Nouri al-Maliki
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Interview with Iraqi political scientist Ghassan Al-Attiyah
A nation torn apart
According to Ghassan Al-Attiyah, Iraq's political elite failed to develop an interdenominational understanding of the state after the end of the Baath dictatorship. Mulham Al-Malaika spoke to the renowned Iraqi political scientist about the country's future and the fight against IS
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Sunni-Shia conflict
The enemy of my enemy
Anyone who thinks that the Sunnis in Tikrit and Mosul will welcome the opponents of Islamic State with open arms as liberators is mistaken. They fear the Shia militias even more than they do IS. This shows how the inner-Islamic religious war has polarised Iraqi society. By Stefan Buchen
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Military offensive against IS in Iraq
Strike and counter-strike
The Iraqi army hopes that taking back Tikrit will come to mean to it what Kobani means to the Kurds: a turning point and a motivational push in one. By Birgit Svensson in Baghdad
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Interview with Navid Kermani
"One should take the religious façade seriously"
The writer Navid Kermani spent a week in mid September travelling through Iraq, visiting a number of different parts of the country. In this interview with Kersten Knipp, he speaks of his impressions of the country and some factors that have led to the rise of IS in Iraq
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New government in Iraq
Shouldering a huge political burden
Iraq's new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, along with some members of his cabinet were recently confirmed in their posts with the help of votes from Kurdish members of parliament. But the haggling in Iraq's post-Saddam political bazaar is far from over. By Birgit Svensson in Baghdad
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Shifting alliances in the Middle East
My enemy's enemy is my friend
The successes of IS militias are turning the West's established concept of friend and foe on its head. Former rogue nations are emerging as strategic partners, and declared terrorists are becoming allies. By Karim El-Gawhary
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Iraqi crisis
The expected death of a nation
Iraq has always been an artificial country, an entity created and beset by outside influences. However, Iraq is not currently being threatened by outside influences alone; discord is now flourishing within the country itself – with devastating consequences. A commentary by Rudolph Chimelli
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The Middle East policies of Europe and the US
Mistakes must not be repeated
For years, the West's foreign policy approach to the Middle East has been short sighted and counterproductive. A shrewd blend of engagement and restraint in the region is now required. However, where there is a threat of genocide at the hands of terrorists or regimes, civilians must be protected using all available means, writes Kristin Helberg
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ISIS propaganda and use of social networks
The online jihad
The terrorist group ISIS (which now refers to itself as Islamic State) has been conducting a massive propaganda campaign via social networks on the Internet. In addition to intimidating opponents, the group wants to establish its own media brand. By Nastassja Steudel
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The Syrian conflict and the advance of ISIS
Assad and the myth of the lesser evil
Assad has used chemical weapons and laid waste to entire neighbourhoods and regions with barrel bombs. However, in the West, fears of what ISIS Islamists could achieve loom so large that Syria's dictator continues to be seen as a smaller part of the problem. By Bente Scheller
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The Iraq crisis and the West
The ugly new order in the "Fertile Crescent"
Iraq is in the grip of a devastating inner-Islamic religious war. The conflict has an inherent dynamic that cannot be stopped by presidential wishful thinking or a hurried visit to Baghdad by US foreign minister John Kerry. Stefan Buchen comments
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Iran's role in the Iraq conflict
An ally, but not a puppet
For many Sunnis in Iraq, the country's Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is a puppet of Iran. In the West too, the view that Tehran is pulling the strings in Iraqi politics is widely held. But what influence does Tehran really have in Iraq, and what role is it playing in the current crisis? Answers from Ulrich von Schwerin