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[Iraq Oil Report] Iraq Oil Report » Iraq oil showdown: Gas law, plus the fact that KRG contract have not been the product of transparent or accountable competitive tenders.The unilateral pursuit by KRG left the Central Ministry of Oil no choice but to plan a policy of grant of right confined to the rest of the country and to resort to existing laws and regulation in force while the Oil&Gas law has remained stalled.the language used by the KRG minister discredit him and pave the way for the people of Iraq to lessen their sympathy with Kurdstan legitimate rights within unified federal Iraq, and if any official of KRG acts in as a government within government they are mistaken they are part of one Iraq land and purpose,and they should heed to Iraq’s will with all respect they deserves.The exportation of crude oil from Kurdistan Iraq through Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline on condition that the oil to be marketed through SOMO,with the revenues to be transferred to the Ministry of Finance of the central government and KRG bear the expenses of the Oil companies working in the region should have called for celebration instead of challenges and slanders used by Dr. Ashti Hawrami.

[The Henry Jackson Society] Patience and Reform: Working towards a final status for Kurdistan ...: While al-Sadr remains a staunch opponent of US occupation, if he is an Iraqi national first and foremost, his relationship with Turkey’s president and prime minister may provide a useful opportunity for the West to reduce Iranian influence in Iraq. But if, as many suspect, his motivation stems from religious fanaticism and a sympathetic Iranian worldview, his role in negotiations with Turkey may be detrimental.

[Financial 24 | Financial News] FEATURE-Iraqs Kurds, Arabs face choice: settle or fight ...: 'Baghdad wants the oil here we're probably standing on some of it right now and that's the real reason they won't let us Kurds rule ourselves,' said the retired Kurdish soldier, 58, before crossing the road to a gaudy icecream bar in majority Kurdish Khanaqin, on the edge of Iraq's violent Diyala province .

[Comment is free: Cif America | guardian.co.uk] Ranj Alaaldin: They have been the US's staunchest ally, but as ...: Unlike many parts of the Middle East, in Kurdistan government is held accountable and issues such as transparency and corruption are highlighted in everyday life and within parliamentary debates. In Kurdistan, the rule of law provides for the operation of political parties and women's rights continue to grow stronger.

[News, Opionion and Features from Asharq Alawsat English Edition] Asharq Al-Awsat Interviews Iraqi Kurdistan President Masud Barzani ...: Regarding the establishment of a Kurdish state, Barzani said, "This is a legitimate ambition, but we deal with matters according to the existing realities." He affirmed that the Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP], which he heads, does not exploit the problems facing its rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [PUK] led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, but is cooperating to solve them. Barzani affirmed, "We will be a true and faithful ally in their crisis under all circumstances."

[Brookings: Search - juvenile crime] Iraq's Year of Living Dangerously - Brookings Institution: These tensions nearly led to violence last summer in the ethnically mixed city of Khanaqin, which lies outside the current boundaries of Kurdistan, in Diyala Province, but was under the control of the pesh merga. Prime Minister Maliki, emboldened by recent battlefield successes of Iraq’s Army and police against Shiite militias in Basra and elsewhere, apparently decided to put the Kurds in their place as well.

[Eurasia Daily Monitor - The Jamestown Foundation] Rising Arab-Kurdish Tensions over Kirkuk Will Complicate U.S. ...: Kurdish suspicions of Iraq's central government have reignited after a January 22 decision by Baghdad to deploy the army's 12th Division north towards the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk. This development, coupled with U.S. military plans to gradually disengage from Iraq, led Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani to declare that U.S. President Barack Obama "has said more than once that they will withdraw in a responsible manner from Iraq...What we understand by a responsible withdrawal is that the United States resolves the problems outstanding in Iraq [before leaving]"

[Crisis Group] International Crisis Group - Hiltermann: Everyone Wants a Piece of ...: The grip on power exercised by pro-federalist groups - the Kurdish parties and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) - over the past six years is being loosened by an ad hoc coalition of forces that favour a strengthening of the central state. Their standard bearer is Nouri al Maliki, the prime minister, whose appointment in 2006 resulted from a compromise when neither ISCI nor its Sadrist rivals were able to impose their own as head of government and whose convincing showing in the provincial polls has given the anti-federalists new momentum.

