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The following article was published on Saturday by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here in full with the author's permission. The opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views […]
Associated Press reports that Ayad Allawi will join the Shiite-led government being assembled by his top rival, Nouri al-Maliki, clearing a final hurdle tp end months of tortuous, post-election dealmaking. Despite recent negative comments, the two held what appeared to be a warm 90-minute meeting on Tuesday after which an Iraqiya spokeswoman said Allawi has […]
Ayad Allawi has reportedly threatened to quit the power-sharing government according to an interview with Britain's Times newspaper on Tuesday. "Power-sharing is not happening," Allawi said. "It is not set to work in a meaningful way... If it does not change, I will not participate." Despite his Iraqiya block narrowly winning elections in March, Allawi […]
It seems that the newly-appointed Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and his team are having to be increasingly inventive in their efforts to piece together a new cabinet. Creating, in effect, two energy ministries – if indeed these rumours are true – will help increase the size of the cabinet pie that he can then dole […]
A confidante of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki claims there will be a shake-up in the oil and energy portfolio when the new cabinet positions are announced. According to Iraq Oil Report, Hussain al-Shahristani will move from his current position as Minister for Oil and Acting Minister for Electricity, into a newly-created Deputy Prime Minister role […]
We have just received news that Iraq's newly-appointed President, Jalal Talabani, has formally asked Nouri al-Maliki to accept the position of Prime Minister and form the next government. Following his appointment today (Thursday), al-Maliki will have 30 days in which to choose a cabinet. Maliki has reportedly asked Iraqi's to “turn over a new page, […]
Iraq's newly-appointed President, Jalal Talabani (pictured), is apparently using his full allowance of 15 days to formally appoint a new Prime Minister, thus allowing the haggling over the details to continue. And while Nouri al-Maliki remains the 'agreed' candidate, we should never under-estimate the Iraqi parliament's ability to throw us a last-minute surprise. If al-Maliki […]
Just as Iraq's politicians had finally hammered out a deal to create the next government, Ayad Allawi [Iyad Allawi] joined an estimated 57 Iraqiya MPs in walking out of the chamber. The parliament, meeting in only its second session since the election in March, had just elected as Speaker Osama al-Nejeifi [al-Nujaifi], a Sunni hard-liner […]
Our sources in Iraq tell us that negotiations are expected to continue late on Wednesday to decide the formation of the next Iraqi government, and it looks likely that the parliamentary session that had been postponed until Thursday will be delayed further. It is now generally accepted that Nouri al-Maliki will retain the position of […]
