Is Kurdistan ready for a U.S.-Iran war?
Tension between Iran and the United States is at a peak. On October 11, Attorney General Eric Holder accused the Islamic Republic of plotting an attack on American soil. "Today, the Department of...
View ArticleTehran's hollow Hormuz strait threat
Tension between the United States and Iran reached levels not seen in more than 20 years when, on Wednesday, Iranian military officials threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the 34-mile wide...
View ArticleCan Kurdistan be the new Dubai?
Almost two decades ago, I made my first trip to the Persian Gulf. It was a starkly different place than it is now. Dubai International Airport was a single terminal. My Dubai hotel cost $25 a night,...
View ArticleThe West should hand Iran's leadership a chalice of poison
TENSIONS in the Strait of Hormuz are at a more than 20-year high after Iranian authorities threatened to close the 34-mile-wide channel through which more than one-third of the world's oil tanker...
View ArticleParliament should question KRG silence in the face of Turkey's weapons purchases
On July 25, 2009, more than two million Kurds went to the polls and, fed up with corruption, nepotism, and the ruling families' abuse of power, delivered the establishment parties a stunning rebuke....
View ArticleIran Puts a Weak America in Its Sights, With Big Plans for the Future
Addressing pilgrims on November 5, 2011, just over two weeks after President Obama announced U.S. troops would withdrawal from Iraq, Iran's Supreme Leader cited American "failures" in Iraq and...
View ArticleAnswering Jeffrey Goldberg on Iran
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg raises a number of questions regarding the assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, but also makes a number of assumptions which may not be warranted. First, his...
View ArticleDire Straits Iran's navy plays a dangerous game
Tension between Iran and the United States flared on December 28, 2011, when Habibollah Sayyari, commander of Iran's navy, threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the 34-mile-wide passage through...
View ArticleWho will write the Kurdish epic?
In one of his last acts as prime minister, Barham Salih symbolically launched the Aras Publishing House's book fair in Erbil. The event featured important Kurdish classics, translations of Western...
View ArticleBahrain is Heading for a Bloodbath
I've spent the last several days in Bahrain, meeting with both government officials and members of the opposition. While I began my trip expecting protests on February 14, the anniversary of last...
View ArticleIs the Bahrain Uprising Sponsored by Iran?
Bahrain is strategically important and an incredibly diverse country, not only ethnically (with Arabs and those of Persian origin, not to mention South Asians and Filipinos if one includes the...
View ArticleWill unrest in Bahrain affect strategic ties with the United States?
I've just returned from Bahrain, the tiny island Arab kingdom in the Persian Gulf, which for 40 years has hosted a U.S. naval facility which, for more than 15 years, has also been the U.S. Fifth Fleet...
View ArticleHow Iran sees America and what America does not want to see
President Obama entered the White House determined to renew diplomacy with Iran. During his campaign, he said he would meet the leaders of Iran "without preconditions." In his inaugural address he...
View ArticleSummit has to be a great success for Obama and Netanyahu
ON MONDAY, President Obama will sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. With a showdown looming over Iran, their summit will not only be the most important meeting for either leader...
View ArticleWTC Bomber's Obscene Break
It's no secret that the Obama administration has reversed longstanding American policy and reached out to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Successive elections in the wake of the Arab Spring have gone...
View ArticleKurdish history: Leaders' greed trumps nationalism
June 1 marked the 37th anniversary of the founding of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). While Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masud Barzani graciously congratulated PUK leader Talabani, bad...
View ArticleIn Egypt, a rare second chance for US to support democracy
State Department condemnation came quick when the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court voided Egypt's parliamentary elections. "There can be no going back on the democratic transition called for by...
View ArticleHow to make Iran blink
On July 1, following the lead set days earlier by the United States, the European Union slapped sanctions on purchasers of Iranian oil. While Iran's leaders acknowledged the new sanctions have bite,...
View ArticleKurdistan's '$265 million' National Security Council
While Kurdish officials often describe Iraqi Kurdistan region as a democracy, both the region's reputation and its democratic trajectory took a huge leap backwards last week with President Barzani's...
View ArticleReview of The Twilight War
As American diplomats and their international partners prepared to sit down with their Iranian counterparts in Baghdad last May to discuss Iran's nuclear program, the State Department was aflutter. In...
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