Recently added articles from APS Diplomat Strategic Balance in the Middle East:
The Challenges Of Terrorism - Iraq, Part 45 - Reforms & Corruption.
Jun 01, 2009 ... Iraq's Shi'ite PM Nuri al-Maleki is embarked on meaningful political reforms aimed at shifting the process from "consensus democracy", which is close to toralitarian rule, to real democracy where the rule should emanate from the majority in the country's Council of Representatives ...
IRAQ - Dealing With Corruption, Violence & Reforms.
Jun 01, 2009 ... For the time being, Maleki is preoccupied with a series of corruption scandals which may have serious implications for his political base ahead of crucial parliamentary elections to be held in January 2010. Maleki is particularly worried by such implications, with Iraq classed among the ...
The Challenges Of Terrorism - Iraq, Part 44 - Security Risks As Money Dries Up.
Apr 13, 2009 ... A sharp decline in state income resulting from low oil prices means Iraq is having security problems which, if not checked, could cause escalation in terrorism and yet another Sunni-Shi'ite war. This time the threat is coming from money flowing in from the nearby Arab Gulf Co-operation ...
The Bayji Train Station.
Apr 13, 2009 ... There is an interesting focus on the changing fortunes of the train station in Bayji, Iraq's industrial heartland in the northern province of Salahuddin, which might be considered a metaphor for the security situation in this fragile country. Two years ago the station was a Neo-Salafi ...
US Troops May Stay Longer.
Apr 13, 2009 ... Under the SOFA, US combat troops must leave Iraq by August 2010, keeping behind an American force of up to 50,000 until end-2011. But in an interview published on April 10, the top US commander in Iraq, Army Lt-Gen Raymond Odierno, said American combat forces could stay on beyond these ...
Obama Visits.
Apr 13, 2009 ... President Obama on April 7 made an unannounced trip to Iraq, his first visit as US commander in chief to the site of one of the two wars he inherited and must now see through to an end. Reiterating his pledge to end a war he opposed from the start, he told a cheering crowd of US troops ...
Maleki's Overtures To Ba'thists & Douri's Message.(Nuri al-Maliki, 'Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri)
Apr 13, 2009 ... On the same day as Obama arrived in Iraq, Maleki's Shi'ite National Dialogue Minister Akram al-Hakim landed in Cairo to meet with former Ba'thists and ex-officers from the Iraqi army in exile. He had been sent to ask these elements to renounce violence and return to participate in ...
The Challenges Of Terrorism - Iraq, Part 43 - The Kurdish Question.
Mar 23, 2009 ... A new issue is adding to the numerous problems of Iraq: whether or not the next head of the Iraqi Republic will be a Kurd, as President Jalal Talabani does not want to have a second term when the current one ends. This makes the Kurdish question in Iraq more complicated - with Iraq's ...
Kurds Warns On Oil Contracts, But See Exports Soon.
Mar 23, 2009 ... The KRG's Minister of Natural Resources, Dr Ashti Hawrami, on March 16 warned international oil companies (IOCs) against signing deals with Baghdad on fields in territory the Kurds claim. He said the KRG would start exporting crude oil in the coming months. Baghdad has invited ...
Obama Visiting Turkey.(Barack Obama)
Mar 23, 2009 ... President Obama has chosen to make his first state visit abroad to be to Turkey, a Sunni democracy which he sees as a good model for the Muslim world. He is due to arrive in Ankara on April 6. It is not clear yet whether he would also visit Iraq. The Obama administration has ...
Maleki Forging Alliance With Secular Leaders.
Mar 23, 2009 ... PM Maleki has allied himself with Saleh al-Mutlaq, an outspoken secular Sunni leader in several provinces and broached a coalition with former PM Iyad 'Allawi - a secular Shi'ite opposed to Iranian influences on Iraq. Maleki is also courting Sadr. This suggests the emergence of a new axis ...
The Challenges Of Terrorism - Iraq, Part 42 - Syria Is Not Changing Behaviour.
Mar 02, 2009 ... Syria's Ambassador to Washington 'Imad Mustafa on Feb. 25 had talks at the State Department with acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, a former ambassador to Beirut where he learned a great deal about the 'Alawite/Ba'thist regime of Bashar al-Assad ...
Kuwaiti FM Visits.(foreign minister Shaikh Muhammad al-Sabah)(Brief article)
Mar 02, 2009 ... Visiting Baghdad, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister and Deputy PM Shaikh Muhammad al-Sabah on Feb. 26 had talks with PM Nuri al-Maleki and other leaders. This was the highest-level Kuwaiti visit since Saddam's Aug. 2, 1990, invasion of the Sunni Arab emirate which is part of the Saudi-led camp ....
The Hariri Case.(Rafiq Hariri)
Mar 02, 2009 ... Another link to the long chain of events from the 1974 Golan deal is the case of former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri, who was assassinated on Feb. 14, 2005, and both the Obama administration and Sarkozy have made it clear they were backing a UN court to begin trying this case on March 1 ....
Obama's Withdrawal Plan.(Barack Obama's Iraqi troop withdrawal strategy)
Mar 02, 2009 ... Addressing Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, President Obama on Feb. 27 said the US had now "begun the work of ending this war" in Iraq, as he announced the withdrawal of most American combat forces by end-August 2010 while leaving behind as many as 50,000 troops for more-limited ...
The Challenges Of Terrorism - Iraq, Part 41 - US Is Also Using The Taqiyah.
Jan 05, 2009 ... At-taqiyah, which in the Muslim world means to deceive or lie and many other things, is being used extensively in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere. Even the US is using its own version of it among the rival forces in Iraq and elsewhere in the Greater Middle East (GME) - a huge energy-rich part of ...
Iraq's Provincial Elections & Moves Into Secularism.
Jan 05, 2009 ... The first test, however, will be Iraq's provincial polls due on Jan. 31. The outcome of this election will help set the course for the future of Iraq. Iraq's Shi'ite PM Nuri al-Maliki is building up his own power base for this election, having established the isnad movement. (Isnad in ...
Neo-Salafi Bomber Kills Many Maliki Allies.
Jan 05, 2009 ... Over 25 tribal Arab leaders meeting at the house of senior Sunni tribal Shaikh Muhammad 'Abdullah Saleh al-Qaraghuli to discuss national reconciliation efforts and backing PM Maliki's ICs on Jan. 2 were killed and 42 were wounded as a member of the tribe working with al-Qaeda detonated an ...
The Basra Factor.
Jan 05, 2009 ... Ten months after Maliki sent troops to restore calm to the blighted city of Basra in the south, the Jan. 31 election will test whether he can convert his military successes into a lasting political victory. The stakes are high: the winner gains control of the major oil-producing centre and ...
The Challenges Of Terrorism - Iraq, Part 40 - Al-Qaeda Is On The Run.
Dec 01, 2008 ... A combination of concentrated, US-aided attacks and joint American-Iraqi efforts to rebuild Iraq from the bottom up is causing the Qaeda-led Neo-Salafi insurgent groups to be on the run. They are being defeated in the Sunni Arab and Kurdish parts of the country, with Iraq's Shi'ite Arab ...