US President Donald Trump set to attend World Economic Forum as Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif cancels The de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, will be high on the agenda at next week’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, which is the organisation’s 50th yearly gathering in Davos, Switzerland. Taking part in these efforts wil
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It is outrageous to expect Iraq, which has suffered the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and the destruction of its infrastructure and economy, to pay for its own occupation. When US President Donald Trump threatened to make Iraq pay for the sprawling US base west of Baghdad if it forced American troops to leave the country, I reached out to an old friend who
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Thirty years after devastating sanctions were first imposed on Iraq, President Donald Trump’s threat of new sanctions is a chilling reminder for average Iraqis of the pain, demoralization and hard choices they experienced amid policies of global economic pressure. In the fallout over the targeted killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Trump said this w
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Data: Simon Hinrichsen / LSE; Chart: Axios Visuals When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, it was taking control of the most indebted nation in the world. Why it matters: Iraq's debt at the time was an astonishing $130 billion, and the eradication of that debt was a rare example of international unity and cooperation in the interests of a debtor country. The full story i
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Attacks on US assets increase amid Iraq’s political power vacuum as protests continue across the country On 12 December, gruesome images of a crowd of people taking photos of a body strung up from a traffic light in Wathba Square in central Baghdad flooded social media. At the time, it was unclear who the teenage boy was. Some said the teenager had been shooting anti-governm
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