Iraq

Tillerson’s Takes on US Foreign Policy: A Year in Review

Diplomatic negotiations with “no preconditions” will be the US approach to solving the problem of North Korea, while working in concert with friends and allies, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council on December 12. “We’re ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk,” said Tillerson, “and we’re […]

Frederic C. Hof’s remarks at the NATO Parliamentary Forum

By Frederic C. Hof

Below are remarks by Ambassador Frederic C. Hof at the NATO Parliamentary Forum at the National Defense University on Dec. 11, 2017 that touched upon the evolving US approach to Syria and Iraq. I’ve been asked to discuss the evolving US approach to Iraq and Syria. I will try to do so as accurately and as briefly as […]

Iraq: Managing economic reformation and fighting corruption, with an eye on election

By Harith Hasan

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi recently announced his new war against corruption. In using the term “war,” he intended to convey the difficulty of implementing a productive policy to fight corruption. Abadi hopes to build on his successes in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the crisis with Kurdistan by turning […]

The precarious Kurdish-Israeli relationship, post-Kirkuk

By Caroline Rose

With the Iraqi flag now flying above Kirkurk’s oil fields, a major pivot in the Kurdish-Israeli relationship threatens to isolate the KRG from its limited alliance system. In just four days, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) lost nearly all territory gained by Kurdish Peshmerga 2014 forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) […]

Budget politics and Baghdad-Kurdish relations

By Harith Hasan

One of the main disputes behind tensions between the Iraqi federal government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) includes disagreement over budget allocation. This month, the Iraqi government approved the proposed budget for 2018 and sent it to the parliament for debate in the coming weeks. The draft budget, strongly criticized by the KRG, is the […]

Abadi’s balancing act between the US and Iran

By Harith Hasan

Not many heads of governments in the Middle East can move swiftly between Riyadh, Cairo, Amman, Ankara, and Tehran, and receive a warm welcome in all those capitals. Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, followed this itinerary in the last few days, trying to create the image of a competent leader who victoriously took Iraq out […]