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Iraq: Controlling Dams Key To Controlling The Country
July 30th, 2014
Via Future Directions International, another look at the role that dams and water are playing in the Iraqi crisis: In a recent statement, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, warned against the use of dams as ‘an instrument of terror’ in the current conflict. As rebels from the Islamic […]
Read more »Is Water Scarcity Destablizing Iraq?
June 30th, 2014
Via Slate, commentary on the impact that water scarcity may have had upon the emerging conflict in Iraq: This winter was not a good one for farmers in the Fertile Crescent. A punishing drought hit most of Syria and northern Iraq during what’s normally the wettest time of the year. In the mountains of eastern […]
Read more »A Water War In The Desert?
June 13th, 2014
Via New Scientist, a report on the militant Islamic group – ISIS’s – control over Iraq’s two main rivers: Iraq has blazed its way back onto the world’s front pages in the past 48 hours, with the seemingly sudden capture of the cities of Mosul and Tikrit by an extremist group. The group seems to […]
Read more »Iraq Water Crisis Could Stir Ethnic Clash
January 29th, 2012
Via Terra Daily, a report on Iraq’s increasing water stress: Iraq is facing worsening water shortages caused by the failure of successive postwar governments to ensure supplies and extensive dam-building in neighboring states that could trigger sectarian conflict. “One prediction, which has yet to come true, has been made repeatedly by former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros […]
Read more »Water Tension In Iraq
March 25th, 2011
Via TerraDaily, a report on Kurdistan’s dam building initiatives that are causing tensions in the area. As the article notes: “…Authorities in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan area are building 11 dams and plan dozens more, the region’s agriculture minister said Thursday, a move that could raise tensions over water. “There are 11 dams now under construction,” […]
Read more »The (In)Fertile Crescent?
October 14th, 2010
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on the increasingly dire situation facing Syria and Iraq due to shortages on the Euphrates. As the article notes: “…The farmlands spreading north and east of this Euphrates River town were once the breadbasket of the region, a vast expanse of golden wheat fields and bucolic sheep […]
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