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As the three-year campaign to forcefully remove the Islamic State from Iraqi borders appears to have shifted toward Baghdad’s favor, perennial issues tied to Kurdish statehood are expected to reemerge amidst the backdrop of a rapidly changing regional order. In early June 2017, Masoud Barzani - President of Iraq’s Kurdistan ...
... of ambitious energy-related infrastructure projects in Libya would highlight Moscow’s status as an arbiter on energy-related issues within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This agreement would also increase pressure on non-compliant states like Iraq, to adopt similar measures, even though gaining full cooperation from Baghdad is complicated by the Iraqi government’s lack of jurisdiction over Iraqi Kurdish oil contracts. In short, Russia has a major opportunity at the August 7-8 Abu Dhabi ...
... Turkey and other states help mediate the Syrian conflict while ultimately bringing the Syrians, Iranians and Saudis into a peace accord? How should the U.S., Russia, and Europeans deal with the conflict between Turkey, Syria and the Kurds, and between Iraq and the Kurds, given Turkish, Syrian, and Iraqi option to the possibility that the Kurds might use the Syrian conflict to achieve independence in differing regions? Can a loose Kurdish confederation — that does not challenge existing borders — ...
... James Mattis, USMC. In addition, the US was given logistical help by Russian President Vladimir Putin, then Bush’s strategic partner. Within three months, the US had defeated its foe, liberated Kabul, and changed the regime. 2003 War of Choice in Iraq But afterwards, as Paula Broadwell observed, the initial brilliant success in Afghanistan “was squandered when the US marched headlong into Iraq in early 2003.” Instead of finishing the war of necessity in Afghanistan, Washington entered into ...
... reverse the course of the war, “Shiite jihadists” started to emerge in the country during this period. They have since become an integral part of the regime’s armed forces. The most famous of these groups are Lebanon’s Hezbollah and numerous Iraqi groups, such as Liwa al-Zulfiqar and Liwa Asadullah al-Ghalib, which emerged as the followers of the Shiite jihad “pioneers” in Syria from the Iraqi forces – Liwa Abu Fadl al-Abbas and a conglomerate of Iraqi Shiite groups associated with ...
... the Oval Office in 2008 with the goal of reshaping the US engagement in the Middle East after the damaging eight years of George Bush’s policy in the region. All in all, in 2008 he inherited the two longest wars in the US history in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as a dysfunctional state system of the region. Barack Obama set very ambitious tasks for himself – ending the two wars was only the first step of his policy. He aimed at bringing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, build a constructive ...
The ongoing offensive against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, as well as the neutralisation of jihadist leaders such as Abu Muhammad al-Adnani or Abu Omar al-Shishani in the Arab-Muslim world, beg the question of post-ISIS and future jihadist threats in the world. The following points provide some ...
Despite the fact that Mosul has not been recaptured from the Islamic State, and the announced attack on Syria’s Raqqa has lost some momentum, there is little doubt that the fate of radical Islamists in Syria and Iraq is sealed. This makes the issue of the two countries’ postwar state structure particularly important. Who will take responsibility for the future of the two key Middle Eastern nations? How will they do so? In early October 2016 Russia once ...
... tensions rose a few years ago, it was easy for them to talk about the use of nuclear weapons and not think of the consequences of such actions. Of course, the world faces serious problems today: terror group Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant), the war in Syria and Iraq, the migrant crisis, slow growth. But these are issues civilised nations are capable of solving one way or another. The system of controlling nuclear weapons is falling apart. This system was an integral ...
On June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the head of what was then known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, proclaimed the establishment of the Caliphate. Two years on, in summer 2016, the Islamic State celebrated its “birthday” with a spate of terror strikes. The Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammed Al Adnani released a statement ...
| U.S. wants to establish partnership relations with Russia on condition that it meets the U.S. requirements |
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| U.S. wants to deter Russia’s military and political activity |
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| U.S. wants to dissolve Russia |
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| U.S. wants to establish alliance relations with Russia under the US conditions to rival China |
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