French daily LIBERATION, April 7, 2015

Jean-Marc AYRAULT, former Prime Minister, Anne HIDALGO, Mayor of Paris, Bernard KOUCHNER, former Foreign Minister, Bruno LE ROUX, President of the Socialist Group in the French National Assembly, Hubert VÉDRINE, former Foreign Minister

Cnn.com | By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst *

Huffingtonpost.com | Bernard-Henri Lévy (French philosopher and writer)

Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Leave Erbil and take the southern road toward Mosul.

There, in a landscape of hills green but bare, is the front line where General Barzani's Peshmerga fighters are arrayed against the the Islamic State.

Lemonde.fr | By Kendal Nezan (President of the Kurdish Institute of Paris.)

The Kurdish Institute of Paris has acted for nearly thirty-two years, in France and in Europe, as the voice of the Kurdish people. This people without a state has throughout the 20th Century been the victim of the cruellest injustices, and the Institute has provided information and documentation to journalists, researchers, students, voluntary associations and members of Parliament about the Kurdish world which seemed condemned to disappear or driven into exile because of the disinterest and neglect shown by the public authorities.

Reuters.com | By Samia Nakhoul, Ned Parker and Isabel Coles

(Reuters) - Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani warned that despite victories in the war against Islamic State, the global coalition against the group was inadequate and predicted a campaign to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul would not happen before the fall.

Krg.org

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, (KRG.org) - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani, today attended the opening ceremony of the Consulate General of People's Republic of China in Erbil, the last permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to open its Consulate General in Erbil.

Reuters.com | By Michael Georgy

(Reuters) - Iraq's finance minister called for deep-rooted reforms to stamp out corruption in a military that collapsed in the face of an Islamic State advance, as he prepares to spend nearly a quarter of the 2015 budget on defense.

Washingtonpost.com | By Missy Ryan and Erin Cunningham

After learning hard lessons rebuilding foreign militaries over the past dozen years, the U.S. military is shifting its strategy against the Islamic State, choosing to train a smaller number of Iraqi soldiers rather than trying to stand up an entire army anew.

Nytimes.com | By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICKNOV

BAGHDAD — One Iraqi general is known as “chicken guy” because of his reputation for selling his soldiers’ poultry provisions. Another is “arak guy,” for his habit of enjoying that anis-flavored liquor on the job. A third is named after Iraq’s 10,000-dinar bills, “General Deftar,” and is infamous for selling officer commissions.

Dfr.krg.org

Washington DC, USA (dfr.krg.org) - A resolution was introduced to the US Congress that would authorise the US government to supply military equipment, weapons, and training directly to Kurdistan Regional Government Peshmerga Forces.