On the 8th anniversary of the passing of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, this passage from the introduction of “Shalash the Iraqi” shows a glimpse of what made him different from his peers.

So glad to see @hamzehhadad.bsky.social and his colleagues back with the Iraqi Voices podcast after a long hiatus! Highly recommend if you're looking for calm, thoughtful conversations about Iraqi politics.

🎙️The best podcast on Iraq is back! Hassan Hadad, @alwaeli.bsky.social, Ali Al-Mawlawi, and @hamzehhadad.bsky.social discuss how sustained political calm has translated into a stability dividend and examine what steps are needed to secure long-term prosperity. open.spotify.com/episode/3LS5...

Coming from @stanfordpress.bsky.social in the summer of 2026! @lisablaydes.bsky.social and I edited a book "Ba'thist Iraq through Archives" with a star studded list of contributors!

“He warned that any effort aimed at preserving the SDF’s structure as is, would ‘put the region at great risk and may lead to a large-scale war’ and could also ‘put Iraq and Turkey at great risk, as well as the Syrian state.’” www.rudaw.net/english/midd...

I wrote a piece for @jodemocracy.bsky.social on a little-noticed court decision last week to effectively permanently outlaw Jordan’s teacher’s union www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclu...

My latest for @ecfr looks at efforts to find 100s of 1000s of Iraqis who are missing.Many are believed to be in mass graves. #Iraq has so many mass graves it has a specialized directorate. It even has a Mass Graves Day.Every number is a person who was part of a family that is integral to a community

Unearthing the past: Iraq’s mass graves and the quest for justice: ecfr.eu/publication/...

As the regional conflict spreads, this paper from IISS explains how Iraq has managed to stay out of it for the most part. www.iiss.org/publications...

Why Iraq gives Syria a hand www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/t...

🇮🇶 Iraq officially has 19 provinces now with Halabja. It will be interesting to see if there will be noticeable change for the people of Halabja. Previously as part of Sulaymaniyah in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, there has been dissatisfaction with centralization by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

📰 Read Visiting Fellow @hamzehhadad.bsky.social 's comments on #Iran’s waning influence in Iraq for @lemonde-en.bsky.social here 👇

A stabilising transition in Syria is far from assured. My piece after recent visit calling for Western govs to urgently step up support amid deep challenges & some worrying signs. Should start with more direct assistance given sanctions relief unlikely to be short-term answer ecfr.eu/article/the-...

My interview with @theworld.org regarding Iraq’s census results. theworld.org/segments/202...

Debating US Primacy in the Midde East - introducing my new essay and spectacular collection of IR theories and Middle East experts trying to make sense of the nature and limits of US power. abuaardvark.substack.com/p/debating-u...

Once again, Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s comments on post-2003 Iraq & what he did there are nauseating & insulting. I guess, trying to downplay the fact he was a foreigner joining a terrorist group that blew up innocent Iraqis on a daily basis is part of the rehabilitation campaign.

My first piece for 2025, co-authored with @marsin.bsky.social for @brookings.edu. www.brookings.edu/articles/ira...

Recently appointed head of Iraqi intelligence Hameed Al-Shatri is the first Iraqi official to visit Damascus post-Ba’ath. There were a handful of Iraqi officials that were in charge of handling relations with Syria during Ba’ath regime. No surprise that a new but trusted figure was sent by Baghdad.

I wonder if we are gonna see the same scholars & analysts who have tried to paint Saddam as non-sectarian do the same with Bashar Al-Assad.

Agreed. Been saying this for days. people weirdly pushing some expectation of mass deployment flooding into Syria. Spillover not off the cards, especially with reports of ISIS resurgence in NE (deir ezzor), but like you, I don’t see big push to defend Bashar, espec with such spectacular offensive.

Iraq once again caught in a difficult spot. Little sympathy towards the Ba’ath regime next door as evidenced by prominent leaders like Sadr calling on Iraq to stay out of the conflict. While some fear a spillover like 2014, both status of security & local population is different.

Amid talk of Iraqi militias moving to Syria, following talk of poss Iranian strikes on Israel from Iraq, read @hamzehhadad.bsky.social on how the Iraqi pol & religious estab working to keep the country out of the wider regional war, fearful of the pain it could bring ecfr.eu/article/avoi...

