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Can Iraq's new president save country from fragmenting?

The election of Fouad Massoum as president of Iraq may mean that Kurdish independence is now on the back burner. He is a close friend of Iraqi President Jalal Talibani, whose presidential tenure began in 2005.
Fuad Masum (C-R), the new president of Iraq and a veteran Kurdish politician, stands with Kirkuk provincial Governor Najm al-Din Karim (C-L) during a press conference in Baghdad on July 24, 2014, after Fuad was elected by an overwhelming majority in the Parliament. Masum succeeds the ailing Jalal Talabani, who returned only five days ago from 18 months of medical treatment in Germany to serve out his tenure. AFP PHOTO / ALI AL-SAADI        (Photo credit should read ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraq has a new president. In the wake of the capture of the second-largest city, Mosul, by the Islamic State (IS); ever-growing demands by the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Massoud Barzani; and rising dissent against a new mandate for incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq has seemed on the verge of collapse. There has been a quasi consensus among Iraq observers that Iraq has ceased to exist and was awaiting de jure confirmation of its de facto fragmentation.

Many have thought that this country, which had inured international opinion to its endless succession of crises since 2003, would not survive this latest crisis. But we could be mistaken. First, Salim al-Jabouri (affiliated with the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood) was elected speaker of the parliament. Then, a week after the return home of President Jalal Talabani — who had been under medical treatment in Berlin for the past 1½ years and who obviously couldn’t continue with his functions — a new president was elected, indicating that Iraq could actually be more resistant to division of the country.

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