Basra in Flames, with No Water to Put out the Fire

Basra is a city located in the southeast of Iraq, bordering the countries of Kuwait and Iran. Basra is known as the oil capital of Iraq, yet despite the abundance of wealth, the whole country, and especially Basra, has been suffering from a stagnant economy. Government corruption, financial mishandling, and high unemployment took the Basrawis […]

Iraq’s Kurds: Questions on Self-Determination

Kurdish independence has arguably been one of the most long-standing struggles for self-determination. But with independence referendums taking flight across the world, what makes the Iraqi Kurds’ claim to autonomy more, or less, legitimate? The answer some use is ethnicity. Others look to the historical persecution of the Kurds. These two reasons don’t exist in […]