On Thursday, the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) and the Middle Eastand North Africa Program at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) hosted a roundtable discussion on the recent legislation adopted by the Iraqi government on the media restricting the freedom of expression after years of experiencing media freedom after the fall of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.  The panel featured Oday Hatem Iraqi journalist and president of the ...

In less than a month after U.S. troops exited the country Iraq's government appears in turmoil. Barham Salih, Prime Minister of the autonomous northern Kurdish region, said the internal conflicts are "tearing the country apart," with the new motto being, "I'll have him for lunch before they have me for dinner." Over the past several months, the security services, under Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, have incarcerated more than 1,000 members ...

Marina Ottaway and Danial Anas Kaysi from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published a commentary entitled "Iraq: Coalition Under Stress." The report highlights the political brinkmanship occurring within Iraq's national unity government, brinkmanship that has the potential to bring down the government. The authors highlight the tensions between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is becoming an "increasingly presidential prime minister" and Council of Representative Speaker Osama Nujeifi, who is determined to assert ...

Maria Fantappie, of the Carnegie Middle East Center, in a piece for the Los Angeles Times' Babylon & Beyond blog, writes that the wave of protests across the Arab world is also having an effect in Iraqi Kurdistan.  Although protests have erupted in the Arab areas of Iraq over a variety of issues, Fantappie states that the Kurdish protests have focused on popular youth discontent with the traditional Kurdish leadership ...

Sean Kane, writing at Foreign Policy, examines the overlooked tensions that have been simmering in Iraq since waves of popular unrest have swept across the Middle East.  Recently, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) deployed units of the Peshmerga, the Kurdish regional security forces, south of Kirkuk following popular protests there in February.  The KRG is worried about anti-Kurdish sentiments in the ethnically diverse city and has reportedly deployed, according to ...