Political and economic crises first come to mind when Iraq is talked about. Ups and downs in Iraq’s economy have cost its citizens a big price in the last decades and lately the iraqi currency has declined against the dollar by a remarkable rate. The exchange rate was around 147000 IQD to $100 in November, but now it is more than 165000 IQD.  According to Reuters, the New York Federal Bank implemented tougher regulations over international dollar transactions by Iraq’s commercial banks due to the U.S. reflection of illegitimate syphoning of the dollar to Iran through Iraq.Thus, Iraqi banks have been regulated to use an online platform to uncover their dollar transactions. However, the majority of Iraqi private banks have not been registered on the platform, which later resulted in conducting transactions in the black market by the unregistered banks. This explains the reasons behind dinar's devaluation and the economic crisis.

Iraqis reacted and protested to the central bank asking the government to interfere and halt the rise of the dollar. Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Iraq’s prime minister, approved the removal of the governor of the Central Bank, but it changed nothing in raising the greenback. Hence, it is hard to predict what is going to happen next, since the U.S.’s reaction and sanctions depend on how Iraq treats its neighbour Iran.

In biology, adaptation is the adjustment of organisms to their surroundings in order to improve their chances of survival in their current environment and the changes around them. All the organisms that ever existed have been continuously evolving and adapting through their environmental changes in order to prevail, and that adaptation has led us to today's world and what we are now; for example, humans today display smaller teeth and smaller jaws when compared to people who lived 25,000 years ago. The canine teeth of some people living long ago were much larger than current human teeth, adapting to a softer diet after the spread of agriculture. We need constant adaptation to our environment, whether its behavioral or structural evolvement, to survive in this capricious world. From climate changes that the world goes through to sudden pandemics like Covid-19, or the fast-growing technology and ongoing economic changes, most of us feel lost in today’s world and erratic environment. Learning how to adapt and adjust to changes around us can help us build resilience, enhance our emotional being, expand our skill set, increase opportunities, and improve self-esteem and confidence. You can develop adaptivity by:

-Giving yourself time: take some time to process the change and become aware of it, and analyze it.

-Cognitive restructuring: it is a way to understand your negative thoughts and accept what is out of your control. It is a way to maximize the value of adjusting to new environments rather than desperately clinging to familiarity. This can be done by making a list of what is in your control and what isn't.

- Increase self-care: in some cases, the change may be a positive thing, like getting married, moving to a new house, or getting a promotion. They are changes in your environment and comfort zone that may cause anxiety, feeling upset, or being off balance. Self-care can help you take time to process the change and adapt to it.

- Practice mindfulness: changes can make you feel lost. Practicing mindfulness, like meditation, Yoga, or even gardening, can help you be in the present moment and relax.

- Change can be draining, and make you feel dissipated and stressed, but realizing the change itself can be one way to adapt to it, and get out of your comfort zone and develop yourself for bigger achievements.

The areas populated with the Kurds, like the Middle East, are enriched with archeological data from the past. Ancient history, as we know it, primarily was situated around the area of the Middle east and the Mediterranean sea. So it comes with no shock - but excitement - that so often we come across events of archaeological survey around the areas of Duhok, Hewler, and Slemani which uncover many hidden and dazzling historical sites.

One of which has been rather popular is the sight of the Battle of Guagamela which, according to data obtained from the research of Hungarian-born British archeologist Aurel Stein, took place near a hill known as Tel Gomel, around modern-day Hewler, the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Situated in the flat land between the cities of Hewler and Mosul, this particular battle took place in 331 BC when the armies of Darius III of the once-Persian Achaemenid Empire stood against the rapid invasion of the Macedonian armies of Alexander the Great. 

Alexander the Great became King of Macedonia after the death of his father, Philip II. Alexander sought to continue his father’s legacy of rapidly expanding his kingdom from a regional power in Greece into a formidable empire. This attracted the attention of the Achaemenids who were attempting to annex the region of Greece.

Alexander the Great personally led a campaign to capitulate most Achaemind cities. Swiftly advancing through Anatolia, the Levant, and Egypt, declaring himself Pharoah.

At the height of its power, the Achaemenid stronghold around the areas of Mesopotamia also came under attack by Alexander. Despite overwhelming odds and a manpower advantage by the Persians, Alexander the Great managed to secure a deceive victory over the Persian empire that left Darius III unable to form a stronger army again.

It all happened around 1600 years ago between a Hellenic army popular for its tactics of deploying Phalanx formation, against a mighty and rich empire that stood the test of time, in Gaugamela.

