Over the past weeks, Iraq’s political landscape has grown more unsettled. A dispute that began in a government office escalated into open confrontation between the prime minister and powerful armed factions, exposing once again the unresolved question of who truly controls the state. Regional and international pressures only sharpened the fault lines: While Washington pushes for curbs on armed factions, Tehran presses to preserve their power, and Najaf re-entered the debate with rare public clarity, calling for arms to be placed under state authority.
At the same time, preparations for parliamentary elections in November have been overshadowed by an unprecedented wave of exclusions. Hundreds of candidates, from former generals to women activists, were barred from running, often under sweeping charges that appear more political than legal. What was meant to be a moment of democratic renewal has instead reinforced the sense of mistrust, with participation expected to sink even further as citizens see the ballot box less as a path to change than as a managed arena of control.
Iraq’s leaders, meanwhile, oscillate between warnings of collapse and efforts to project stability. The language of crisis has become routine, yet the underlying issues such as the balance of weapons and power, the legacy of the Baath, and the limits of electoral politics, remain unresolved. As the country edges closer to elections, the question persists: is Iraq approaching a turning point, or merely rehearsing once more the cycles of confrontation and exclusion that have defined its post-2003 order?
This issue takes us across Iraq’s fractured landscape: memories of violence that remain painfully alive on the anniversary of the Yazidi genocide, an article that was republished by The Guardian, in addition to technology promises that clash with daily dysfunction, and political battles that may shape the coming elections.
Meanwhile, Iraqis like Hasan Habib are using laughter to soften trauma and connect diaspora lives to their homeland.
And with soaring August temperatures breaking historical records, we spotlight the growing environmental crisis, from depleted wells and drying rivers to the fields that may soon be abandoned.
Meanwhile, a look back at our archive reminds us that these tensions are not new, they echo in the lives of young voters, and while political forces prepare for the upcoming elections, ordinary Iraqis continue to suffer from chronic problems that remain unaddressed and deprioritized. We see it in the lives of women farmers ruined by drought, and the nurses who carry the burdens of a strained state.
