The Battle of Kirkuk lasted less than 24 hours. In a lightning – and mostly bloodless – offensive, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) retook control of the North Oil Co. and North Gas Co. headquarters, the K1 military base, the Bai Hassan oil field, and two domes of the Kirkuk oil field on Monday. Baghdad…
In moving to reassert control of the city of Kirkuk from the Kurds, who hitherto had controlled the city under the aegis of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the Iraqi government has acted in full accordance with its legal and moral rights. The tragedy of the Kurds both of Syria and Iraq is that they…
Readers at home and around the world want to know what to make of the announcement that China henceforth will conduct oil purchases and sales in gold-backed Chinese currency. Is this an attack by Russia and China on the US dollar? Will the dollar weaken and collapse from being discarded as the currency in which…
The convincing victory of Venezuela’s governing socialist party in this weekend’s elections provides a convenient opportunity for President Maduro to finally request food aid from his Russian and Chinese partners, both of whom would be more than eager to receive the soft power boost that would come with easing the humanitarian suffering that the US’…
The last week elderly men with painted mustaches covering from head to foot in sheets paid official visit to Russian president. What is going on here? Nobody says anything clear. We can hear only some snatches: “cheap oil”, “S-400”, “a number of agreements of mutual interest.” Between them verbal mixture on “strengthening and structuring relationships”….
Wily clannish capo Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has announced that “Yes” won Monday’s non-binding independence referendum. Now that index fingers in indelible indigo ink are out of the way, the real battle between the KRG and Baghdad begins. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Iraqi Supreme Court have denounced…
