As global oil prices soar, smugglers are exploiting the lucrative profit margin between Iraq’s subsidized fuel and black-market rates elsewhere. Smugglers move the country’s oil to and through the contested Kurdish region, exacerbating nationwide shortages and depriving the state of much-needed income. These illicit oil flows are also funding Iranian-backed militias, creating b
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Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, who was sworn in on October 27, 2022, has nearly completed the first 100 days of his tenure. In this short period, he has shown himself to be an energetic and shrewd politician, balancing his commitments to Iran-friendly forces in Iraq while also maintaining good relations with Arab neighbors and the United States. His political su
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Introduction At no time since the founding of the modern nation of Iraq in 1921 hasthe country faced a greater set of deep-seated and intractable challengesto its fragile state–society relations. In June 2014 the Sunni Arab terror-ist network known in English as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)conducted a series of highly coordinated and brazen attacks across part
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Twelve months of high drama in Iraqi politics finally ended on October 27, with the investiture of a new government headed by Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani. Two weeks prior, the Iraqi parliament elected Abdul Latif Rashid as the country’s president following his nomination by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to succeed Barham Salih of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Thes
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Climate Change Inaction Threatens Iraq’s Social Stability and Long-Term Economic Development Prospects Baghdad, Nov 9, 2022 – Climate change, in particular increasing water scarcity, could further threaten Iraq’s fragile social contract under an oil-led growth model that has been a source of economic volatility. According to the new World Bank Group’s Country Climate and Dev
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