Iraq

The Kurds have made a conscious effort to step back from a damaging feud with the United States over weapons shipments.

There is nothing mystical about ISIS as a defensive force: where it has succeeded, it has done so almost entirely due to the absence of effective opposition, not because of its inherent strength.

Volcanic changes in the region are under way, with the outbreak of Sunni-Shiite wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, unprecedented tension between Washington and Israel, and U.S.-Iranian nuclear talks that appear on the verge of breakthrough. Watch an expert discussion of these challenges and the future of U.S. policy in the region.

Governments and financial institutions have taken laudable steps to curtail ISIS financing, but the group is still netting many millions from banks and informal money remitters in areas under its control or just nearby.

For the long-term benefit of both, Ankara and Erbil share a strong interest in maintaining their partnership.

Arab Spring success stories have generally not been easy to come by, yet one may be playing out in a regional non-Arab state, Turkey, where ties between the Turks and their Kurdish adversaries have been improving.

Tensions in Kirkuk serve as warning of the instability that could rack Mosul after its liberation.

When political leaders give the Pentagon broad goals of social transformation in the guise of "Phase IV stability operations," they undermine support for even legitimate, low-cost military missions such as an air campaign in Syria.


How did the so-called Islamic State (IS) originate? What are its goals? What is the scale of its recruitment in Europe and elsewhere? As the United States leads a coalition to thwart military advances by IS – also known as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh – Institute Richard Borow Fellow Aaron