Zaidi’s ‘Anti-Corruption’ Raids Follow Iraq’s Post-Succession Pattern, and Fall Hardest on Halbousi’s Rivals
Iraqi security forces detained as many as 20 senior officials during raids in Baghdad’s Green Zone and other areas late…
The Iranian Kurdish front that reached the border and stopped
A United States and Israeli plan to open a Kurdish ground front inside Iran moved through months of preparation to…
Iraq Picked an Outsider to Tame Its Militias. He May End Up Strengthening the System That Created Them.
A sweeping reshuffle of Iraq’s security, financial and border institutions, paired with the slow and partial integration of the Shia…
Written by
Arivan
What a Grand Mosque Reveals About Why Kurdistan Can’t Form a Government
Masrour Barzani’s grand mosque borrows the language of Gulf monarchy and the personal ambitions of Mohammed bin Zayed. Read closely, it also explains why the Kurdistan Region still has no…
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Arivan
Mazloum Abdi’s European tour and the limits of European influence
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi recently visited several European countries, including Italy and France. In Paris, he held meetings with French officials to discuss developments in Syria and the continuing integration…
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Arivan
The Fulcrum Doctrine: Washington’s Economic Architecture Across Iraq and Syria
On 16 June the US Embassy in Baghdad released a joint statement from Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Special Presidential Envoy Tom Barrack, following their meeting in the capital the…
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Arivan
The 8% Oil Share That Could Define the Limits of SDF Integration and Decentralization
The Syrian Energy Ministry has reportedly reached an agreement with HKN Energy over the Rmeilan oilfields. The deal matters not only for its implications for Syrian oil production but because…
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Arivan
With the Regime Still Standing in Tehran, Trump Finds Its Scapegoat in the Kurds, Tel Aviv in Turkey
Trump has now accused “the Kurds” five times of diverting weapons intended for Iranian anti-government protesters, claiming Washington sent guns and ammunition through Kurdish intermediaries who kept the shipments for…
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Arivan
Syria Moves SDF Fighters Far From Home in Test of Army Integration
On the Syria-SDF integration front, a notable development took place today: The Qamishli brigade, composed entirely of SDF fighters and numbering approximately 1,300, was transferred to al-Nabk military camp in…
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Written by
Arivan
For Iraq, Hormuz Is a Boomerang
Iraq’s oil output dropped from approximately 4.3 million barrels per day before February’s Hormuz closure to around 1.3 to 1.4 million barrels, almost entirely for domestic consumption, with exports through the southern…
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