Yesterday, Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaybi complained that Iraqi Kurdistan is not playing by Baghdad’s rules when it comes to oil sales. Now it is Basra’s turn to criticize the ministry for ignoring its own rules. Local politicians are suing the central government because they were not included in negotiations that lead to a deal between Baghdad and its new partners, Shell and Mitsubishi, in the southern oil fields. At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 12 more were wounded in the latest round of attacks.
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Saudi Warning Could Escalate Nuclear Arms Race
The world's nuclear powers - both declared and undeclared - have come primarily from Asia: China, India, Pakistan and possibly North Korea. The Middle East was dominated by a single nuclear power - Israel, which has refused to publicly declare its status. But that...
Mutually Assured Destruction vs Mutually Assured Respect
The Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear bomb on August 29, 1949, leading to the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, shared by both the USA and the Soviets. The unwritten agreement by the two superpowers deterred nuclear war with an implied threat to blow...
Do the Republicans Ever Learn?
In August 2008, as the world's leaders gathered in Beijing for the Olympic games, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, hot-headed and erratic, made his gamble for greatness. It began with a stunning artillery barrage on Tskhinvali, capital of tiny South Ossetia, a...
AIPAC Economic Warfare Also Targets US
With U.S. Withdrawal Looming, Baghdad Asserts Old Goals
With the U.S. military withdrawal less than a month away, the situation with Iranian dissidents livng at Camp Ashraf could be heating up. Meanwhile, the Iraqi oil minister suggested to Kurdistan it either start playing by Baghdad’s rules or become fully independent. Both the residents of Ashraf and the Kurdish govenrment were hoping to resolve their separate issues with Baghdad long before the withdrawal, but with time running out, it seems unlikely. Violence was light. Only six Iraqis were reported killed.
read moreHow About an Israeli Destruction Freeze?
Much was made of what many in the media described as a "confrontation" between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama over the building of illegal Israeli settlements (or colonies) in Occupied Palestinian Territory. From the...
America the Battlefield: The End of the Rule of Law
"All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined… could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it...
