Download PDF The news from Iraq is bad. Four distinct yet intertwined problems—the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the dysfunctional politics of Iraq, the utter collapse of the Syrian state and the larger cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran—have combined to disrupt the fragile stability gained by the Iraqis in the wake of the 2006-2008 civil war. Ir
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HOUSTON, July 2 (UPI) --HOUSTON, July 2 (UPI) --A lack of infrastructure in the Kurdish north of Iraq could be an inhibiting factor in the region's oil development, analysis from Platts finds. Platts Oilgram News reports the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government is engaged in a "war of words" with Baghdad over jurisdiction of oil in the country. KRG oil sent from the T
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The outcome of the Iraq and Syrian conflicts may rest on who controls the region’s dwindling water supplies, say security analysts in London and Baghdad. Rivers, canals, dams, sewage and desalination plants are now all military targets in the semi-arid region that regularly experiences extreme water shortages, says Michael Stephen, deputy director of the Royal United Services
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Based on territorial gains in Syria and Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), the recent declaration of an Islamic State (Khilafah) has laid to waste President Obama's claim that the US (having withdrawn military forces from Iraq in 2011) left behind "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq." This was evidenced by a recent statement he gave to CBS news that IS
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Download PDF 1- Preface As from January 2014, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has begun to export crude oil directly to world oil markets through a new pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan from oil fields under its control. Dispatched without the approval of Iraq’s central government, with the first shipment put up for sale before the end of January 2014. With the
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