Adnan al Zurfi has 30 days to form government Shiite groups already opposed to his appointment Previous candidate failed to win parliament's vote of confidence Dubai — Iraq's Prime Minister designate Adnan al Zurfi is hamstrung by Shiite opposition to his nomination and possible recession in OPEC's second-largest oil producer reeling from the coronavirus epidemic and t
Read More
The spread of coronavirus, Covid-19, globally means more populations in lock downs while slowing major economic activities, but for Iraq, it goes beyond the normally expected health and economic crises. The country’s political economy is designed in a way that any economic lose might lead to conventional conflict over resources. The pandemic dramatically decreased revenues of I
Read More
Allawi’s cabinet failure may indicate growing Iraqi agency at Iran’s expense, but the path toward political stability remains tortuous and foggy. On March 2, Iraqi prime minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi stepped down after failing to gain sufficient parliamentary support for his proposed cabinet, putting President Barham Salih on the constitutional clock for designat
Read More
Congress and the Trump administration should privately agree to some ground rules for timing deterrent strikes on truly high-value targets, while quietly deploying more force-protection assets like Patriot missiles. In the early hours of Friday, U.S. and British aircraft conducted multiple airstrikes on the missile storage sites of the Iraqi militia group Kataib Hezbollah (
Read More
Early elections remain the best prescription for getting the country back on track. By Bobby Ghosh A month ago, when Mohammed Tawfik Allawi was nominated to the prime ministership of Iraq, I predicted he wouldn’t last long. Turns out, I was wildly optimistic. After four weeks of flailing efforts to form a cabinet, culminating in two failed attempts to get parliament to
Read More