IRAQ | Foreign Affairs

[sheytanElKebir]

Originally Posted by Al-Hashimi

There is no doubt that the unity between Iraqi Arabs is bigger in Iraq than here among members. That I know for sure.

you couldn't be more wrong

[Al-Hashimi]

Originally Posted by sheytanElKebir

you couldn't be more wrong

Come on, let's not equal the mentality shared by minorities on all Iraqis. If that was really the case Iraq would still be in total caos like back in 2006 and 2007. Sure, relations are not exactly excellent, but they are sure better than some of the discussions here lately.

And let us not forget about all the Iraqi Arabs who come from both Sunni and Shi'ah backgrounds which was quite popular in Iraq until very recently, sadly that's more or less unthinkable today.

Hell, you even are from a mixed background Sheytan and other members here as well. Not to mention all the thousands of Iraqis.

Let's not make matters worse than they are. They are bad yes no doubt. But is unity now a completely foreign word? No, I do not believe that. A few years ago I would have agreed with you.

[haymaker]

Originally Posted by Al-Hashimi

And let us not foget all the Iraqi Arabs who come from both Sunni and Shi'ah backgrounds which was quite popular in Iraq until very recently, sadly that's more or less unthinkable today.

My shia cousin married sunni Mohammad from Mnawa Basha last December!
Its quite normal. They met at university, not unthinkable....

[Al-Hashimi]

Well I am afraid that this only apply to a small minority today. But great to hear! I wish there was more of that.

[haymaker]

I think the problem today is Iraqi women these days have more of a say. Like you can see women in all the workplaces including oil fields and women driving around Basra even teenage girls together driving in a car. In Jazear district i saw a teenage girl driving a FG Cruiser. Anyways my point is back then, in sunni shia marriages the guy used to know we he stood. Like for example im a shia ..if i marry a sunni girl the kids are sure to end up shia because im the man, but today as women have become empowered, these things are left to debate so it has created problems

[Al-Hashimi]

Originally Posted by haymaker

I think the problem today is Iraqi women these days have more of a say. Like you can see women in all the workplaces including oil fields and women driving around Basra even teenage girls together driving in a car. In Jazear district i saw a teenage girl driving a FG Cruiser. Anyways my point is back then, in sunni shia marriages the guy used to know we he stood. Like for example im a shia ..if i marry a sunni girl the kids are sure to end up shia because im the man, but today as women have become empowered, these things are left to debate so it has created problems

Yeah, I hear you. I come from an mixed family myself and so does my father -although my paternal grandfather and grandmother both are Arabs and from Sunni families. My mother is a mixture as well although both sides of her family are Catholics. My mother converted to Islam when she married my father and have been an happy Muslim ever since so the issue of religion and family relations between the two sides of my family have never been a problem.

I think mixed marriages can work but I do at the same time also acknowledge that it in many cases can be problematic. I guess it depends on the families and way of upbringing. Yes, I like that as well. It's about time that our women play a role in our society on all levels. They deserve it more than anyone else. But in our Arab and Islamic culture it's always the father's family so it should not really be an issue although times have changed. My impression is that this is still the case in current day marriages between sects in Iraq. Albeit under a new dimension as you say.

[Spin Cycle]

Originally Posted by haymaker

I think the problem today is Iraqi women these days have more of a say. Like you can see women in all the workplaces including oil fields and women driving around Basra even teenage girls together driving in a car. In Jazear district i saw a teenage girl driving a FG Cruiser. Anyways my point is back then, in sunni shia marriages the guy used to know we he stood. Like for example im a shia ..if i marry a sunni girl the kids are sure to end up shia because im the man, but today as women have become empowered, these things are left to debate so it has created problems

I sympathise, however, this is inevitable. If we give women the same legal freedoms as men (which we certainly should), then all that separates women from men is biology and culture. Biology won't change but culture inevitably will, and Iraq women will gradually become more like their Syrian and Jordanian counterparts, all of whom will ultimately become much more like western women.

I believe social attitudes of men will change as well. They will be much more accepting and, let's say, pussy-whipped than they have been in the past.

EDIT: btw, you guys know that Egyptian girl who showed herself naked? Her boyfriend is proud of her. Please someone kill me before Iraqi men become like this Egyptofag.

