There is still doubt in the minds of serious people about Israel’s attack on the Free Gaza flotilla and the events that lead to the death of 9 of the activists aboard. There can be little surprise of…
COUNTRY » Iraq
145 candidates ineligible because of alleged Baathist ties, Iraq says
Published: 14/02/2010BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials announced Saturday that 145 candidates will be barred from participating in parliamentary elections next month after an appellate court ruled that their alleged ties to Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party make them ineligible.
The court reinstated 26…
Blair’s arrogant intransigence on Iraq is reminiscent of the colonial and imperial era
Published: 06/02/2010If it proved anything, the testimony of former British prime minister Tony Blair before the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry last week reveals that we are reliving the mediaeval age of discovery and colonial conquest. Blair’s account of the developments leading to…
Bombs Rock Baghdad As “Chemical Ali” Hanged (video)
Published: 26/01/201026/01/2010 – Suicide blasts outside hotels popular with Westerners killed dozens of people in Baghdad Monday, according to Iraqi officials. The explosions hit just before the announcement came that Saddam Hussein’s cousin was hanged (AP)
‘Chemical Ali’ executed in Iraq after Halabja ruling
Published: 25/01/2010Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former Iraqi official known as “Chemical Ali”, has been executed by hanging, a government spokesman has announced.
Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein’s regime and his cousin, had earlier been sentenced to death four times for…
Iraq – il ritorno del “saddamismo”
Published: 25/01/201025/01/2010
Original Version: The Return of “Saddamism”
La messa al bando di centinaia di candidati alle prossime elezioni del 7 marzo, in massima parte sunniti, nel corso della cosiddetta campagna di debaathificazione in atto nel paese, spinge il…
Il pericolo dei mercenari in Iraq e in Afghanistan
Published: 16/01/201016/01/2010
Original Version: The danger of hired guns
Si prevede che i contractor della sicurezza privata andranno a costituire circa metà della presenza militare americana in Afghanistan, ma gli Stati Uniti sono ancora in grado di controllarli?
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Il caso per la messa al bando del DTP
Published: 23/12/200907/12/2009
Original Version: DTP closure case
Il 20 novembre 2007, presso la Corte Costituzionale è cominciato un dibattimento sulla messa al bando del Partito della società democratica (Demokratik Toplum Partisi– DTP). L’8 dicembre 2009, la Corte Costituzionale si…
Iraq – Surprises aplenty in selloff
Published: 18/12/2009The distinguishing feature of Iraq’s auction of oil rights this weekend is the relative absence of American companies, in contrast to five weeks ago, when US firm ExxonMobil and Anglo-Dutch Shell signed an agreement to develop the West Qurna Phase…
Siccità: la catastrofe ambientale dell’Iraq
Published: 17/12/200917/12/2009
Original Version: Drought hits Iraq
La siccità e le dissennate politiche idriche dei paesi confinanti con l’Iraq stanno riducendo alla sete questo paese, determinando una situazione ambientale ed umanitaria gravissima – riferisce il corrispondente Salah Hemeid
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Le compagnie USA restano indietro nella corsa al petrolio iracheno
Published: 14/12/200914/12/2009
Original Version: U.S. firms lag in bids for Iraqi oil
Nell’asta che in questo fine settimana ha aggiudicato i più importanti contratti petroliferi degli ultimi anni in Iraq le compagnie americane hanno avuto un ruolo inaspettatamente marginale…
Iraq war – Plank by plank, Blair’s case collapses
Published: 14/12/2009A whitewash, a cover-up, “an establishment stitch-up”, as David Cameron puts it: never has any investigation been so damned in advance as the Chilcot inquiry. And its composition did not suggest any lively zeal to expose the iniquity of the…
U.S. firms lag in bids for Iraqi oil
Published: 13/12/2009BAGHDAD — Chinese, Russian and European companies won the right this weekend to develop major oil fields in Iraq, while U.S. firms made a paltry showing at auctions that represent the first major incursion of foreign oil companies into Iraq…
Drought hits Iraq
Published: 12/12/2009For centuries, Iraqis only needed to dig small channels and use simple pumps to irrigate the green fields of Iraq that span tens of thousands of acres of fertile land. The ancient Greeks and Romans called the region now occupied…
Clear losers and winners in Baghdad
Published: 12/12/2009DAMASCUS – In the mid-1970s, Syrian playwright Mohammad al-Maghout authored a beautiful scene about accountability in the Arab world. In it, the mayor promises his people serious reform and change, sacking the director of real estate from his post and…
Iraq – One step forward
Published: 12/12/2009Iraq’s parliament on Sunday approved plans to hold national elections early next year that are seen as an essential step towards political reconciliation and as paving the way for the country’s full sovereignty after the withdrawal of US troops by…
Iraq: elections at an impasse?
