MESOP ANALYSIS : MALIKI STEPS DOWN – Click for Ressource persons

15-8-2014 – “The key challenge facing any post-Maliki government, however, remains overcoming the alienation of Sunni Arabs from the new order in Baghdad – a situation that has had no small part in enabling the rapid spread of Islamic State across northern Iraq. It’s not clear that Abadi replacing Maliki at the head of the dominant Shia coalition will necessarily result in Sunni reintegration,” writes Tom Kutsch for al-Jazeera.

“Mr Obama’s idea of a self-regulating balance of power has dissolved in an acid cocktail of state failure, sectarian savagery and a jihadist rampage so confident that almost every armed force in the Levant is melting before its onslaught,” writes David Gardner for the Financial Times.

“Even in the best of scenarios, ISIS will hold territory in Syria and Iraq for some time to come. The United States has taken steps to improve its tactical intelligence. Yet, given the long-term nature of the threat and of American interests in the region, more work is needed improving strategic intelligence,” writes CFR’s David Palkki.