unions in Iraq, Between the Oppression of Government and the Ignorance of Parliament!
On The Occasion of Labor Day: The Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI) May 2014 – Baghdad For more than a decade, trade unions in Iraq have been demanding new labor laws which respect international standards, along with the abolition of decisions and laws issued during the previous decades which are inconsistent with the fundamental […]
Queues, Cyber Attacks, No Singing, Lots of Walking: Report From Iraqi Election Frontlines!
Source: Niqash Niqash’s Iraqi editors covered their nation’s general elections from different ends of the country yesterday. Here they write about their experiences on the job on election day. As local media, they say it was difficult to cover the elections properly – let alone vote, in some cases, – because of official restrictions on […]
IRAQ’S DISPLACED, FROM ANBAR TO KURDISTAN
JENNA KRAJESKI – Newyorker On Wednesday, as Iraqis lined up to vote in parliamentary elections—the first since the withdrawal of U.S. forces, in 2011—many were far from home, scattered across the country by a new wave of violence. For tens of thousands of families from Anbar Province, where fighting between Iraqi security forces and Al Qaeda-inspired […]
Anbar Residents are Caught in a Nightmare, The Government is Making it Worse!
(Baghdad) – The Iraqi government is exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Anbar Province by hindering residents from leaving areas where fighting is taking place and impeding aid from getting in. The government should immediately facilitate safe passage for residents who want to flee the fighting and halt restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid. Eight […]
Before Iraq Election, Shi’ite Militias Unleashed in War on Sunni Insurgents
BY NED PARKER, AHMED RASHEED AND RAHEEM SALMAN Reuters The Sunni militants who seized the riverside town of Buhriz late last month stayed for several hours. The next morning, after the Sunnis had left, Iraqi security forces and dozens of Shi’ite militia fighters arrived and marched from home to home in search of insurgents and […]
Syrians and Iraqis protest the kurdish ‘Berlin wall’
niqash | Abdul-Khaleq Dosky | Dohuk To better protect their borders, authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan are digging a large trench in the area bordering Syria. Locals are protesting about it, saying that links with family and friends in neighbouring towns will be severed and economic opportunities lost; some are already describing it as a Kurdish […]
An increasingly authoritarian leader, a return of sectarian violence, and a nation worried for its future. BY DEXTER FILKINS, Newyorker On Christmas Day last year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki appeared on Iraqi television to wish his country’s Christian minority—which has been fleeing by the thousand since the American invasion, in 2003—a happy holiday. Maliki, who is […]
Will a New Force Emerge in Iraq?
The fact that political entities have not yielded anyone with an alternate vision reflects the nature of post-2003 Iraqi politics and of its political classes By Fanar Haddad Gulf News There is little cause for anticipating major structural changes after Iraq’s forthcoming elections. The most likely result would be business as usual: another ‘national-unity’ government […]
Iraqi Secularists Under Attack Ahead of Elections!
Ali Mamouri – AlMonitor Kadhem al-Haeri, a cleric who has close ties with the Islamic Dawa Party and the Iranian regime, issued a fatwa March 30 banning the election of secular candidates in the upcoming elections. Large banners were hung in many areas of Baghdad and included a picture of the marja (spiritual guide) and the signature of the party’s office. […]