Iraq has experienced yet another disaster: a wedding hall burned down, resulting in hundreds of casualties. As long as rules are not appropriate and enforced, and no one feels responsible, this will not be the last.
Continue readingJudit Neurink
Open letter to my former president
The lack of unity among the Kurds in Iraq leads to power games from Baghdad and the neighbors. It is up to Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani to convince Kurdish politicians that they will only survive this together.
Continue readingKirkuk is mainly Iraqi when it is convenient
The provincial elections are still three months away, but in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk the campaigns have already begun. Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs are being pitted against each other.
Continue readingFear of anti-Israel law stops repair of Mosul’s last synagogue
Six years after the fall of ISIS, Mosul is recovering again, but its last remaining synagogue still lies in ruins. Fear of an anti-Israel law that has not even been ratified is holding back restoration.
Continue readingLebanese banking crisis, construction craze in Baghdad and an ayatollah
Militias force citizens in Baghdad to sell their land. Because they have corruption money to launder, they are filling the Iraqi capital with expensive high-rise buildings. Can the highest ayatollah in Iraq stop them?
Continue readingDeadly drone attacks in exchange for life-saving water
Turkey is restoring the life-saving flow of water to Iraqi rivers. At the same time, it can freely carry out one deadly drone attack after another in Iraqi Kurdistan. A case of quid pro quo?
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