National Politics

Ali Hama Salih, known as "The Calculator" for his public questioning of KRG finances, is now a leading politician with the Gorran Movement. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Q&A: The Calculator

IOR talks to Ali Hama Salih, Kurdistan’s popular MP, and a rising star in the opposition Gorran party.

Former Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie at his office in Baghdad on Dec. 23, 2013, sitting in front of a bust from a toppled statue of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein. Around the bust's neck is the actual rope used to hang Hussein. (SABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Q&A: Former Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie

Top Maliki confidante gives his candid take on Iraq's political landscape, oil disputes and security crisis as national elections loom.

Iraqi Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Turhan Mufti (center) with politicians representing Rifai, looking at a map of the district. The delegation said they presented Mufti with a petition including tens of thousands of signatures to turn the district into a province. (STAFF/Iraq Oil Report)

Two new oil companies, six new provinces

Baghdad expands state oil sector in south and carves out potential new provinces in restive areas in the north where politics are always at play.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (left) and KRG President Massoud Barzani before a press conference in Erbil on June 9, 2013. (PATRICK OSGOOD/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography)

Maliki’s Erbil visit opens door to oil talks

Meeting in Erbil for the first time in almost three years, PM Maliki and KRG President Barzani stress a new atmosphere of cooperation that could renew long-stymied oil policy dialogue.