Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad (right) and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in friendlier times (click title to entry - thank you)
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah walk to attend the Third Expanded Ministerial Conference of the Neighbouring Countries of Iraq in Kuwait City, Kuwait, April 22, 2008. Egypt, Gulf Cooperation Council members, the G8 countries, five UN Security Council permanent members, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference attended the meeting on Tuesday.(Xinhua Photo)
The 'new' economy to Iraq's central government could very well 'set it free' from the Autonomous Kurdish northern province. There is one aspect to any government in the region, the 'Holy Places' will always remain a source of security and economy.
French Prime Minister Visits Iraq to Talk Business (click title to entry - thank you)
By Edward Yeranian Cairo
02 July 2009
...French Prime Minister Francois Fillon is the first foreign leader to visit Iraq since US-led forces officially withdrew combat troops from Iraqi cities on June 30.
He told a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that in the wake of the U.S. pullout, Iraq had "now entered a new phase."
Mr. Fillon arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, with a large delegation of French officials and top French business leaders for a short visit. The French prime minister's office said several business agreements would be signed during the visit....
Al-Maliki, boosted by U.S. pullback, to call on Obama (click here)
By MIKE THARP
McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will meet President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday wearing several robes: the popular leader of an American ally, the prime minister of an increasingly independent-minded country, a follower of the same branch of Islam that's practiced in Iran and a political candidate.
The man who'd been the default compromise for Iraq's top post in 2006 has emerged as the strongest officeholder since Saddam Hussein.
He's tamed sectarian and other violence to its lowest level since the U.S.-led invasion six years ago. He's politely but firmly refused U.S. offers to help resolve a stalemate in his parliament. In handling security issues, he's told the American military, in effect: Don't call us; we'll call you....
We do not belong in the middle of a civil war. We don't belong in the middle of rising political ethnic rhetoric. It is wrong for any political leader to victimize any ethnic group to gain popularity within another. The USA cannot possibly villanize any ethnic group against any other.
In Iraq, Kurdish-Arab Tensions Simmer (click here for audio)
by Quil Lawrence
...The president of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region says ethnic tension is driving Iraq's Kurds and the central government in Baghdad dangerously close to confrontation.
Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish region's president, also tells NPR that whoever wants to get ahead in Iraqi politics does it by criticizing the Kurds....
