Iraq
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Parliamentary elections in Iraq
Low turnout, high drama
With turnout somewhere between 38 and 41 per cent, assassinations and intimidation of activists by armed groups in the run-up to the election, and a boycott of the election by several new parties linked to the protest movement, political calm and stability seem a distant prospect in Iraq. There has also been a shift in the balance of power towards Muqtada al-Sadr and Nouri al-Maliki. By Harith Hasan
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Parliamentary elections in Iraq
Change or political stagnation in Baghdad?
Will Iraq's parliamentary elections bring change? The new electoral law, which allowed independent candidates to stand for the first time, provided a golden opportunity. But not many people took advantage of it. And voter turnout was shamefully low. Birgit Svensson reports from Baghdad and Mosul
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Hisham A. Hellyer on "the War on Terror"
"You cannot rely on the West"
Western states have fought against terrorism not only in Afghanistan, but also in Syria and Iraq – leaving behind people who were once their partners in fear and poverty. Hisham A. Hellyer talks in interview about the "war on terror" and the role played by the West 20 years on. Interview by Andrea Backhaus
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Middle East
Factbox: Who's competing in Iraq's elections?
Iraq holds a general election on 10 October, its fifth parliamentary vote since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and ushered in a complex multi-party system contested by groups defined largely by sect or ethnicity.
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Iraq's electricity crisis
Iraqis left in the dark by their corrupt politicians
Every electricity minister since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein has faced the same daunting equation: Iraq should be able to produce over 30,000 megawatts of power, enough to meet current demand, but only about a half of that reaches consumers. Samya Kullab explores the reasons why
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9/11 twenty years on
Muslims in the West – the cultural go-betweens
Twenty years after 9/11, the world is faced with the dual challenge of Islamophobia and anti-Westernism. Ahmet Kuru argues that Muslims in the West, well versed in both Western and Muslim cultures, are key to resolving the mutual antipathy felt by many
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9/11 twenty years on
How the 'War on Terror' destabilised the Middle East
Two decades after the attacks of 11 September 2001, the West faces the shattered debris of its failure – not only in Afghanistan, but also in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen. What went wrong in the war on terror? And what lessons can Europe learn from it? Essay by Kristin Helberg
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20 years after 9/11
U.S. war on terror is still omnipresent
Twenty years after 9/11, the United States is recalibrating its war policy. However, its assertions that the era of endless wars is over are a myth, writes Maha Hilal
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Houses of healing
The success of early Arab medicine against epidemics
The coronavirus pandemic has turned lives upside down all over the world. In the Middle Ages, however, people lived with epidemics all the time. The best and most famous physicians worked in the Islamic world. By Dunja Ramadan
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US withdrawal from Iraq
Not Afghanistan: Why the US and Iraq won't leave one another
While agreeing last week to a withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq, neither Iraqi nor US leaders can admit publicly how much they need each other. By Cathrin Schaer
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Cyber disinformation
How dangerous are the Middle East's "electronic armies"?
The Middle East is plagued by electronic armies working at the behest of one regime or another. Long used by those in power as a weapon in the fight against activists and dissidents, such operations can have deadly consequences for those caught in the crosshairs. Cathrin Schaer has the details
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Loyalty and legitimacy in Syria
Bashar al-Assad's staging of the presidential election
By stage-managing his re-election in a poll widely dismissed as a farce, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has killed two birds with one stone: he has forced his compatriots to demonstrate their loyalty and submission and will use the outcome to get money from abroad. He needs both to stay in power. By Kristin Helberg