Institutionalising identities

Many are understandably frustrated with the lack of progress in Iraqi politics over the last few weeks. From principled stands and high rhetoric to endless discussions about the possibility and agenda of a national conference. Some might ask, ‘how can Iraqis accept this from their politicians?’ Well in Iraq there is a massively lacklustre attitude [...]

Identity and the Iraqi Budget

So now that Iraqiah is back in parliament, focus has turned to the more important issue of the budget. Most of the discussions seem to be focussing on when it will be passed, but very few are talking about what is actually being passed. I saw a copy of a draft budget that went through [...]

Visiting Erbil

Over the last year, I’ve followed many different Kurds on twitter. They all have different styles, tweet about different things; some were good, some not so much. But one thing that united many of them was a Kurdistan-first attitude. A few in particular would constantly go on about how great Kurdistan was. So on one [...]

The Glass is Half Full

Recently we have written a few pieces on the Iraqi economy and most of them sound pretty bleak. “We have been burdened with oil”, “Iraqis don’t work”, “socialism is destroying us”! But the reality isn’t so depressing. The Iraqi budget is set to be increasing from 96.663 trillion ID (US$ 82 billion) in 2011 to [...]

Perils of a Socialist Economy

On my recent trip to Baghdad I met a manager of a state-run naseej factory (معمل نسيج) factories that make cloth material like cotton or wool for clothes, carpets etc. He told me that they had over 5,200 employees at the factory. It sounded impressive.  He then told me that they spend nearly 3.5 billion [...]

It was an Act of Madmen

If you know me well, then you would know I am a huge fan of the American political drama, the West Wing. In many episodes the fictional US President is faced with different terrorist situations, usually domestic. In one episode the President is attacked by a young group of right wing fascists, who were targeting [...]

The Iraq End Game: The Visser Version

Reidar Visser’s articles on Iraq are some of the best around. He generally has some interesting insights and analysis of the Iraqi situation, and has recently become so well known that even Iraqi politicians have started reading his work. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Iraq, and I follow it regularly. However his [...]

Arab Spring – the Rise and Fall of our Principles

Author: Omar Kadir. Follow him on twitter @oksos1 Friday, February 16th 2011, president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who ruled the nation of Tunisia since 1987, had fled in a plane with his relatives. This day was a day that instilled confidence and hope to all the Arabs in the Middle East. It gave the [...]

Basics of Life: Housing

Continuing on my theme of the basics of life… Housing in Baghdad varies significantly depending on the area that you’re in. When talking about buying a place, everything is measured in metres squared, and the land (excluding the building) is given first consideration. A smallish house is about 100m2, while 200m2 is about normal (of [...]

Al-Mutanabbi Street

On Friday mornings things are a lot quieter in Baghdad than other mornings of the week, a bit like a Saturday morning in London (officially the weekend here is Friday and Saturday). Some people are preparing themselves for Friday prayer, while others are catching up on sleep. But one area of Baghdad that is bustling [...]