The situation in Iraq has gone from bad to worse. But one app is still available: Whisper, an anonymous secret sharing app often used by adolescents. And young Iraqis have taken to it, sharing their feelings about what's happening in Iraq in the one of the only ways they can. 

Iran sent 2,000 advance troops to Iraq to help fight an extreme jihadist insurgency effectively seizing control of major cities in the country, a senior Iraqi official told The Guardian on Saturday.

Everyone agrees an ISIS-controlled state could be deadly—but in what ways? We typically think of terrorist outfits like al-Qaida and ISIS as nonstate actors. But what does it mean when a nonstate actor carves itself a state? The disaster is worst for those unlucky enough to find themselves living under ISIS rule. The jihadist group’s extreme ideology calls for killing or subjugating not only Christians and Jews, but also many Muslims. Shiite Muslims, who make up a majority in Iraq, are particularly hated for their supposed apostasy, as are the Alawites who rule in Syria.

Britain has deployed a humanitarian team in Iraq to assess the needs of civilians fleeing the violent takeover of parts of the country by Islamist extremists, International Development Secretary Justine Greening has announced.

Ali Dawai is enormously popular on Facebook, with countless photos of the Iraqi provincial governor picking up rubbish or sipping tea with people while wearing his trademark blue boiler suit.Ali Dawai is enormously popular on Facebook, with countless photos of the Iraqi provincial governor picking up rubbish or sipping tea with people while wearing his trademark blue boiler suit.

Public Diplomacy: A Global Phenomenon

In 2013, at least 136 countries were active in public diplomacy, both as principals and/or receivers, and PD activity took place in every region of the world. As represented in Figure 1, the United States, China, India, Russia, Israel, and the United Kingdom were the most mentioned actors in PD stories throughout the year.