Rustum Mahmud

Just days before the end of the year, the World Bank announced that Iran’s economy had contracted by 1.7%. In April, it had projected a contraction…

Iran perceives the Kurdistan Region—an autonomous territory in northern Iraq—as a ‘functional adversary’ capable of delivering its objectives swiftly…

Since the Eastern Mediterranean began its most recent period of upheaval, two dormant, ingrained, yet contradictory beliefs deeply embedded within…

When Bashar al-Assad disappeared from Syria in early December, so too did all the norms, apparatus, charters, and institutions that made up the …

Observers of Turkish affairs have spent recent days feverishly dissecting the motives behind an extraordinary offer from influential nationalist…

One of the major groups within Iraq’s political scene has faced a series of significant recent setbacks that has undermined their sense of security…

The press is awash with speculation about a meeting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that some say…

Few other groups have experienced such consistent and widespread setbacks over the past century as the Kurds. They are now almost emblematic of…

When the terrorist known as ‘Socrates Khalil’ was recently captured by security forces in the Kurdistan area of Iraq, it offered a rare insight for…

Half a century ago, the Algiers Agreement was reached between Iraq and Iran, which ended the latter's support for the Kurdish nationalist movement…