[haymaker]

Yes a good proportion of them already drive cars and that signifies independence. What we will see next is women shopping alone in malls when infrastructure and economic prospects increase in the country which is sure to happen.
You can also see that Iraqi women have become more selective when 10 years ago anyone that would want to marry was seen as an opportunity and in most cases the first guy to ask for her hand would marry the woman. Now she wants looks and job prospects and house lol.

[sheytanElKebir]

The growing tension between Baghdad and Ankara is not good. History shows that political instability and tension are bad for business. This is especially true in our region, where there are no neighboring market economies. In this neighborhood, you need to be on good terms with countries’ capitals in order to access their markets.

In 1991, the first Bush administration cut off Turkish access to Iraqi markets when it launched Operation Desert Storm, which we remember today as the first Gulf War. At that time, Iraq was our second-largest trading partner after Germany, and was seen as a having great potential for growth. It was very much like a natural hinterland or extension of the Turkish market. Turkish construction companies were especially keen on future projects across the border and saw it as a gateway to the Middle East. That potential crashed to zero overnight.

The second American operation with the second Bush administration has changed the status quo. The Iraqi transit route is halfway open. We leave goods at the border city of Zakho to be distributed further. Trade figures have started to increase again. In 2010, Iraq became our fourth-largest export destination. In the first half of 2012, export figures between Iraq and Turkey have increased about 37 percent. There is potential for the figure to go beyond 10 billion dollars, reaching about 10 percent of total Turkish exports. That’s not bad, considering that Turkey’s other major trade bloc – the European Union – is still mired in crisis. Turkish construction companies are also very active in Iraq. Just in 2012, the total value of new construction projects undertaken by Turkish companies in Iraq has reached one billion dollars. It just so happens that all of these 14 projects are in southern Iraq, where the population is mostly Shiite. Business, it seems, is refreshingly sectarian-blind.

With all this in mind, the recent tension with the Iraqi government could not have come at a more inopportune time. With Syria in flames now for a while, Iraq was Turkey’s only gateway to the south. The heated back and forth between Ankara and Baghdad, however, has led to a search for yet another alternative. The route to Aqaba in Jordan, from Mersin through Port Said in Egypt, looks increasingly problematic, with growing radical Islamist terrorist activity in the Sinai. The port of Haifa is automatically becoming a favored route, despite our icy relations with Israel. Somehow, though, when it comes to Israel, it is always business as usual.

Why rattle relations with Iraq now, you may ask? Details are available in a new TEPAV report: It is oil, Kurdish oil. When it comes to Iraq, it is still hard to explain that private companies in Turkey are first and foremost just that, private companies. But it was inevitable that the capitals would get involved, as they usually do in our neighborhood.

[sheytanElKebir]

WASHINGTON — When President Obama announced last month that he was barring a Baghdad bank from any dealings with the American banking system, it was a rare acknowledgment of a delicate problem facing the administration in a country that American troops just left: for months, Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program.

The little-known bank singled out by the United States, the Elaf Islamic Bank, is only part of a network of financial institutions and oil-smuggling operations that, according to current and former American and Iraqi government officials and experts on the Iraqi banking sector, has provided Iran with a crucial flow of dollars at a time when sanctions are squeezing its economy.

The Obama administration is not eager for a public showdown with the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki over Iran just eight months after the last American troops withdrew from Baghdad.

Still, the administration has held private talks with Iraqi officials to complain about specific instances of financial and logistical ties between the countries, officials say, although they do not regard all trade between them as illegal or, as in the case of smuggling, as something completely new. In one recent instance, when American officials learned that the Iraqi government was aiding the Iranians by allowing them to use Iraqi airspace to ferry supplies to Syria, Mr. Obama called Mr. Maliki to complain. The Iranian planes flew another route.

In response to questions from The New York Times, David S. Cohen, the Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, provided a written statement saying that Iran “may seek to escape the force of our financial sanctions through Iraqi financial institutions.” But he added that “we will pursue, and are actively pursuing, efforts to prevent Iran from evading U.S. or international financial sanctions, in Iraq or anywhere else.”

Some current and former American and Iraqi officials, along with banking and oil experts, say that Iraqi government officials are turning a blind eye to the large financial flows, smuggling and other trade with Iran. In some cases, they say, government officials, including some close to Mr. Maliki, are directly profiting from the activities.

“Maliki’s government is right in the middle of this,” said one former senior American intelligence official who now does business in Iraq.

