Epstein Secrets

following a 10-day standoff between Iraqi army units and Kurdish pesh merga troops in October, after Maliki sent the army toward the disputed city of Kirkuk. That move followed a series of skirmishes and mobilizations along the “Green Line” separating Kurdistan from Arab Iraq and a series of attacks in th

ce President Tariq al-Hashimi’s security detail. Hashimi fled to Turkey and is unlikely to return soon to Iraq, where he was sentenced to death after Maliki demanded his trial in absentia for murder and financing terrorism. The threat to Issawi, a moderate technocrat from Anbar, galvanized Iraqi Sunnis,

following a 10-day standoff between Iraqi army units and Kurdish pesh merga troops in October, after Maliki sent the army toward the disputed city of Kirkuk. That move followed a series of skirmishes and mobilizations along the "Green Line" separating Kurdistan from Arab Iraq and a series of attacks in th

ce President Tariq al-Hashimi's security detail. Hashimi fled to Turkey and is unlikely to return soon to Iraq, where he was sentenced to death after Maliki demanded his trial in absentia for murder and financing terrorism. The threat to Issawi, a moderate technocrat from Anbar, galvanized Iraqi Sunnis, w

r toward a breakup, one group is maneuvering the crisis with far more leverage than the others: Iraqi Kurds. And in the contested oil-rich region of Kirkuk, Iraq's Kurdish minority has been steadily consolidating control for weeks. On the southern edge of the province, in an area once secured by centra

old reporters last week. But Iraq's parliament failed to reach an agreement this week on the government's top posts. Also in a statement last week, Maliki reminded Iraqis that his party holds the largest majority in parliament and that it would not accept "conditions"set by opposition members, despite

EU imposed tougher sanctions on Iran's gasoline imports, hundreds of millions of dollars in crude oil and refined products from the Kurdish region, Kirkuk, and Baiji have been smuggled to Iran on a daily basis. As direct smuggling from Oman and the UAE becomes more and more difficult and sanctions bec

s not at all clear how they can achieve this. With so much goodwill towards Iran and immense financial benefits embedded in illegal activities, the Maliki government is unlikely to help. In the overall scheme of the west's standoff with Iran, this probably means that neither war nor sanctions can sto

rs that using the current turmoil to gain concessions from Baghdad on issues such as independent oil exports and the future of the disputed city of Kirkuk will backfire. Washington is loath EFTA00669742 to take sides between Erbil and Baghdad. And if it does, it is unlikely to act to antagonize Mr.

owing a weakness that no doubt emboldened the Russian president to launch his aggression against Ukraine. The errant Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki, beset by a Sunni-al Qaeda insurgency, has been told, in effect, to seek succor from his Shiite co-religionists in Iran. Meanwhile, Secretary of St

northern Iraq, though the Kurdish peshmerga are professional fighters who ISIS would be wary of challenging now. But as the years go on, the oil in Kirkuk would be a tempting ISIS target. One question is whether ISIS has learned from its failed reign of terror in Anbar province in 2005 and 2006, when

ing place in the Iranian establishment over whether its regional policies—backing Shi'a and Shi'a-friendly forces like Hezbollah and the Assad and Maliki governments to the hilt in brutal civil wars-is working. According to The Wall Street Journal, Iranian doves are pointing to the recent regional ch

llowing a 10-day standoff between Iraqi army units and Kurdish pesh merga troops in October, after Maliki sent the army toward the disputed city of Kirkuk. That move followed a series of skirmishes and mobilizations along the "Green Line" separating Kurdistan from Arab Iraq and a series of attacks in

President Tariq al-Hashimi's security detail. Hashimi fled to Turkey and is unlikely to return soon to Iraq, where he was sentenced to death after Maliki demanded his trial in absentia for murder and financing terrorism. The threat to Issawi, a moderate technocrat from Anbar, galvanized Iraqi Sunnis