Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Sunnis Withdraw From Iraq Government (Again)

By Cernig



One of the much-touted bits of "good news" (TM)  from Iraq this last month or so has been that the Sunni Accordance Front had agreed to return to Maliki's government. The narrative had it that, after cracking down on electoral rival Sadr in Basrah, Nour al-Napoleon had shown that he could be a non-sectarian strongman. For some analysts, the fact that the Accordance Front now had its own political rival because of a new-found interest in politics by the Awakening movement, and might be hoping Maliki would treat the latter as he had Sadr if they sucked up some, was just as likely a narrative. Others - like Marc Lynch - simply said they'd believe the glowing reports of reconcilliation when it actually happened.



Well, Maliki rejected the Accordance Front's entire list of nominated ministers, twice, for not being Shiite enough - and now he's rejected a nominee again. So the Accordance Front, without ever managing to actually rejoin the government, have quit again.

Iraq's main Sunni Arab political bloc said on Wednesday it had suspended talks to rejoin the Shi'ite-led government after a disagreement with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over a cabinet post.



Persuading the bloc to rejoin has been a main aim of U.S. policy in Iraq and is widely seen as a vital step in reconciling the country's factions after years of conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in a cabinet dominated by Shi'ites and Kurds.



The breakdown in talks could undermine Washington's efforts to prod Sunni Arab states to offer more support to Iraq's government at a conference in Sweden this week as a way of countering Shi'ite Iran's growing influence in Iraq.



"We have suspended negotiations with the government and pulled out our candidates," said Salim al-Jibouri, spokesman for the Accordance Front. He said the decision was taken after Maliki objected to a candidate for a cabinet position.



The Accordance Front pulled out of Maliki's national unity government in August, demanding the release of mainly Sunni Arab detainees in Iraq's jails and calling for a greater say in security matters.



Jibouri said the Accordance Front drew up a list of candidates for six cabinet posts to hand to the government but Maliki rejected the nomination for the Planning Ministry.

It appears scepticism was warranted.



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