Temperatures in New Delhi, India, hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday as the country suffers through an oppressive heat wave. Fortunately, the monsoon season is about a week away, which should bring relief from the heat, but Indian forecasters are predicting a relatively weak monsoon season. The country is ill-prepared for such heat, as electricity for air-conditioning is not especially reliable in parts of the country. The heat wave is likely to increase demand for electricity leading to increased use of coal, aggravating greenhouse gas emissions in the country.
The US is in a very difficult situation in Iraq. The Islamic Army of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) poses a real challenge to the US and to liberal forces in the Middle East. But the government of Iraq is also no close friend of the US as it has close ties to Iran. The US has to decide how much support it wishes to give the Iraqi government–ISIS is a more serious threat to US interests in the region. The Obama Administration has the difficult job of trying to restabilize Iraq after the US invasion upset the balance of power in the country in 2003.
The disintegration of Iraq continues. The success of ISIS in taking over several cities in Iraq has emboldened the Kurds to think about their independence from Iraq. The Kurds have dreamed of their own homeland, Kurdistan for over a century, but their nation is divided among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. In Iraq, the Kurds have carved out a high degree of autonomy from the central government, and they also have access to their own oil fields which are some of the richest in the Middle East. At this point there does not seem to be a high degree of animosity between the Kurds and ISIS, but that situation may change rather quickly if ISIS continues to exert greater control.
World Politics News 
Leave a comment