The San Diego Gay and Lesbian News is reporting that human rights NGOs based in Iraq have received alarming reports that the country is facing another bloody wave of targeted attacks on men, women and children who are believed to be gay or lesbian. In the past month, some 40 Iraqis accused of homosexual preference […]
Two days ago, I wrote a brief post about an apparent exodus of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) operatives to neighboring Syria – resulting in an abrupt drop in violence in the capital city of Mosul, and a surprising lull across Nineveh province in the northwest part of the country. Today, at least 60 people […]
Interesting news from Iraq… the Christian Science Monitor is reporting that violence has dropped precipitously as al-Qaeda affiliates quit the field to battle President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The effects of egress have been most pronounced in Nineveh Province – the Iraqi governate borders Syria and once served as served as home to as many as […]
The U.S. formally ended the Iraq War today. As The New York Times reports: Almost nine years after the first American tanks began massing on the Iraq border, the Pentagon declared an official end to its mission here, closing a troubled conflict that helped reshape American politics and left a bitter legacy of anti-American sentiment […]
The Foreign Policy Association has asked the blog team to write year-end summaries and even provided a nice little template for us to follow. So, without further ado: Summary of the Past Year What an extraordinary year 2011 has turned out to be. The U.S. appears to have successfully navigated a year of extreme turbulence […]
So I just received a press release from Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) communications director, Moira Bagley, informing the American public that her boss has introduced an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill to formally end the war in Iraq. According to the release: The war in Iraq cannot be considered definitively concluded if […]
Suffice to say, the Foreign Policy Association’s National Opinion Ballot confirmed an attitude that’s prevalent in the foreign policy community. Key findings suggest that some defense budget cuts are necessary, global financial regulatory regimes are welcome and opposition to military adventurism is robust. Perhaps most importantly, disillusionment with the huge costs and uncertain outcomes of […]
The International Energy Agency’s chief economist, Fatih Birol, stated yesterday that the oil industry needs about $38 trillion in investment to meet global demand for energy through 2035. He was speaking at a two-day ministers’ meeting foreshadowing the contents of the World Energy Outlook, due out November 9. Breaking the figure down, $10.0 trillion is […]
Altogether overshadowed by developing Israel-istine histrionics, the president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, stood before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday to promote his vision for a democratic state anchored in peace and the rule of law. He extolled the need for a harmonious state, irrespective of sectarian, ethnic or factional affiliations. “This is the […]
As if fueled by some cosmic irony to enhance sales of Dick Cheney’s In My Time, we have welcome news from the Near East! For the first time since the former Veep’s “Coalition of the Willing” sand-plowed Saddam’s twisted regime in 2003, an entire month has passed without a single United States service member dying. […]
As this last day of the month unfolds I think we can be forgiven for being a bit distracted as a country. An earthquake hit the East Coast, and while not unprecedented, it was certainly jarring for many people. And then Hurricane Irene battered and drenched the coast with millions of people still feeling the […]
On Tuesday, leaders of Iraq’s major political parties signed an agreement allowing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to negotiate terms of a prolonged US troop presence in Iraq. Although months of debate, discussion and endless deliberation undoubtedly remain before a final pact is reached, “after weeks of wrangling and lots of US pressure [this deal] appears […]
Recent news reports from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region have depicted a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty that cost Iran at least six soldiers from the elite Revolutionary Guards, and the death of senior officer in the Qom brigade. It is the latest chapter in a complex, ongoing conflict between the Islamic Republic and the shadowy […]
We’re all very well aware of the political predicament Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is currently facing. In a “damned if does, and damned if he doesn’t” scenario, Iraq’s political boss is stuck between the presumed necessity of US military support to secure his fragile government and the obvious friction a continued troop presence would create […]
Evolution of violence against the state will occur in environments that do not allow for coping mechanisms, perceived political inclusion, and sufficient state propaganda. Iran and Turkey, for example, are states that can shift if the former were to experience erosion of coping mechanisms, pushing it further towards violence, and the latter could see improvement in political inclusion, pushing it further towards peace.