Published: 03/12/2009For weeks, feuding Iraqi sectarian and ethnic groups have been wrangling over a new election law that would clear the way for Iraq’s second parliamentary elections since the downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime in the US-led invasion of 2003.…
Il compromesso iracheno permette le elezioni, ma le tensioni curde rimangono
Published: 11/11/200911/11/2009
Original Version: Iraq Compromise Allows Elections, but Kurdish Tensions Remain
A seguito delle pressioni americane, il parlamento iracheno ha approvato una nuova legge elettorale che permetterà lo svolgimento delle elezioni il prossimo gennaio, ma il nodo di…
Iraq Compromise Allows Elections, But Kurdish Tensions Remain
Published: 10/11/2009Behind-the-scenes U.S. pressure has finally forced Iraq’s leaders to accept a political compromise, with Sunday’s vote in the Iraqi parliament to adopt an electoral law setting rules for a national election in January — and potentially clearing the path to…
Iraq passes election law (video)
Published: 09/11/200909/11/2009 – The Iraqi parliament has passed a long-delayed law that will clear the way for national elections in January.
The bill had stalled over how voting would be handled in Kirkuk, an oil rich city in the country’s north claimed by Iraq’s Kurds and Arabs (al-Jazeera English)
Iraqi parliament passes election law after reaching deal on Kirkuk
Published: 09/11/2009BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers passed an election law Sunday night, overcoming a weeks-long impasse and averting a constitutional crisis that threatened to delay the U.S. troop drawdown.
The vote was held during a rare evening session preceded by intense lobbying…
Iraq bombers seek to reverse progress
Published: 27/10/2009US and Iraqi investigators in Baghdad are focusing their attention on two possible culprits for Sunday’s bombings, which left more than 155 people dead.
They believe the attacks bear the hallmarks of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Baathists who were loyal…
Too early for U.S. to withdraw from Iraq? (video)
Published: 27/10/200927/10/2009 – This week’s explosions in Baghdad were just the latest in an attempt to derail upcoming January elections and plunge the country back into sectarian violence. Analyst Raed Jarrar says that the bombings are a clear indication that it is too early for the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq (Russia Today)
Il suicidio del processo politico in Iraq è solo questione di tempo
Published: 27/10/200927/10/2009
Original Version: نتحار العملية السياسية في العراق مسألة وقت لا اكثر
I terribili attentati che hanno colpito la “protettissima” zona verde a Baghdad (il cuore stesso del potere politico in Iraq), ed il clima generale che si respira…
Sunnis present a new face in Iraq
Published: 24/10/2009DAMASCUS – The Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the largest Sunni coalition in Iraq, is promising its constituency a major breakthrough in the parliamentary elections set for January.
