Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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CDs with patriotic song compilations are displayed on a stall in Baghdad on June 17, 2014. (Ali Al-Saadi/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraq: Government revives patriotic music to boost army’s morale

by Afrah Shawqi | Jun 27, 2014 | Lifestyle & Culture

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Wessam, 21, owns a small kiosk selling CDs in Al-Alawai district in downtown Baghdad. He is trying to keep up with the demand for patriotic music, a genre that has sharply risen in popularity since the government gave instructions for the...

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Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, center, waits for US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of a meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, June 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Iraq: Maliki facing deadline to drop premiership bid

by Hamza Mustafa | Jun 26, 2014 | Middle East

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Prominent Iraqi Shi’a parties have given the ruling State of Law coalition until the end of Thursday to drop its nomination of Nuri Al-Maliki for a controversial third term as prime minister or face rival leadership bids from within the...

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Kurdish President Massoud Barzani (R) shakes hands with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the presidential palace in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, on June 24, 2014. (AP Photo/ Brendan Smialowski, Pool)

KRG official: Kurds will not participate in any Maliki government

by Ma'ad Fayad | Jun 25, 2014 | Uncategorized

London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani threatened secession from Iraq unless Kurds are “real partners” in the state. His comments, which came during a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Erbil on Tuesday to...

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Wrapped in the Iraqi flag, police and security gather along Street 60 after the southern districts of the city of Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province, were recaptured by government forces from militants, on March 16, 2014. (AFP Photo/Azhar Shallal)

Editorial: Only a national consensus government can save Iraq

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Jun 25, 2014 | Opinion

As the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) continues to advance in Iraq, Arab Sunni tribes are increasingly joining the fight against the central government amid fears of a full-scale sectarian conflict breaking out in the country. This is something that cannot and...

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Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani (R) greets U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the presidential palace in Erbil, the capital of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan autonomous region, on June 24, 2014. (Reuters/Brendan Smialowski)

Kerry calls on Kurds to support Baghdad

by Hamza Mustafa | Jun 24, 2014 | Middle East

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with Iraqi Kurdish leaders in Erbil on Tuesday, calling on the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to stand with the embattled central government in Baghdad against the advancing...