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.

Foreignpolicy.com

The Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish Peshmerga, and Sunni tribesmen battling the militants will get some of the weapons they've long asked for.

nytimes.com | By PAUL SALOPEK

KARS, Turkey — “WE have enemies.”

The old Kurdish woman said this by way of running me off. I had trekked into her mountain hamlet at dusk, hoping to camp nearby. She waved a hand at the stone homes around us. Most were empty. There had been a killing between neighbors. The house of the perpetrator had been leveled. Fearing retribution, his relatives had run for their lives. Armed members of the victim’s family were now guarding the place against their return. The watchmen’s lonesome campfire seesawed in the wind high up on a cliff.

Ft.com | Foreign editor Roula Khalaf

The Kurds of northern Iraq face terror from Isis and political pressure from Baghdad – jeopardising their long-held dream of independence.

Al-monitor.com

ISTANBUL — Iraq’s new oil minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, conceded at an energy summit here on Nov. 19 that he inherited a depleted budget and that the central government now values an oil pipeline from the Kurdish area of Iraq to Turkey whose construction Baghdad once bitterly opposed.

Huffingtonpost.com | by David L. Phillips (*)

Kobani represents a crossroads in the war against the Islamic State (IS). The battle for Kobani is also a defining moment in US policy toward the Kurds, the construction of Kurdish national identity, and the West's view of Turkey as an ally.