Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and breakdown of the Iraqi state, ethno-sectarian partition has become a popular political mantra. The assumption is that a federal state based on three autonomous regions — Sunni Arab, Shiite Arab and Kurd — is the most realistic way to stabilize Iraq and keep its borders intact. This claim has revived alongside the devasta
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BAGHDAD — The archaeological sites of Ur, Eridu and Uruk as well as the Iraqi marshlands are under consideration for UNESCO's World Heritage List. The decision will be made at the World Heritage Committee meeting to be held July 10-20 in Turkey, where the UNESCO member states will vote on adding new sites to World List. In anticipation of the event, President Fouad Masoum fo
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The heir to the Saudi throne just pushed through a bold package of reforms designed to free the kingdom from oil addiction by 2030. Here’s why it could backfire, badly. The Saudi royal family has gambled its prestige on a bold economic reform plan, meant to revive an economy battered by sharply lower oil revenues. But the prescriptions of “Saudi Vision 2030” are fraught with
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Mismanagement Is Killing Iraq. By Luay al-Khatteeb* Forget corruption. Waste, inefficiency and economic distortion have brought Baghdad to the brink. Ever since Stuart Bowen led the first attempt to account for Iraqi reconstruction funds in mid-2004, it has been clear that Iraq hemorrhages money through corruption. Since then, things have got worse as last year the late Ah
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Iraq's transition from autocracy to multiparty elections has made it something of a test case in the Arab world. Although the Sunni-Shia divide has created difficult obstacles to good governance, it has led to a wider embrace of power sharing, at least as a political principle. Iraq's Islamist parties play a dominant role in politics, but pose less of a threat to democracy th
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