Topic: Sunni-Shia tension

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Nihad Salim Qoja, former mayor of Erbil (photo: Shamal Sharef/DW)

Interview with Nihad Salim Qoja

“Iranian hegemony in Iraq is very strong”

For 12 years, Nihad Salim Qoja was the mayor of Erbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish regions of Iraq. Christopher Resch spoke to the local politician in Erbil about the future of his city and the current political problems in IraqMore

Overcoming cultural divisions: "Iraq is full of inspiring stories" Iraq post-IS: Mosulʹs cultural comebackThe uncertain future of Kurdish autonomy: What next for Iraqʹs Kurds?
A student protester holds up a placard outside the Lebanese Ministry of Education in Beirut on 7 November 2019 (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Malla)

Mass protests in Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq

Is this the Arab Spring 2.0?

Nearly a decade after the Arab Spring fizzled out, a new wave of protests has swept across the Middle East and North Africa. What is different this time – and will the protesters get what they want? By Marwan MuasherMore

Unrest in the Arab world: The genie is out of the bottleThe Arab Spring and the "Spring of Nations": Failed revolutionaries?Authoritarian reinstatement in the Arab world: Whatʹs left of the Arab Spring
Anti-government protests on Tahrir Square in Baghdad on 03.11.2019 (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Anti-government protests

Is this Iraq's Arab Spring?

Iraq is currently facing such an alarming array of economic, political and social problems that many observers fear no-one will be up to the task of delivering the much-needed reforms. By Stasa SalacaninMore

Unrest in the Arab world: The genie is out of the bottleProtesting for reform and an end to corruption: Iraq's youth reject the dire status quoThe Iraq War fifteen years on: "America destroyed my country"
Protesters at an anti-government demonstration on 1 October 2019 in Baghdad (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Protesting for reform and an end to corruption

Iraq's youth reject the dire status quo

More than a hundred dead and thousands injured: this is the brutal tally thus far of the current unrest in Iraq. Neither the country's political landscape, nor the ubiquitous confessional take on Iraqi politics offer much in the way of explanation. By Karim El-GawharyMore

From Basra to Baghdad: Young Iraqis rise up for a life worth livingEconomic crisis in Iraq: Trump's Iran embargo impacts IraqisWhat triggered the Middle Eastern revolts in 2011? The economics of Arabellion
Participants at the Arab League summit in Mecca on 30.05.2019 (photo: Imago Images/Zuma Press)

Farewell to multilateralism in the Middle East

The death of Arab unity

The collapse of traditional multilateralism in the Arab world has been accompanied by a significant shift in American Middle East policy under President Donald Trump, writes Jasmine M. El-Gamal in her essayMore

Saudi ultimatum for Qatar: Turning up the heat? Geopolitics in the Middle East: End the Arab-Iranian tug-of-warWhen blackmail becomes policy: For ʹPalestinian peace processʹ read ʹIran war processʹ
A pall of smoke hangs above the Aramco oil refinery in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia (photo: Reuters/Planet Labs)

Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities

Hitting Saudi Arabia where it hurts

After the drone attacks on two oil plants in Saudi Arabia, U.S. President Trump warned that the USA was ready with a "loaded" weapon to react to the attacks. But against whom is his warning directed? By Karim El-GawharyMore

Iran denies U.S. claim it was behind oil attack in Saudi ArabiaSaudi-Iranian conflict: Sleepwalking into warU.S.A and Iran: Trump – agent provocateur
AfD demonstrator on 9 September 2017 in Potsdam (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Identity politics in the West

Islam – no longer the bogeyman

The champions of white identity are re-grouping. In the West hostility towards Islam has had its day. It is now being absorbed into common or garden racism, says Stefan Buchen in his essayMore

Islamophobia and xenophobia: The West’s racism problemTrump, MbS and the aftermath: Did the global order die with Khashoggi? The end of the "Islamic State": Entering a new chapter in Syria
Burnt out cars following the unrest on 22 July 2019 in the Nigerian capital Abuja (photo: Reuters/P. Carsten)

Muslim minorities in Africa

Nigerian Shias defiant in support of Zakzaky

Nigerian security forces resorted to violence last week to end protests by supporters of imprisoned Shia cleric Ibrahim Zakzaky in Abuja. Tensions are high after at least eight people were killed in the clashes. Zaharaddeen Umar reportsMore

Africa's Muslims: Pawns of the SaudisIslamists in Africa: The ever-present threatThe Sunni-Shia debate: For clarity′s sake
Iraqis celebrate the re-opening of the Green Zone, home to government buildings and Western embassies, on 10 December 2018 in the capital Baghdad (photo: Getty Images/AFP/A. Al-Rubaye)

Iraq post-Islamic State

Baghdadʹs new era of freedom

With Islamic State out of the picture, the people of Iraq are breathing a sigh of relief. The recent re-opening of Baghdadʹs Green Zone to all traffic is just one indication that times are changing. Judit Neurink reports from Baghdad.More