Last weekend, the Front announced the formation of an all-Sunni coalition that plans…
Turchi e curdi: rompere i vecchi tabù
Published: 21/10/200901/10/2009
Original Version: Breaking old taboos
Gli sforzi del partito turco al governo, il partito “Giustizia e Sviluppo” (AKP), per rompere i vecchi tabù e risolvere la questione curda in Turchia sono di portata storica, e senza precedenti.…
I ladri di Baghdad
Published: 19/10/200919/10/2009
Original Version: The thieves of Baghdad
All’ombra di un governo debole e corrotto, potenti gruppi mafiosi prosperano nel “nuovo” Iraq – scrive l’analista britannico James Denselow
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Nell’ultimo mese, numerosi incidenti di elevato impatto hanno evidenziato quello…
The thieves of Baghdad
Published: 15/10/2009In the past month several high-profile incidents have highlighted what Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, described as the outbreak of “a frenzy of violent crime” in Iraq. Writing in the Times, Richard Kerbaj explained…
Kurdish lessons leave Iraqi Arabs cold
Published: 04/10/2009BAGHDAD – Baghdad teenager Amir Muayyad returned from a holiday in northern Iraq with a couple of words of Kurdish to share with his friends. “I was passing through an area and heard its name by chance – Swara Tukah,”…
Le prossime elezioni irachene e la fragilità curda
Published: 01/10/200901/10/2009
Original Version: Iraqi general election and Kurdish fragility
In vista delle elezioni parlamentari irachene del prossimo gennaio, si sta infiammando il dibattito politico all’interno della regione autonoma del Kurdistan iracheno; al centro della discussione è la questione…
Iraqi general election and Kurdish fragility
Published: 23/09/2009There is going to be a general parliamentary election in Iraq in January 2010.
This election is as crucial as the first-ever free election in Iraq in 2005 following the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime by U.S. occupation of Iraq…
“Perchè ho lanciato quella scarpa” – parla il giornalista iracheno che prese di mira Bush
Published: 21/09/200921/09/2009
Original Version: Why I threw the shoe
Muntazer al-Zaidi è stato liberato la scorsa settimana dopo aver trascorso nove mesi in carcere per aver lanciato le sue scarpe contro l’ex presidente americano George Bush durante una conferenza…
Why I threw the shoe
Published: 20/09/2009am free. But my country is still a prisoner of war. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it, and about the hero and the heroic act, and the symbol and…
The Second Biden Mission to Iraq
Published: 18/09/2009Writing about the Iraq policy of the Obama administration is difficult these days. There is a dearth of policy statements, and what little exists in the public domain is either rather bland or involves a continuation of the policy of…
L’Iraq al bivio
Published: 09/09/2009
A soli due mesi dal ridispiegamento delle truppe americane, le quali il 30 giugno scorso hanno completato il loro ritiro dalle città, l’Iraq si trova alla confluenza di una serie di eventi che potrebbero avere un’importanza fondamentale nel delineare…
La strada verso le prossime elezioni irachene
Published: 09/09/200902/09/2009
الطريق إلى الانتخابات العراقية الثانية
Dovrebbero tenersi il gennaio prossimo le seconde elezioni parlamentari del “nuovo Iraq”. Se le prime elezioni, quattro anni fa, avevano suscitato seri dubbi riguardo alla loro effettiva influenza sul futuro del paese, è opinione…
Le illusioni arabe spazzate via dalle esplosioni di Baghdad
Published: 09/09/200901/09/2009
أوهام عربية تبددها تفجيرات بغداد
Il brancolamento nel buio della sicurezza irachena, tradottosi nella destituzione affrettata di alcuni capi dell’intelligence (allontanati in realtà non perché colpevoli – come si è voluto far credere – del deficit nella sicurezza, ma…
I curdi andranno in ordine sparso alle prossime elezioni?
Published: 09/09/200928/08/2009
La costituzione di un’opposizione che conta 40 seggi nel nuovo Parlamento del Kurdistan è stata probabilmente il primo segno tangibile di progresso della recente democratizzazione nella regione federale del Kurdistan.
