BAGHDAD — Miad Jubouri, an Iraqi mother of five who joined the ranks of the Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State (IS), has been participating in the battle as part of the Lions of the Tigris faction for the past two years. In a patriotic and conservative Iraqi society, Jubouri’s fight alongside the male-dominated Iraqi security forces has caught the attention of both the com
Read More
ERBIL, Iraq — Exxon Mobil has pulled out of three of the six exploration blocks it operated in the Kurdistan Region. The American oil giant withdrew from Betwata, Arbat and Qara Hanjeer in Sulaimaniyah province, raising many questions about the sudden step. Hemen Hawrami, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party's foreign relations office, announced during a Dec. 26 press
Read More
Download PDF: economics-books-in-2017-by-the-enlightened-economist Here is my annual round up of titles that look interesting from the various spring catalogues (I’ve noted a few of these in separate posts before but it’s always handy to gather them together). There are quite a few enticing titles in the Princeton University Press one (my own publisher). Cass Sunstein has&n
Read More
According to a UN report, the global improvement in living standards has passed much of the Arab world by. Robert Fisk explains why Why is the Arab world – let us speak with terrible sharpness – so backward? Why so many dictators, so few human rights, so much state security and torture, so terrible a literacy rate? Why does this wretched place, so rich in oil, have to
Read More
DOWNLOAD PDF A century after diplomats Mark Sykes of Britain and François Georges-Picot of France drew up a secret agreement to divide the Ottoman lands of the Middle East, a look at the modern map indicates the resulting states have largely stood the test of time -- at least thus far. Most of these states are now under considerable demographic, economic,
Read More