Birgit Svensson's biographical account "Murderous Freedom": Between heaven and hell – fifteen years in IraqBaghdad City of Peace Carnival: Grassroots, green shootsA new quality of civil unrest: Is Iraq steering towards post-sectarianism?
Minaret detail of the King Fahd Academy, Bonn, 29.08.2016 (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg)

German-Saudi relations

A Salafist bone of contention

Ever since the Iranian Revolution Saudi Arabia has pushed a hardline Wahhabist model of religiosity, both in the Islamic world and among Muslim minorities in the West, in an attempt to prevent Shia expansionism. Yet Berlinʹs security concerns over Salafist extremism in Germany could easily re-ignite latent tensions with Riyadh. By Mahmoud JarabaMore

Wahhabism and Salafism: Shared foundation – different methodsIslamism in Germany: Jihad in the schoolyardInterview with Middle East expert Guido Steinberg: No one wants conflict with Saudi Arabia
Supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran (photo: picture-alliance/AP/V. Salemi)

The Republic of Iran turns forty

A theocracy at the crossroads

In its 40th year, the Islamic Republic of Iran is in a state of disintegration, says one of the country's strategists. The theocracy has arrived at a crossroads and the world cannot be indifferent to its future direction. Essay by Ali SadrzadehMore

Forty years on, Iran's revolutionaries have mixed feelingsProtests in Iran: An own-goal for the hardlinersProtests in Iran: No revolution in sight
General Secretary of CARE Deutschland Karl-Otto Zentel (CARE/A. Al-Ansi)

Interview with Karl-Otto Zentel, General Secretary of CARE Deutschland

Yemen – what is the world waiting for?

With the latest round of peace talks aimed at ending the war in Yemen underway in Sweden, Karl-Otto Zentel, General Secretary of CARE Deutschland, gives his own assessment of the civil war and the chances for peace. Interview by Carsten GruenMore

Interview with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkul Karman: "We need to bring back the Arab Spring!"Bushra al-Maqtariʹs "Voices from a forgotten war-torn country": Yemenʹs chronicles of death and destruction untoldYemen′s Houthis: Defenders of the country?
German journalist and author Birgt Svensson (source: screengrab, SWR mediathek)

Birgit Svensson's biographical account "Murderous Freedom"

Between heaven and hell – fifteen years in Iraq

Journalist Birgit Svensson arrived in Iraq in 2003 and never left, enjoying the dubious status of being the only German-language reporter in the country for much of the time since. Recently published in German, "Moerderische Freiheit" recounts her experiences, offering insights into Iraq that go beyond terrorism and war. By Christopher ReschMore

From Basra to Baghdad: Young Iraqis rise up for a life worth livingIraqʹs political future: Entering a new eraWomen writers in Iraq: Writing to stay alive
Political scientists Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel (photo: private)

Interview with political scientists Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel

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The West's "intellectually lazy" obsession with sectarianism

Danny Postel and Nader Hashemi warn in this interview with Emran Feroz against the tendency in Western media and policy circles to view Middle Eastern politics in essentialist sectarian terms. "Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East", their recent collection of essays, examines the topic in depthMore

Tyranny in the Islamic world: Keeping the tribe aliveNon-fiction: ″The Age of Jihad ″ by Patrick Cockburn: A catalogue of blundersReligious communities in the Middle East: No to sectarianism; yes to equal citizenship!Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel's ''The People Reloaded'': The Green Movement and the struggle for Iran's future
The spark that caused the Arabellion: Tunisian young people protest for more social equality and the end of the Ben-Ali dictatorship in Tunis in January 2011, following the suicide of Tunisian greengrocer Mohamed Bouazizi (photo: picture-alliance/abaca)

What triggered the Middle Eastern revolts in 2011?

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The economics of Arabellion

Syrian historian Nasser Rabbat argues that the Arab Spring resulted mainly from social imbalance and the misery of large sections of the population within the Arab world. Moreover, as long as economic inequality persists, these states will continue to be plagued by instabilityMore

Lessons from the unrest in Tunisia: Free in name onlyTyranny in the Islamic world: Keeping the tribe aliveQantara dossier: Arab Spring
A Syrian government army soldier with a national flag (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/V. Sharifulin)

Iranʹs dilemma

Securing a slice of post-war Syria

Contrary to international hopes for a peaceful solution following the fall of Islamic State, Syria has become a military polygon for global and regional powers, increasing the risk of inter-state war. This is especially true in southern Syria, where Assad troops and forces controlled by Iran operate in close proximity to Israeli lines. By Stasa SalacaninMore

War in Syria: Ending America′s disastrous roleU.S. politics in Syria: Trump, Syria – and the threat of regional conflagrationGeopolitics in the Middle East: End the Arab-Iranian tug-of-war

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