Mentre l’Unione Patriottica del Kurdistan…
Maliki compie una mossa audace
Published: 09/09/200926/08/2009
L’Alleanza Irachena Unita, una lista di partiti a maggioranza sciita, diventata il principale blocco in Parlamento dopo le elezioni irachene del 2005, si è riorganizzata e ha assunto il nome di Alleanza Nazionale Irachena…
Siria e Iraq: rapporti difficili
Published: 09/09/200902/09/2009
Le tensioni del mese scorso tra Iraq e Siria hanno ora raggiunto il punto di rottura. Inizialmente, entrambi i paesi confinanti hanno richiamato i propri ambasciatori a seguito delle accuse di coinvolgimento siriano negli attentati terroristici…
Barham Salih to form the next KRG
Published: 09/09/200905/09/2009 - According to various Kurdish news agencies, Barham Salih, head of Kurdistani List–which is the combination of two powerful ruling parties in Kurdistan Region, including the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)–will start negotiations to…
Ammar al-Hakim Appointed New Leader of Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council
Published: 09/09/200901/09/2009 - London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Ridha Jawad Taqi, a high-ranking member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council revealed that Ammar al-Hakim, son of late leader Abdulaziz al-Hakim, who died in Tehran last week, has become the new leader of the Shiite…
Message of fear in Iraq
Published: 09/09/200927/08/2009 - On a scorching Wednesday morning last week, an enormous explosion ripped through an apartment block just outside the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, sending huge columns of smoke billowing over a large area.
The blast, caused by the explosion…
Ramifications for the Kurdistan Region and for Iraq
Published: 09/09/200906/08/2009 – On July 25, the people of Kurdistan Region in Iraq for the first time elected a regional president and for the second time a new parliament. The elections took place in accordance with Iraq’s new constitution, which was…
Maliki makes a bold move
Published: 02/09/2009The United Iraqi Alliance, a slate of predominantly Shia Muslim parties that became the leading bloc in parliament after Iraq’s 2005 elections, has regrouped and renamed itself the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) to contest the country’s national elections in January…
Kurdistan: uno stato-nazione in via di formazione
Published: 24/07/200924/07/2009
La regione autonoma del Kurdistan iracheno si appresta a votare, sabato 25 luglio, un nuovo presidente ed un nuovo parlamento regionale. Queste elezioni potrebbero rappresentare la svolta attraverso la quale, nel Kurdistan iracheno, le caratteristiche dello stato-nazione cominceranno ad…
Iraq’s Full Transition (video)
Published: 23/07/200923/07/2009 – In a news conference with Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki, President Obama said the United States is still on schedule to remove all troops by the end of 2011 and will work with Iraq to have U.N sanctions imposed after the Gulf War lifted (CBS News)
Kurdistan – Change in the air?
Published: 23/07/2009AS IRAQ’S Kurds prepare to vote on July 25th for a regional assembly and a president, the buzzword is Goran, meaning change. It is also the name of a new movement that is trying to defeat—or at least to dent—the…
L’Iraq alla ricerca di un nuovo rapporto con Washington
Published: 16/07/200916/07/2009
Il Primo Ministro iracheno, Nouri Al-Maliki, è atteso negli Stati Uniti a partire dal 21 luglio per discutere della cooperazione a lungo termine tra i due Paesi. Una tappa cruciale dopo il ridispiegamento americano del 30 giugno – scrive…
New report shows over 2.5 million Iraqis received UN assistance in 2008
Published: 12/07/200925 June 2009 – The United Nations and its partners provided some $207 million worth of humanitarian assistance to over 2.5 million Iraqis in 2008, according to a report by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), highlighting…
L’Iraq dopo il ritiro americano dalle città
Published: 08/07/2009
In applicazione dell’ormai famoso “Status of Forces Agreement” (SOFA) – il patto di sicurezza siglato fra Washington e Baghdad verso la fine dello scorso anno – il 30 giugno le truppe americane hanno completato il “ritiro” dalle città irachene.…
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