(6.3.2016)

As the demonstrators were gathering in central Baghdad‘s Tahrir Square, state TV said Abadi had asked political blocs in parliament and influential social figures to nominate technocrats as ministerial candidates.

(19.2.2016) Abadi has placed much of his political stock on his reform drive, which he sees as essential to holding the country together. Sistani’s full throated sponsorship has given his moves an impetus that they would not otherwise have had. However, so far he has been unable to slow a plunder that has crippled Iraq’s governance.

“He is a good guy,” said Jabouri. “He is cleaner than all people in the parliament. But he cannot do this. Nobody can.”

(3.7.2007) Beobachter gehen seit langem davon aus, daß el-Sadr ein Kollaborateur der US-Besatzungsmacht ist und mit allen Mitteln versucht, das geistige Oberhaupt der schiitischen Iraker, Ayatollah al-Sistani, in seinem friedlichem Einfluß zurückzudrängen, um einen Bürgerkrieg zwischen den Irakern zu entfachen.

Sadr‘s ability to mobilise a crowd of close to 100,000 demonstrates his ability to reinvent himself, once again, in Iraq‘s post-2003 political landscape. In Sadr‘s latest political incarnation, he has embraced the politics of protest to become both an anti-politician and king-maker. His latest rally is symbolic of his political movement‘s evolution over a decade, a reflection of the vicissitudes of Iraq‘s politics since 2003.

Während Saudi-Arabien jährlich hunderte Menschen hinrichtet, hat Frankreich dem saudischen Innenminister und Todesstrafen-Vollstrecker des wahhabitischen Königreichs, Mohammed Bin Najef, vor einigen Tagen den höchsten französischen Verdienstorden verliehen. Eine Reihe von französischen Militärs und Politikern reagierte empört darauf.

Das Video eines Kamerateams des russischen TV-Senders RT zeigt die schrecklichen Folgen eines Militäreinsatzes der türkischen Armee in der mehrheitlich von Kurden bewohnten Stadt Cizre in der Provinz Şırnak im Südosten der Türkei.

According to a document we came across this week, the history between Netanyahu and Trump goes back to 2007 when the Likud leader plotted his return to the Prime Minister’s office. Bibi‘s list includes names of foreign and local donors and a reordered list in Netanyahu’s own handwriting, in which he divided donors into four categories according to whether contacting them is “worth the effort.”

And when asked why he punched the protester, he said: „Number one, we don’t know if he’s ISIS. We don’t know who he is, but we know he’s not acting like an American, cussing me… If he wants it laid out, I laid it out.“

He added: “Yes, he deserved it. The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. We don’t know who he is. He might be with a terrorist organization.”

There has been a lot of violence at Donald Trump events recently. One recent rally resulted in an arrest. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down.

(2.3.2016) Tensions were high during Donald Trump‘s Super Tuesday rally at the Kentucky International Convention Center in downtown Louisville, KY. Several Trump supporters decided to take matters into their own hands as numerous protesters disrupted the event overwhelming security.

Tel Aviv residents, who by-and-large dislike Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made immediate comparisons between Netanyahu and Trump. Both, they said, are authoritarians and appeal to people’s fears. Each of these leaders has their own bogeyman. For Bibi, it’s the Arabs. For Trump, it’s the immigrants.

Ritterschlag für das wahhabitische House of Saud – öffentlich erteilte Absolution der Menschenrechtsverletzungen für das mörderische Regime in Riad durch Frankreich. John Kerry heute in Riad, morgen mit Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Philip Hammond, Paolo Gentiloni, Federica Mogherini in Paris.

Iraqi Kurdistan has been semi-autonomous for years, but recently the region has become even further divorced from Iraq’s Shia-led central government. In 2014, Baghdad slashed the Kurds’ share of federal revenues as punishment for the Kurds’ construction of an oil pipeline to Turkey. The Kurdish government in Erbil started independent oil exports to Turkey in June, and is now averaging earnings of $682 million a month.

(5.1.2016) Backed by U.S. airpower, and through the prism of the war on ISIS, Kurdish leaders have advanced their aspirations for an independent state. Kurdish leaders say independence would finally free their people from the shackles of a fabricated state fused together by Western powers in the aftermath of the First World War.

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (cabinet.gov.krd) – Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, on Monday received Mr. Patrick Simonnet, the European Union’s Ambassador to Iraq and his accompanying delegation including his deputy and head of the EU Mission in Erbil.

Mr. Simonnet expressed satisfaction with the relationship between the Kurdistan Region and the EU and the coordination between the two sides. He reaffirmed EU‘s support for the Region and Iraq.

Ankara and Washington will discuss the issues of settlement of the Syrian crisis during the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the US, Turkish Star newspaper reported March 11.

Erdogan will visit the US from March 29 to April 2, according to the newspaper.

Having won control of the National Assembly in a vote at the end of 2015, the energized opposition alliance has launched a multi-pronged campaign to remove Maduro via street rallies, a recall referendum and a constitutional amendment.

The first protest march is planned for Saturday in Caracas.

Japan‘s most advanced attack submarine will participate in joint military exercises with Australia next month, its Ministry of Defense said, in what analysts see as a bid to win a A$50-billion ($37-billion) defense contract.

(6.3.2016) More than 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 US troops will take part in the drills, Yonhap news agency reported, citing a military official.

South Korean defence minister Han Min-koo has said the exercises will be twice the size of last year.

Chinas Außenminister Wang Yi kritisiert die USA und Südkorea. „Die ‚Freiheit der Meere‘ bedeutet nicht, dass sie dort alles tun können, was sie wollen“, erklärte Wang Yi mit Blick auf ein massives Militärmanöver der US-Streitkräfte gemeinsam mit den südkoreanischen Truppen. An der Übung nehmen 300.000 Soldaten der Republik Südkorea teil. Die USA beteiligen sich mit 17.000 Soldaten. Es handelt sich um das bisher größte Manöver in der Geschichte der beiden Staaten.