Iraq after the Kurdish referendum

The Kurdish drive for independence has foundered and Iraq has reestablished control over disputed areas. Ethnic strains remain, and political divisions are flaring within Iraq’s major communities.

 

How much control does Iran really have over Iraq? Can Iraqi prime minister Haidar al-Abadi maintain his balancing act, keeping Iran and the United States both on his side, and avoiding dangerous strongman overreach?

 

We speak in Beirut with Renad Mansour, a research fellow at Chatham House, and Christine van den Toorn, director of the Institute of Regional and International Studies at American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.

 

Participants include: 

• Renad Mansour, research fellow at Chatham House
   
• Christine van den Toorn, director of the Institute of Regional and International Studies at American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.
• Thanassis Cambanis, senior fellow, The Century Foundation