[Gorilla's Guides] Gorilla's Guides » Blog Archive » Barbaric 'honour killings ...: The new Iraqi constitution, according to Mrs Mahmoud, is a mass of confusing contradictions. While it states that men and women are equal under law it also decrees that sharia law - which considers one male witness worth two females - must be observed.

Informed Comment: How much different might things be now if, at the time of the battle of Najaf in 2004, Sistani had made a statement to the effect that the US occupation was causing so much bloodshed as to be no longer tenable, that US troops should leave on a short timetable, and that a national unity government of all groups should be formed pending free elections to be held upon the departure of the last Western soldier? Could al-Qaeda have been sidelined?

[Truck and Barter] Truck and Barter: Dinar and Discussion for February 2009: The debate about why and when should we have helped Iraq against its bullies is now in the hands of historians, but as President Obama announced in his inaugural address, the destinies of that country should be secured in the hands of the “Iraqi people.” These elections are probably the last before American military begins to redeploy inside and from Iraq. The challenge for the U.S. administration is to empower Iraqis to enjoy such exercises in democracy many times more, instead of falling into obscure times again.

[Michael J. Totten] Michael J. Totten: Bashir: Najmadin Karim, stressed in his opening remarks, that the origins of the Iraqi policies of ethnic cleansing and Arabization of Kurdistan region as a state policy to secure valuable economic resources and racist design, go way back to the mid 1930s’ when the Prime Minister Yassin Hashimi, supported by the pro-nazi King Ghazi bin Faisal, initiated the first Arabization project by inducing the resettlement of members of Al Obeidi Arab tribe, from the south to Kirkuk region in Iraqi Kurdistan.

[Truck and Barter] Truck and Barter: Dinar Discussion for Sept 2008: And postponements in delivery due to reasons related to the remaining debt on Iraq, and we had contacts with the International Monetary Fund to get rid of the remaining $ 30 million of debt has not been put out and there is an obstacle to him, and unfortunately there is no officials of the state to have a sense of national sincere, whether official or minister or staff I would not care about the IMF and the "go to hell" but the Iraqi citizens need to clarify the fate of the increase was added to his salary and to receive all the increases without cutting one cent, But the IMF is not satisfied with the increase Officials at the IMF that such an increase, otherwise the agreement would cause liquidity in the Iraqi street will lead to inflation which affects the lives of citizens and promised violation committed by the Ministry of Finance with the IMF which is otherwise agreed with the Minister of Finance, so we had two hours of arduous negotiations with them We have asked help extinguish debt amounting to 140 billion dollars and already has been fighting for 80% of the debt-for retaining commitment to the Convention, which contains the fight against inflation and rising prices of oil derivatives to meet smuggled into other countries and Iraq benefited from 6 billion dollars due to rising oil derivatives from 20 dinars to 400 dinars.

[Being American in TO] Being American in T.O.: War on Terror Archives: The writer of that document indicated that he had directed about 25 suicide bombings inside Iraq, "some of them against Shiites and their leaders, the Americans and their military, and the police, the military and the coalition forces." A senior United States intelligence official in Washington said Sunday that he knew of "no reason to believe the letter is bogus in any way."The letter is another piece of evidence that may connect al Qaeda associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to three of the most devastating car-bomb attacks in Iraq during the past six months: the August car-bombing of an important mosque in Najaf which killed 83 people including the Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim, the August car-bombing of the Bagdhad UN HQ at the Canal Hotel, and the November bombing attack on the Italian police station in Nasiriya. Over 100 Iraqis died in those attacks.

[Truck and Barter] Truck and Barter: Dinar Discussion AUGUST 2008: Michael "you mean I'm going to stay this color" Fleger, or his good friend, upstanding citizen and homegrown terrorist William Ayers together and go on tour with him and Biden, the heartland of America will certainly embrace them wholeheartedly and reject a true agent of change, veteran John McCain and Sarah Palin, a true conservative who exposed and fought corruption in her own party and won, and has an 80% approval rating as Governor. By the way, she also has more business and executive experience than both Barack Obama and Joseph Biden, who is in the pockets of credit card companies in Delaware.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Iraq Constitution, Iran Reviews