Epstein Secrets

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

r separating them from their new southern neighbors, the Sunni militants of the Islamic State. Massoud Barzani, president of the largely autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, has repeatedly suggested he will soon initiate a referendum on the region's independence, which would likely pass, local officials and analysts sa

i al-Maliki's spokesman told the BBC were suspicions of "corruption." The Russian press has tried to lay blame for this on U.S. pressure exerted on Maliki during his visit to Washington last October, his first ever since winning the premiership in 2006. (He had had already traveled twice to Moscow in

Turks as well, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who also used the term "Kurdistan" in a speech he made on Nov. 16 in Diyarbakir with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani at this side. Subsequently, Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir has also begun to use the term publicly. But even befo

and Sunni Arab oppositionists collectively won around 160 seats -- just shy of the 165 required to ratify a prime minister -- opponents of a third Maliki term would have to set aside their differences and demonstrate near-perfect cohesion to unseat him. Maliki is therefore the front runner for now, t

i, accepting his potential reappointment would be especially difficult for the Iraqi Kurds, who command 62 seats in the new parliament. On May 14, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) president Masoud Barzani underlined his opposition in personal terms, stating, "The Maliki that we knew before he was in power was different