Recently added articles from APS Diplomat Redrawing the Islamic Map:
Resurgence In The Shi'ite World - Part 41 - Iraq Vs Iran's WuF.
Jun 01, 2009 ... Iraq's Shi'ite religious authority, Grand Ayatullah 'Ali al-Sistani, now says this country cannot be ruled by a sectarian majority. Coming from an Iranian-born theologian of such high standing, Sistani's new view is significant. This is because it is in contrast to the Wilayat ul-Faqih ...
Focus On The WuF Concept & Iran's Experience.
Jun 01, 2009 ... WuF - the rule of a supreme jurisprudent chosen by an assembly of religious experts - is a concept highly controversial in modern Islam. Its authors have claimed to have "divine" authority over the Muslims. In geo-political terms, WuF leaders clash head-on with the Salafis of the Sunni ...
Maleki & Stand On WuF.(Nouri al-Maliki, world urban forum)(Brief article)
Jun 01, 2009 ... A Shi'ite Arab who lived mostly in Syria during the Sunni/Ba'thist dictatorship, Maleki belongs to the Bani-Malek clan of Karbala' province and heads one of the factions of al-Da'wa al-Islamiya movement. This rivals a faction led by Dr. Ibrahim al-Ja'fari who was PM until May 2006 (see ...
Resurgence In The Shi'ite World - Part 40 - Iraq Projects Its Autonomy.
Apr 27, 2009 ... The Iraqi government is trying to convince the world it is running an independent state. It claims neither the US nor Iran or any of Iraq's other immediate neighbours will be able to act as its patron. But in reality the Shi'ite theocracy of Iran and the 'Alawite/Ba'thist regime of Syria ...
External Vs Internal Developments & Clinton's Intervention.
Apr 27, 2009 ... The country's emerging foreign policy was outlined in a speech Maliki gave to the 21st Arab League summit in Doha, Qatar, on March 30. He underlined Iraq's Arab and Muslim identity, signalling that it was not following in the footsteps of the US, and told the Arab rulers: "Iraq's Arab and ...
Syria-Iraq Trading Partnership.
Apr 27, 2009 ... On April 21, Syrian PM Naji al-'Utri arrived in Baghdad with a top-level team. He was the highest-ranking Syrian official to visit Iraq since the US invasion in 2003. The visit, regarded by both sides as a milestone in a trading partnership between two long-standing rivals in the Arab ...
Maleki Resists US Pleas To Placate Ba'thists.
Apr 27, 2009 ... The New York Times on April 26 reported that on April 18, US and UK officials from a secretive "Force Strategic Engagement Cell" flew to Jordan to persuade one of Saddam's top generals - the commander of the final defence of Baghdad in 2003 - to return and make peace with the new Iraq. But ...
Resurgence In The Shi'ite World - Part 38 - Iraq Facing Nuclear Iran?
Mar 09, 2009 ... The US military leadership now believes the Shi'ite theocracy of Iran has amassed enough radioactive material to build an atomic bomb. This puts Iraq in a highly delicate balance of calculations between a US/Israeli confrontation with Iran and a peaceful US-Iran deal. In both cases, Iraq ...
Clinton On Iran.(US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton )
Mar 09, 2009 ... Visiting the region on the occasion of an international donors meeting for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip held at the Egyptian Sinai resort of Sharm el-Shaikh on March 1, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on March 5 was quoted as having blamed Iran for Israel's 22-day military ...
Court Gives Chemical Ali 3rd Death Sentence & Acquits 'Azis.
Mar 09, 2009 ... The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) on March 2 convicted 'Ali Hassan al-Majid (Chemical Ali), a cousin of former Sunni/Ba'thist dictator Saddam Hussein, who ordered poison gas attacks against the Kurds in the 1980s and had a role in a series of killings, including the 1999 murder of Ayatullah ...
Resurgence In The Shi'ite World - Part 38 - Iraq Between Turkey & Iran.
Feb 16, 2009 ... With Iraq's Shi'ite PM Nuri al-Maleki having won big in Jan. 31 provincial elections to start a secular democracy similar to that of Turkey, the Shi'ite theocracy of Iran is using a more extremist version of political Islam to condemn secularists as heretics. This puts Iraq between a ...
Mottaki Visits.
Feb 16, 2009 ... Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Feb. 11 arrived in Baghdad on a three-day visit to appoint consuls in Erbil, Sulaimaniya and Karbala', and for a meeting of a joint trade committee. He ruled out talks with the US - i.e., Iran is not ready to co-operate on the US role in Iraq, ...
Maleki's Victory & 'Obama Tremor".
Feb 16, 2009 ... Maleki's new bloc, The State of The Law (SoL), made sweeping gains at Iraq's Jan. 31 elections. These gave the Shi'ite PM-turned secular statesman a big boost ahead of parliamentary elections before end-2009 and could be the beginning of a major shift in Iraqi politics. He has gained most ...
Turkey & Saudis Back Arab Peace Plan & Maleki.
Feb 16, 2009 ... Addressing members of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council (an appointed consultative body) in Riyadh during his Feb. 3-6 visit to the Sunni/Wahhabi kingdom, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Ankara saw in the Saudi-authored Arab peace plan the key to solving the Arab-Israeli conflict and most ...
How Iran Sees Turkey.
Feb 16, 2009 ... While Turkey's Kemalists allege the AKP is a Neo-Ottoman movement and a "Trojan horse" of Salafi Sunnis whose members masquerade as democrats, Iran's supremacists say the AKP is so moderate that it might get ostracised as infidel if it were trans-planted to Iran or Afghanistan. But Iran's ...
Neo-Salafi Female Kills 40 Shi'ite Pilgrims.
Feb 16, 2009 ... A Neo-Salafi woman with a vest of explosives on Feb. 13 killed at least 40 Shi'ite pilgrims at a check-point on the road to the holy shrine of Imam Hussein bin-'Ali in Karbala' south of Baghdad. It was the deadliest Neo-Salafi attack in Iraq this year and marked the third consecutive day ...
Christopher Hill For US Ambassador To Baghdad.
Feb 16, 2009 ... Career US diplomat Chris Hill has been nominated for the post of ambassador to Baghdad. He has been the senior US envoy in negotiations over North Korea but has no Middle East experience. State Department spokesman Robert Wood on Feb. 6 said: "Our policy is never to discuss our process for ...
Resurgence In The Shi'ite World - Part 37 - Iraq & Maleki.
Jan 19, 2009 ... Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister (PM) Nuri al-Maleki intends to win big in provincial elections to be held on Jan. 31 and to establish in this country a secular democracy similar to the one in neighbouring Turkey. His programme appeals to most Iraqis and his faction of al-Da'wa al-Islamiya, a ...
The Provincial Elections & Maleki Vs Iran Roles.
Jan 19, 2009 ... The Electoral Commission on Jan. 18 said it was investigating allegations that nearly 60 candidates had submitted fraudulent qualification certificates. Commission chief Faraj al-Haidari said his body wanted the ministries of Education and Higher Education to verify the certificates before ...
Anti-Federation Current.(iraq)
Jan 19, 2009 ... Maleki's campaign against federalism has earned him respect among Iraq's Sunni Arabs. Many of the US-founded awakening councils (ACs) - mainly Sunni tribal elements who turned against the Neo-Salafi groups like al-Qaeda - has joined Maleki's ICs. This is particularly so in the provinces of ...