Saddam Hussein
All topics-
Economic crisis in Iraq
Trump's Iran embargo impacts Iraqis
As a result of U.S. sanctions, Iranians can no longer afford the yearly pilgrimage to Iraq's Shia shrines. The holy city of Najaf is bearing the economic brunt. By Judit Neurink
-
The language of migrants
Being a stranger in a second language
Kurdish writer and translator Nabaz Samad Ahmed reports on his ambivalence towards second languages as a result of his socialisation in Iraq
-
From Basra to Baghdad
Young Iraqis rise up for a life worth living
Major rallies against the nation's political elite have been raging in Iraq for months, so far resulting in 15 deaths and 120 injuries. Birgit Svensson reports from Basra, where the protests first flared up and quickly spread through the entire southern half of the country to Baghdad
-
Arab dictatorships in crisis
The Middle East's militia mentality
A militia mentality has gripped many Arab states. Today it seems that the regionʹs authoritarian regimes are resorting to methods more commonly associated with gangs and armed clans, says Kuwaiti analyst Shafeeq Ghabra.
-
Iraqʹs wrangle over natural resources
The battle for Kurdish oil
Tensions between Iraqi federal government and the Kurds centres around a long-running dispute over the countryʹs oil revenues. While Baghdad denies Kurdistanʹs right to conclude production contracts without prior central government approval, the Kurdistan Regional Government claims this as a constitutional right. By Stasa Salacanin
-
"Visions of Iran": the Iranian Film Festival in Cologne
Halabja – casting a long shadow
The First Gulf War, the chemical attack on the Iraqi village of Halabja in 1988 and the role played by foreign companies in the build-up of chemical weapons in the region were the main topics at the most recent "Visions of Iran" film festival in Cologne. By Bernd G. Schmitz
-
Tyranny in the Islamic world
Keeping the tribe alive
In this essay, Libyan author Faraj Alasha explains how Arab autocrats use tribal logic to run institutions of state, turning political parties into family clubs and loyalty to the country into loyalty to the head of the ruling clan
-
The Iraq War fifteen years on
"America destroyed my country"
Fifteen years ago, on 20 March 2003, the United States and its allies invaded Iraq. Iraqi novelist and poet Sinan Antoon describes the pain of watching his country disintegrate in the aftermath, made all the more acute since the perpetrators of this "colossal mistake" are still at large
-
Murder and kidnapping in Iraq
An inexorable tide
In today's Iraq, there is no force more powerful than the militias and no voice louder than those who seek to drive a wedge between the religious denominations, says Iraqi writer Safaa Khalaf
-
Bachtyar Ali's novel "Die Stadt der weißen Musiker"
Poetry and truth
Bachtyar Ali, probably the best known contemporary novelist and poet from the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, has produced a major novel about art and reconciliation. It has recently been translated into German and is proving a major success. By Stefan Weidner
-
Violence in the Arab world
Born of a barbaric state
In this essay, the Syrian writer Morris Ayek describes how repressive Arab states have succeeded in creating societies modelled on themselves
-
Iranian-Saudi relations
For better, for worse
The West often reduces the strained relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia to the sectarian Sunni-Shia conflict, but the reality is far more complex. By Joseph Croitoru