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  • 6 Dec 2024
    • Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • United Nations
    • Iran
    • Iraq

    Hans Blix: The arms control Einstein who turned 96 this year

    Kourosh Ziabari
    A consensus-builder who believes nuclear weapons are never in safe hands, no matter who holds them.
  • 1 Aug 2024
    • Australia
    • Islamic State
    • International law
    • War Crimes
    • Iraq
    • Syria

    The Yazidi still wait for justice

    Susan Hutchinson
    Australia also has obligations when its citizens are accused of the worst of all crimes.
  • 8 Feb 2024
    • Defence & Security
    • Al Qaeda
    • Emerging Threats
    • Islamic State
    • Maritime Security
    • Middle East Conflict
    • Terrorism
    • Technology
    • Middle East
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Lebanon
    • Yemen

    Non-state actors and the phantom of asymmetry

    Ved Shinde
    The might of the US military no longer guarantees world order. There are new actors and new ecosystems in play.
  • 20 Nov 2023
    • Middle East Conflict
    • Egypt
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Israel
    • Lebanon
    • Qatar
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Syria
    • United Arab Emirates
    • Yemen

    The war in Gaza has not destroyed normalisation … for now

    Lydia Khalil
    Despite deepening hostilities, common strategic interests still bind Israel and most of the Arab states.
  • 16 Mar 2023
    • Iraq War
    • Iraq
    • United States

    What went right in Iraq

    Paul Bremer
    Twenty years on, the former Coalition Provisional Authority head reflects on his year in charge of the country.
  • 13 Sep 2021
    • United States
    • Syria
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Energy
    • Lebanon

    Iran’s energy diplomacy

    Rodger Shanahan
    Tehran knows its hand when it comes to playing the energy card across the region.
  • 3 Mar 2021
    • Global Issues
    • Iraq

    “Repair and Build”: Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq

    Fabrizio Bozzato
    A papal visit helps focus world attention. It also deals the Vatican in to the crowded “great game” in the Middle East.
  • 28 Jul 2020
    • Human rights
    • United Nations
    • War Crimes
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • United States

    UN report on US killing of Iranian commander misses the mark

    Alison Pert
    The drone strike on Qasem Soleimani was unlawful, the report finds, but weak analysis undercuts its conclusion.
  • 1 Jun 2020
    • United States
    • Syria
    • Islamic State
    • Terrorism
    • Iraq

    Need To Know: Brett McGurk on America’s strategy to defeat ISIS

    Rodger Shanahan
    In a new interview series, the former US special envoy discusses conflict in Syria and maximalist foreign policy goals.
  • 11 Feb 2020
    • Middle East
    • Syria
    • Iraq

    Middle East dispatch: A paper closes, a rift opens, Syria slips

    Lauren Williams
    New hostilities between Turkey and Syria mark another blow to the Astana process and further tragedy for civilians.
  • 22 Jan 2020
    • United States
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Kurdistan

    The Kurds are again caught in the crossfire, now between US and Iran

    Lauren Williams
    Yet the Kurds may gamble to play the two adversaries off against each other to finally achieve an independent state.
  • 6 Dec 2019
    • Iraq

    Sistani: The (not-so) hidden hand behind Iraqi politics

    Lydia Khalil
    The influential Shiite cleric has avoided formal participation in government, but what he does now could be critical.
  • 24 Oct 2019
    • Syria
    • Terrorism
    • Australia
    • Iraq

    Trump’s troop withdrawal and what’s next for Islamic State

    Daniel Flitton , Lydia Khalil
    Having pre-emptively declared the militant group “100% defeated”, the pull back from Syria raises different threats.
  • 17 Oct 2019
    • Iraq

    Iraq protests: The cost of corruption and failed reforms

    Jon Norling
    The compromise that put Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi in office has entrenched patronage politics and fuelled public rage.
  • 3 Jun 2019
    • Global Issues
    • Islamic State
    • Terrorism
    • Iraq

    The relativity of the death penalty

    Rodger Shanahan
    Where is the outrage over the capital punishment sentence for ISIS fighter and Australian citizen Ahmed Merhi?
  • 27 Oct 2017
    • Iraq
    • Kurdistan

    The ongoing plight of the Yazidis

    Nikki Marczak , Susan Hutchinson
    The plight of the ever-persecuted Yazidis remains as dire – and as invisible – as ever.
  • 27 Oct 2017
    • Syria
    • Iraq
    • Kurdistan
    • Türkiye

    Kurds aren’t always the good guys

    Rodger Shanahan
    Foreign fighters who join armed Kurdish groups become hostage to their political agenda.
  • 24 Oct 2017
    • Iraq
    • Kurdistan

    Worst enemy: Kurdistan’s history of infighting

    Lydia Khalil
    The Kurds may like to say they have no friends but the mountains, but their family has a history of letting them down too.
  • 18 Oct 2017
    • Iraq
    • Kurdistan

    Kurdistan’s strategic overreach

    Rodger Shanahan
    Holding a provocative, quixotic and externally friendless referendum was an unnecessary risk for the Kurds to take, for very little return.
  • 17 Oct 2017
    • Syria
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Kurdistan

    Iraq, the Kurds, and the mess America has made

    Anthony Ricketts
    America’s strategy of ‘building partner capacity’ is beginning to show its weaknesses.
  • 27 Sep 2017
    • Islamic State
    • Iraq

    Commercial drones: Privatising air power

    Peter Layton
    Hobbyist drones have moved air power away from government control and passed it to the people.
  • 25 Sep 2017
    • Iraq
    • Kurdistan

    Kurdistan precarious but steadfast on eve of referendum

    Lydia Khalil
    The allure of a referendum on Kurdish independence has overridden the practical implications and very real risks.
  • 5 Sep 2017
    • Syria
    • Iraq

    Cutting a deal with Islamic State

    Rodger Shanahan
    A deal involving several hundred Islamic State fighters who vacated the rugged Lebanese-Syrian border area is yet another example, if any more were needed, of how complex this conflict remains.
  • 16 Aug 2017
    • Iraq
    • Saudi Arabia

    Riyadh’s Shia two-step

    Rodger Shanahan
    Gulf states have decided to try a carrot-based approach towards Iraq Shia leaders in attempting to blunt Iranian influence.
  • 2 Aug 2017
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Saudi Arabia

    Saudi Arabia’s change of tack on Iraq

    Rodger Shanahan
    There are signs that Saudi Arabia has changed tack and has decided to contest Iran's influence in Iraq.

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