Category: Iraq

  • Drought in the Marshes of Southern Iraq. By john wreford / Alamy Stock Photo

    Returning to traditional solutions in the face of climate challenges

    The Middle East region is facing major challenges related to climate change, and Iraq is no exception. Despite being a historically water-rich country, Iraq faces demands from multiple directions for this critical resource: population growth, the legacy of multiple wars, transboundary water (mis)management and a changing climate. An analysis of a commonly used drought index […]
    Lina Eklund and Hossein Hashemi/
    May 22, 2024
  • Solar Solutions to Power Outages in Energy-rich Iraq

    In 2011, the World Bank  estimated Iraqis endured, on average, 40 power outages every month –  placing Iraq in the unenviable position of sixth globally in terms of frequency of outages after Bangladesh, Pakistan, Yemen, Lebanon, and Papua New Guinea.  Over the past 12 years, the situation in Iraq has deteriorated further with widespread and […]
    Georges Naufal/
    May 22, 2024
  • Baghdad, Iraq. 10th Jan, 2020. Anti-government demonstrators wave a huge Iraqi national flag during a demonstration in Tahrir square, against the breach of Iraqi sovereignty by the US and Iran. Credit: Ameer Al Mohammedaw/dpa/Alamy Live News.

    How Iraq became Iran’s cash cow

    With the October 2021 Iraqi Parliamentary elections recording the lowest ever voter turnout in post-2003 Iraq, there is little doubt that Iraq’s yet-to-be-announced next government already faces a legitimacy crisis. Amid the problems that Iraq faces in overcoming its domestic challenges, there is a massive driver of its cyclical political system in neighbouring Iran of […]
    Bamo Nouri/
    May 22, 2024
  • COVID-19 and Iraq’s Fractured Healthcare System

    In July of this year, a fire tore through the COVID-19 isolation ward of Iraq’s al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah. At least 64 people were killed and dozens more injured, with the cause of the accident still disputed. Initial police reports suggest that the trigger was the explosion of an oxygen tank, […]
    Afeeya Akhand/
    May 22, 2024
  • Iran in a Shifting US Foreign Policy

    Following Biden’s election as President of the United States, many officials who served under the Obama administration returned to senior positions. With them, they brought familiar approaches to the same pressing issues which continue to plague the Middle East. Iran sees this as a golden opportunity for rapprochement with the U.S, but on its own […]
    Bassam Barabandi/
    May 22, 2024