Avoiding the next front: Iraq’s fight to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict: ecfr.eu/article/avoi...

5/ As #Israel & #Iran clash, #Iraq’s Shia leadership is trying to rein in domestic Iranian-backed paramilitaries to shield the country from becoming a new battleground in the Middle East, writes @hamzehhadad.bsky.social ecfr.eu/article/avoi...

I keep updating this list with new analysts - many of whom are critical to following developments in Syria: go.bsky.app/69H22WU

My latest piece for @ecfr.bsky.social/ @ecfrmena.bsky.social Avoiding the next front: Iraq’s fight to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict ecfr.eu/article/avoi...

📑 NEW @ecfr.bsky.social commentary by @hamzehhadad.bsky.social: As #Israel & #Iran clash, #Iraq’s Shia leadership is trying to rein in domestic Iranian-backed paramilitaries to shield the country from becoming a new battleground in the Middle East. Read the piece here 👇 ecfr.eu/article/avoi...

It is going to be interesting to see how the Iraqi parliament will address the issue of seat change after the census placed the population at 45.4 million. Parliament currently has 329 seats & the constitution stipulates 1 MP for every 100,000 Iraqi. 125 seats will need to be added.

Not to be lost amongst all the noise coming from the hawks to expand Israel’s war to Iraq. 1001iraqithoughts.com/2024/11/22/g...

Spoke yesterday with @theworld.org regarding the census in Iraq. theworld.org/segments/202...

Big day for #Iraq with the census being conducted today. Provided some comments to @afpnews.bsky.social. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

Post-election migration onto this platform will probably be short lived.

First edition of Arnold T. Wilson’s memoirs as civil commissioner in Iraq, signed by Wilson himself.

Excited to share my latest paper for HKS. I am thankful to the International Development Research Centre in supporting this research. The Protest to Parliament Pipeline: Investigating the Link Between Activism and Women’s Political Participation in Iraq www.belfercenter.org/publication/...

Today marks the 66th anniversary of the July 14 revolution. For anyone interested in reading about this important period in contemporary Iraqi history, the late professor Majid Al-Khadduri’s book Republican Iraq is a must.

Tomorrow’s event will be at 9AM Eastern Daylight Time. Registration link👇

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, & Bahrain did not sign the peace declaration for Ukraine. Amazing when these states choose to defy Western allies. www.yahoo.com/news/final-d...

My latest for 1001 Iraqi Thoughts, where I reflect on the last decade since the fall of Mosul. There is a lot of work yet to be done, but I never doubted that Iraq would make it. 1001iraqithoughts.com/2024/06/10/a...

Be sure to join us at @ecfr.bsky.social in two weeks for an important panel on the future of Iranian foreign policy & the West’s response. ecfr.eu/event/after-...

More outrage from Arab civil society over the Israeli attacks on Rafah yesterday. I wrote last month for @pomeps.bsky.social about how the war in Gaza is shattering the trust of civil society in Iraq & Middle East in Western institutions. pomeps.org/how-the-war-...

A little later than I would have liked, but between teaching & the war in Gaza, you can understand the delay. Find my second report for Clingendael, examining whether Tishreen protests had an impact on the behavior of Iraqi political elites. www.clingendael.org/publication/...

مقالي الأخير ‬⁩ ‏إزالة الغموض عن العلاقات الدينية الشيعية بين العراق وإيران dawnmena.org/ar/%D8%A5%D8...

The Project on Middle East Political Science is pleased to announce POMEPS Studies 52 - Race Politics and Colonial Legacies: France, Africa and the Middle East. Download the full PDF here: pomeps.org/pomeps-studi...

POMEPS annual conference online today, 100 Middle East scholars from the US, Europe and the region sharing thoughts on Gaza, political science, and the campus protests and crackdowns. Exhausting, exhilarating, useful, good to see so many colleagues thinking together calmly and constructively.

In both my policy papers for @ecfr.bsky.social, I recommended European states to move beyond donor-recipient relations with Iraq to normal bilateral relations. This latest move to end the UNAMI mandate will naturally push for that. apnews.com/article/iraq...

Quoted in Reuters on Sadr’s potential political comeback www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Meanwhile, the reaction by some Iraqi “liberals” to the suspension of the Kuwaiti parliament is terrifying.