The pygmalion effect refers to situations where high expectations lead to high performance, and low expectation leads to low performance. The pygmalion effect was first observed in a classroom when the psychologists Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson observed all students in a single California elementary school. They were given a disguised IQ test at the beginning of the study. These scores were not declared to teachers, and they were told that some of their students (about 20% of the school chosen at random) could be expected to be "intellectual bloomers" that year, doing better than expected in comparison to their classmates. The bloomers' names were made known to the teachers. At the end of the study, all students were again tested with the same IQ test used at the beginning. All six grades in both experimental and control groups showed a mean gain in IQ from before the test to after the test. However, first- and second-graders showed statistically significant improvements favoring the experimental group of "intellectual bloomers."

The experiment  led to the conclusion that teacher expectations can influence student achievement, particularly for the youngest children. Rosenthal believed that even attitude or mood could positively affect the students when the teacher was aware of the "bloomers." The teacher may pay closer attention to and even treat the child differently in times of difficulty.

The same experiment  has also  been applied to the fields of management, business, and sports. The Pygmalion effect has both academic and practical implications. For example, if a manager believes in the abilities of their team, the team will exceed one whose manager believes the opposite, even if the two groups are equally skilled.

If a researcher has high expectations that patients assigned to the treatment group will succeed, these patients may have better outcomes than the control group. The Pygmalion effect demonstrates the power of expectations in shaping behavior. We tend to internalize the labels that others place upon us. The Pygmalion effect works circularly:

- Others’ expectations of us influence their behaviors toward us.

- Other’s behaviors toward us affects how we see ourselves.

- How we see ourselves impacts our behaviors.

- Our behaviors toward others affects their beliefs, reinforcing their expectations.

The pygmalion effect is very  important to be studied and understood by people in relationships to help their partner perform better in life, and teachers to ensure their students do  well in their studies, as well as  leaders to make sure their team perform  well.

“Kizil Elma” in Turkish, meaning The Red Apple, was a concept of conquest for the Ottomans that was used as an objective naming for the cities or areas that were seen as a target for conquest. The idea originated from the continuous growth and expansion of the Ottoman Empire by means of slaughters, burning villages and killing the people, and the cities that were seen as red apple were Vienna, Rome, Paris, and many others.

The concept was introduced by a Serb Janissary soldier of the empire named Konstantin Mihailovic. This soldier talks about the Red Apple tale in his book “Memories of a Janissary” in a tale of Sultan Mehemed II who had heard that the Christians were about to invade the newly conquered European lands, Konstantin wrote that after the Sultan summoned his commanders they advised to start a war. However, the Sultan had a different idea which he presented to them with a puzzle, he brought a carpet, placed a red apple in the middle and asked them to catch the apple without stepping on the carpet, no one could solve it until he himself rolled the carpet, brought the apple and rolled it back without stepping on it. He then explained that attacking gradually and with patience is better than an immediate war in times of unsteadiness.

This concept is still available in modern Turkey and the term Red Apple was even mentioned by the current president Erdogan in 2018 during his operations against the opposing forces in Afrin.This Symbol is rooted in the Turkish military strategies and is mentioned alongside their series of combat Unmanned Arial Vehicles UAV.

The World Economic Forum started in Davos yesterday, 16th January. The forum’s effective role in bringing together world leaders and decision-making regarding the latest global issues has been noteworthy. The WEF was founded 52 years ago with the vision to make the world better by collecting & studying inklings from existing issues. This year is going to be in the snow-covered mountains in Davos, Switzerland.

However, the WEF23 seems to be crucial with the fact that the world faces its post-pandemic era and the Russia-Ukraine war. Also, the world economy suffered a lot as inflation & recession have recently become challenging for many countries.  Although, this could be an opportunity to rebuild the global economy in Davos.

Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, indicates in a podcast what should be done from the WEF23 and how seriously global challenges have to be solved, “we need to come together and find solutions for problems the world is suffering from. We have to recreate global growth, stop the fragmentation that we are currently seeing of the global economy.”  Similarly, Maroun Kairouz, the head of Middle East and North Africa in WEF describes this year’s forum as the opportunity “for middle eastern countries to shine.”

As for the Kurdistan Region, the Prime Minister Masrour Barzani will also have a tight schedule in the cold temperature of Davos with developing Kurdistan’s economy in mind. According to K24, he will be discussing the region’s economic priorities with world leaders that contains “economic diversification, improving banking services, discovering new markets for Kurdish agricultural products, investment in renewable energy, oil, gas, minerals as well as combating the consequences of climate change and drought.”