After weeks of chaos in northern Iraq that saw Baghdad retaliate to a Kurdish independence bid by re-occupying areas taken by the Kurds during the war against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), there is one man who is paying for it the most: Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani.

Ahead of the seventh international meeting on Syria to be held in Astana on October 30–31, the two sides stressed the importance of stepping up efforts to ensure the functioning of de-escalation zones, fighting terrorism and promoting the political settlement in the Syrian Arab Republic.

The two leaders agreed to maintain personal contacts.

Nach der Unterstellung Kataloniens unter die Zwangsverwaltung der Zentralregierung bemühten sich beide Seiten am Wochenende, den Unabhängigkeitsstreit nicht weiter anzuheizen.

Ein Regierungssprecher sagte am Samstag Reuters TV, es sei das Recht des entmachteten Regierungschefs Carles Puigdemont, weiter in der Politik aktiv zu bleiben

Die Wahlen stellen die Unabhängigkeitsbewegung vor ein grundlegendes Problem. Sie werden von Madrid organisiert. Eine Beteiligung käme der Anerkennung der spanischen Legalität und damit einer Absage an die soeben verkündete unabhängige Katalanische Republik gleich. Aber ein Wahlboykott birgt die Gefahr, in völliger Belanglosigkeit zu verkommen.

Victory would mean the US may no longer cross from northern Iraq into Syria at will

Asked about the consequences of the Catalan parliament’s decision would have on Europe, António Costa said it would have “none”.

He said it had no international validity, was not recognised by the European Union (EU) or any EU country. What was important, he added was to ensure that Spain maintained the rule of law.

It is more difficult to comprehend why the opposition parties have been dubbed ‘fascist’ or ‘Francoist’ because of their concern for rules based politics. The image of General Franco is still potent in Spain – the dictator only died in 1975 – and the memory of his totalitarian regime is still very much alive. Separatists use the term to close down inconvenient arguments and silence critics. There is no need for any further debate if your opponent is a Francoist, right? But it is also echoed by foreign commentators whose knowledge of Catalan politics seems to be based on reading George Orwell’s Spanish civil war novel Homage to Catalonia and occasional trips to Barcelona. Orwell, himself a rigorously clear thinker, would have been appalled by some of the arguments in today’s debate in the Catalan parliament and the vote for secession.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani informed the region’s parliament on Sunday that he would give up his position as president on Nov. 1, after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis.

Proponents of the legislation say it falls short of formal land annexation to Israel but will enable some 150,000 settlers to vote in Jerusalem city elections. Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, a supporter of the bill, has said this would “ensure a Jewish majority in a united Jerusalem”.

The U.S. asked Israel for clarifications about the bill, which would annex West Bank settlements to Jerusalem, Netanyahu says

Elkin said he believed his plan, which he intends to promote in the coming weeks, will not face serious resistance from either the right or left.

The Jerusalem municipality is preparing to demolish five buildings with a total of 138 apartments – only a small number of them are currently occupied – in Kafr Aqab in northern Jerusalem.

Last week the Jerusalem District Court rejected the village residents’ appeal against the demolition order, permitting the city to knock down the illegally-built structures immediately. If the demolition takes place, it will be the first one in Kafr Aqab since 2001.

Concerns currently are that Masoud Barzani will leave the presidency to his son or nephew while maintaining a tight control behind the scenes where he is less criticised. He has so far not been seen publicly since the loss of Kirkuk city. Given the tribal nature of the Kurdish Region of Iraq the transition of power within the Barzani family is expected and the continuation of many ministries controlled by the family is again expected to continue.

Dr. Haider Al-Abadi affirmed the importance of completing the battle to liberate the remaining Iraqi cities from the terrorism, which is a priority for us, pointing out that the launching of the liberation operations came to complete the liberation of the entire Iraqi territory and the elimination of Daesh‘s terrorist gangs.

Sein Hauptberater Hemin Hawrami gab über Twitter bekannt, dass Barsani die Verlängerung seiner Amtszeit abgelehnt und diesbezüglich an das Parlament der irakisch-kurdischen Regionalverwaltung im Norden des Irak einen Brief geschickt hat.

(28.10.2017) „The main task of this joint technical committee is to allow the deployment without violence of federal forces along the borders,“ Saad al-Hadithi, spokesperson for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi‘s spokesman, told AFP.

Baghdad wants to bring official border crossings with Turkey and Syria under its control.

(26.10.2017) Dr. Kamal Sido, a Syrian Kurd who works at the Society for Threatened Peoples — a German human rights NGO — told JNS.org that, “It is the biggest scandal that the Iraqi government is fighting with American weapons against Kurdish cities and villages in Iraq.”

Sido also criticized the US for supporting a Shia-ruled Iraqi government that is “controlled by the Iranian regime.”