Il premier al Kadhimi scampa ad un attentato: droni armati colpiscono la sua residenza. Ma l’obiettivo è ribaltare il risultato delle elezioni.
La vita professionale di Colin Powell, morto lunedì 18 ottobre a 84 anni, ha attraversato quasi cinquant’anni di storia politica e militare degli Stati Uniti, dall’entrata in servizio come sottotenente alla fine degli anni Cinquanta all’approdo alla Segreteria di Stato, durante il primo mandato presidenziale di George W. Bush (2001-2005).
On October 10th 2021 Iraq held its fifth parliamentary election since 2003. The vote took place in the midst of a number of crises and ongoing attempts in Baghdad and Erbil to address the country’s socio-economic crisis, which has been compounded by the decline in oil prices, the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical rivalries, and the uncertainty surrounding the future of U.S. troops in Iraq.
There is no shortage in economic literature on the importance of economic diversification for healthy, resilient, and sustainable growth, and numerous real case studies support such recommendation. Put simply, a country that puts ‘its eggs in one basket’ is at the mercy of exogenous factors that go beyond any government control, thereby undermining ‘prospects for longer-term economic growth’, as put by the World Bank[1].
Eighteen years since the regime change in Iraq, and sixteen since the Iraqi constitution was passed, the constitutional framework of relations between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) remains unfulfilled. Baghdad-Erbil relations are not defined by a constitutional legal framework, but rather by a frequently shifting balance of power.
We are approaching an energy inflection point in the global economy: plentiful oil supply, a demand plateau by 2030, and more competitive renewable-energy options, even as investors and consumers grow leerier of carbon-intensive products. Oil producers’ future in the Gulf is still one in which oil revenues fail to meet growth goals of governments, with a knock-on effect on job expectations for citizens.
The magnitude of the crisis facing Iraq cannot be understated: a youth bulge, sagging growth rates, and economic pressure have combined with the pre-eminence of militia groups and their systematic atrocities, and a rise in geopolitical tensions. Iraq faces a potential moment of reckoning following its make-or-break parliamentary elections this month; the low voter turnout, estimated at 41 percent (at the time of writing), reflects a trend that has seen turnout shrink with each passing election. The Iraqi state faces an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy.
Il movimento di Moqtada al-Sadr è primo partito, ma per un governo ci vorranno mesi. E i giovani hanno disertato in massa i seggi.
By December 31, 2021, the United States will have completed its second formal withdrawal from Iraq in a decade. Just three years after the last American withdrawal, the Iraqi state was in peril, with a third of the country fallen to the Islamic State and Baghdad and Erbil under direct threat. The result was the return of U.S. combat operations in Iraq in 2014, and thus a second occasion to withdraw today.
The October 10th Parliamentary elections in Iraq certainly represent a litmus test for the interim government led by Mustafa al-Kadhimi, which only a year and a half ago took the helm of a country rocked by mass popular protests against the pervasive corruption, lack of economic opportunities, and a season of constant insecurity emanating from recalcitrant militia groups and the broader Iran-US geopolitical rivalry.
Iraq's geostrategic importance for the European Union is mirrored by the growing interests of single European states. This is particularly true for France and Italy, who are indeed at the forefront of the European strategic relationship with Baghdad.
The MED This Week newsletter provides expert analysis and informed comments on the MENA region’s most significant issues and trends. Today, we turn the spotlight on Iraq, where citizens are called to the polls in an early attempt to re-shape a political landscape that has struggled to meet people’s expectations since 2019.
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