The remarkable resurgence of Sunni-fundamentalist violence in Iraq has taken the west by surprise, yet it is a symptom of the long-evident inability of the Shia-led government there to exercise authority impartially.
The depiction of Lebanon as the most brittle and even artificial nation in its region is based more on myth than reality, says Hazem Saghieh.
The lightning advance of Islamist fighters across northern Iraq has dangerous echoes of the founding event of the "war on terror" .
Kurdish nationalism in Iraqi-Kurdistan has been transformed from an ideology that strengthened resistance to the Iraqi Baathist dictatorship to a tool now being employed to help build shopping malls.
The little-known involvement of British imperial forces in creating and controlling the state of Iraq in the wake of the first world war is a key source of the country's later disasters, says Ian Rutledge.
We are now completely at the mercy of our political class. Many of the same faces will return, and those who are new will have been imposed on us by the same party structures that have been running the country since 2003.
John McCain and others continue to blame the escalation of tension and sectarian violence in Iraq on Obama’s 'abandonment' of the country in 2011, but the foundations for the violence were laid years before his election.
Anbar province has emerged as the fulcrum of a rising Sunni resistance against Iraq’s Shi’a controlled government and it could have a major impact on the formation of the next government.
Few disagree that the Iraqi government’s increasingly Shia character has alienated its Sunni population—but what has mounting sectarian division meant for the rights of women and girls?
Saudi Arabia’s virulently sectarian geo-policies are behind the resurgence of Al Qaida in Iraq.
Primordialism is back with a vengeance when it comes to analysing conflict in the Middle East. However, Libya and Egypt help us put religion in its proper place.
Iraq’s Sunnis have become increasingly alienated from its Shia-dominated government. Al-Qaeda has been able to profit from its inability to offer cross-sectarian leadership.
