Iraq
Sistani: The (not-so) hidden hand behind Iraqi politics
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has been a consistently powerful and decisive force in Iraq’s ongoing political transition. His role in Iraq has been closely observed over the…
Trump’s troop withdrawal and what’s next for Islamic State
Sceptical of US interests in the Middle East, averse to military deployments and non-committal to the value of alliances, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will…
Iraq protests: The cost of corruption and failed reforms
Since the start of October, large-scale protests have rocked Iraq, killing more than a hundred people and wounding thousands. Iraqis are frustrated with high unemployment, the…
The relativity of the death penalty
Opposition to the death penalty has a long and quite public history in Australia. Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug smugglers received…
Commentary
Nations align in the fight for Syrian peace
Originally published in The Australian.
Rodger Shanahan
The ongoing plight of the Yazidis
As the Iraqi Army and Shiite militias drive Kurdish forces out of cities and villages in the wake of the Kurdish Regional Government's independence referendum, the plight of the…
Kurds aren’t always the good guys
I have written recently about the recklessness of Kurdish leaders in staging their independence referendum. Rather than advance the Kurdish cause, it has probably set it back…
Worst enemy: Kurdistan’s history of infighting
Hopes were high in Kurdistan after the historic, if ill-advised, referendum on independence earlier this month. To the question 'Do you want the Kurdistan Region and the…
Kurdistan’s strategic overreach
There is no doubt that the Kurds have been unfairly dealt with as an ethno-linguistic group throughout modern history. They’re not alone in this, but they are probably in a…