Source: Kuwait Times Iraq is no stranger to battles, but this is not one fought with rifles and rockets: when the bell sounds, trainers release cocks Daqduqa and Sammam into the ring. The crowd, scattered across the makeshift stands in a dank Baghdad house, erupts into cheers, baying for blood. […]
Source: AFP ANKARA — A senior Iraqi minister met Turkish officials this week for talks on bilateral ties already strained over a political crisis engulfing neighbouring Iraq, a Turkish diplomat said Saturday. Iraqi National Security Minister Falih al-Fayyad held closed-door talks in Istanbul and Ankara beginning April 3 with a […]
By Safa A. Hussein The Daily Star, Lebanon Iraqis celebrated the Arab Spring that changed the regimes of Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen. But they are divided about the protests and uprisings in Bahrain and Syria. On the surface, it seems that this is merely a reflection of the sectarian divide […]
Source: Huffington Post Author: Hamza Hendawi BAGHDAD — Now that U.S. forces are gone, Iraq’s ruling Shiites are moving quickly to keep the two Muslim sects separate – and unequal. Sunnis are locked out of key jobs at universities and in government, their leaders banned from Cabinet meetings or even […]
Source: Associated Press Author: Sinan Salaheddin BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s self-ruled Kurdish region has halted oil exports over a payment row with the central government in Baghdad, the latest dispute in a long-troubled relationship between the two administrations. Furious over the move, Baghdad on Monday accused the Kurdistan Regional Government […]
By TARIQ ALHOMAYED, ARABNEWS (a view from Saudi Arabia) Nearly three days after the Arab Summit in Baghdad was adjourned, Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki launched an attack, more like a personal attack, on both Saudi Arabia and Qatar — which he described as “these two countries”, in defense of […]
AFP | Apr 01,2012 | 23:30 BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Shiite prime minister on Sunday slammed Sunni-ruled Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s stance on arming Syrian rebels, as Doha hosted Baghdad’s fugitive vice president who is accused of running a death squad. Nouri Al Maliki’s remarks were the latest in a dramatic […]
Source: CNN Author: Mohammed Tawfeeq Najaf, Iraq (CNN) — An Iraqi woman who died in California after a brutal beating was laid to rest in her native country Saturday. Shaima Alawadi, 32, was taken off of life support last week after being found unconscious in her living room in San […]
By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star, Lebanon Three great battles over political power have been unleashed across the Arab world and will persist for many years, until a new political order stabilizes in every country. One in particular is now reaching an important point that will reveal much about […]
Source: AFP Author: Wissam Keyrouz and W.G. Dunlop BAGHDAD — Despite the absence of key leaders, heavy-handed security measures and resolutions seen as soft, the fact that Iraq managed to host an Arab summit at all has been hailed as a success. Delayed by a year as a result of […]
Source: The Christian Science Monitor Author: Hamza Hendawi & Lara Jakes, Associated Press Fewer than half the leaders of the Arab world showed up at an Arab summit in Baghdad on Thursday, a snub to the Iraqi government, but the leaders agreed on an appeal to Syria’s regime to stop […]
Source: Reuters Author: Patrick Markey Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will seek to showcase his country’s diplomatic return to the region this week when leaders gather for the first Arab League summit in Baghdad in two decades, and the only one hosted by a Shi’ite Arab ruler. With violence from […]
Credit: Asia Times: Following the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq three moths ago, sectarian clashes between Shi’ite and Sunni groups have steadily increased. It’s the perfect environment for al-Qaeda to turn the region into the massive insurgent stronghold it used to be, while accusations mount that Iran is […]
By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star Lebanon I have been following the deliberations of Arab summit meetings for my entire adult life, and still remain dubious about the value of such gatherings. The summit taking place this week in Baghdad seems no different – but the Arab world itself […]
AMMAN/BAGHDAD — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh will head the Jordanian delegation to the 23rd Arab Summit, which opened in Baghdad on Tuesday. The delegation includes ministers of industry and trade and foreign affairs Sami Gammoh and Nasser Judeh, respectively, Jordan’s Ambassador to Egypt and […]
Source: New York Times Author: Jack Healy BAGHDAD — As Arab leaders converge on Baghdad for a landmark summit meeting this week, they will be treated to carefully chosen glimpses of a new Iraq: gleaming hotel lobbies, renovated palaces and young palm trees lining an airport highway once called the […]
AFP | Mar 27,2012 | JORDAN TIMES BAGHDAD — This week’s Arab summit in Baghdad will be very different from the one that met two years ago, with many long-time autocrats swept away by the political tsunami that has struck across the region. Instead, new Islamist leaders will sit alongside […]
By PRINCE KHALED AL-FAISAL, ARABNEWS Recent research study on Arab opinion clearly debunks the false and fabricated allegations against Saudi Arabia IN early March, the Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) published a report entitled “Measurement of Arab Public Opinion Project.” ACRPS is an independent research institute […]
By ARAB NEWS MAKKAH: About 33,000 pilgrims from Iraq will perform Haj this year, local daily Al-Madinah reported yesterday quoting the adviser to the president of the Iraqi Supreme Haj Authority. Hussein Jumaa said the authority would train the Iraqi pilgrims on the best and correct methods of performing the […]
By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon. What is it that drives ordinary Arab men and women to do extraordinary things, such as demonstrate against their government for 12 months non-stop, at the risk of being killed every day? I have heard many explanations for the ongoing Arab […]