Cycles of oppressive government, poverty, nationalism, extremism, economic and political instability and ethno-sectarian violence in a geographic area of vague definition. These characteristics are only some of the terms commonly used to describe the Middle East and North Africa region today. However, a mere hundred years ago, these same...
Since its declaration of a Caliphate in 2014, the Islamic State (IS) has released a number of publications depicting children participating in rallies, undergoing training, undertaking combat operations and even executing prisoners. Armed groups exploiting children in warzones is nothing new and across Iraq and Syria, many factions have...
Since the fall of Mosul it has sometimes been said by Iraq’s detractors that there is no longer any such thing as the Iraqi security forces (ISF). This is clearly nonsense and those peddling this line are fully aware that it is nonsense. They are motivated by schadenfreude –...
Water draws special interest in research because it is the essence of life. Attention has grown in this subject, perhaps in anxiety about the future of water in our present time due to increased competition for its demand; whether within one country or between countries that share it. Studying...
In countries that have experienced civil wars or transition from authoritarian rule, national reconciliation has been considered a strategic aim to overcome past phases and a starting point towards the construction process.
Every state has its own experience with national reconciliation; however, such experiences do not undermine the importance of...
The coalition government in the United Kingdom during the years 2010-2015 had a cautious approach to Iraq and later Syria. The legacy of the invasion in 2003 and the Bush/Blair alliance led to the UK public being averse to foreign intervention, and the financial crisis of 2008 meant that...
Back in 2002, Osama Bin Laden wrote in a letter addressed to Taliban leader Mullah Omar ‘the media war in this century is obviously one of the strongest methods; in fact, its ratio may reach 90% of the total preparation for the battles’. Three years later, his successor Al...
The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CSFP) is chaired and represented by the High Representative, who embodies a unified, common voice for otherwise disparate EU member states. The High Representative is assisted by the European External Action Service (EEAS), a structurally and financially independent arm which ensures consistency across the different activities the EU performs abroad through its numerous arms with external...
The next President of the United States will take office in January 2017 and will likely preside over a “make-or-break” moment in U.S.-Iraqi relations. The presidential contenders will all advocate a more aggressive campaign against Da’esh in Iraq and most of them support an effort to reduce Iranian influence in Iraq as well,...
