From Democracy Digest, the National Endowment for Democracy’s daily blog.
How to support Iraq’s protesters while recognizing the limits to the government’s ability to handle these protesters’ demands? Washington Institute Senior Fellow Michael Knights asks.
“We should not be afraid to strongly support a sovereign, stable, and democratic Iraq,” he argues. “The events in October have made two things clear: Iraqi protesters and the Shiite religious establishment seem to have a very clear understanding that Iran is the country meddling in Iraq, not the United States. We do not need to be afraid of our own shadow.”
Iraq’s beleaguered prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and his government have, at least, taken some steps to try and tackle the issue of corruption, analyst Maya Robinson writes for Eurasia Review. Indeed, the government is readily admitting that it has to address the endemic graft which is thwarting Iraq’s progress towards stability. “We have problems with those political groups who have their grip over money, banks and power, and rooted to corruption,” says senior adviser Laith Kubba (above), “it is a problem and there is no real answer to it.”
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