In announcing that he was “cutting off” Elaf Islamic Bank, Mr. Obama said it had “facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks that are subject to sanctions for their links to Iran’s illicit proliferation activities.”

But the treatment the bank has received in Baghdad since it was named by Mr. Obama suggests that the Iraqi government is not only allowing companies and individuals to circumvent the sanctions but also not enforcing penalties for noncompliance.

Iraqi banking experts said last week that the bank was still allowed to participate in the Iraq Central Bank’s daily auction at which commercial banks can sell Iraqi dinars and buy United States dollars. These auctions are a crucial pathway for Iranian access to the international financial system. Western officials say that Iran seeks to bolster its reserves of dollars to stabilize its exchange rates and pay for imports.

Iraqi and American officials with knowledge of Iraqi banking practices say Iranian customers are able to move large amounts of cash through the auction, and from there into banks in regional financial centers like Dubai, United Arab Emirates, or Amman, Jordan, and then into the international banking system.

Mudher Salih, the central bank governor, said in an interview that Elaf Islamic Bank was being allowed back into the auction because Elaf officials had denied any wrongdoing. “Elaf Bank is attending the auctions, and they are telling us that they didn’t violate the law, and saying that they didn’t deal with any Iranian institutes,” Mr. Salih said.

While Iraq has tried to impose more stringent reporting requirements that might pick up illegal transfers, officials with knowledge of the Iraqi banking industry say that banks, hawala houses, an unofficial global network of money-traders, and their Iranian customers are finding ways around them, often by forging documents that make it look as if the money transfers are to finance legitimate trade between Iraq and other countries.

Thanks to Iraq’s growing oil revenue, the Iraqi central bank has about $60 billion in foreign exchange reserves, held in accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with which to meet the insatiable demand for dollars. But the new flight of dollars out of Iraq is prompting criticism of the central bank and of the Iraqi government.

The accusations of high-level Iraqi government involvement in sanctions-busting have roiled Iraqi politics and invariably reflect on Mr. Maliki, since many Iraqi officials now say that he has taken effective control of the Iraqi central bank, which is nominally independent.

“We want to question the central bank and the banks that are involved,” Ali al-Sachri, a member of Parliament, said in an interview. Mr. Salih acknowledged the huge dollar transfers and said that they threatened the economic stability of Iraq by depleting the country’s foreign reserves. He said that “in order to prevent the economy from collapsing, we should put an end to this illegal flow of dollars outside Iraq.”

He said the large-scale money laundering was probably being helped by “some corruption that requires the government to investigate,” but he defended the actions of the central bank, saying that it does “not have the capability to watch everything.”

Several American and Iraqi banking and government officials also say that Iranian organizations have gained effective control over at least four Iraqi commercial banks through Iraqi intermediaries. That gives Iran direct access to the international financial system, supposedly denied to Tehran by the economic sanctions. Even as the United States has moved to tighten the vise against Iran this summer, the Maliki government has openly sought to enhance its already deep economic and political ties with Iran. Trade between Iraq and Iran, which fought a costly war from 1980 to 1988, has been growing rapidly ever since the American-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and it is now estimated to be as high as $11 billion a year. Among other openly acknowledged forms of trade, Iraq has contracts to buy large amounts of electrical power from Iran.

Just last week, an Iraqi delegation that includes the deputy prime minister and top officials from the ministries of finance and trade and the central bank met in Tehran with their Iranian counterparts for talks about further increasing economic ties.

An Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said in a telephone interview that Iraq “is not intending to break any rules,” but added that “we also have good relations with Iran that we do not want to break.”

This year, Iraqi officials publicly expressed concerns that their large volume of trade with Iran might place them in violation of the sanctions on Iran, and they said they would seek a sanctions waiver. After those public statements, American officials privately told the Maliki government that Iraq would not be found to be in violation of the new Iran sanctions because of its publicly acknowledged cross-border trade, according to a former senior United States official.

Whatever help Iraq has given Iran, the sanctions have put considerable pressure on Tehran. Iran’s oil exports have dropped by about 40 percent because of the latest round of sanctions, while Iraq’s own oil production has been surging. American officials say that if aiding Iran was a priority of the Iraqi government, Baghdad would not be so eagerly ramping up oil production to fill the void left by Iran.

Still, clandestine trade, including large-scale smuggling of oil and oil products, has been increasing, and the Iraqi government has done little to stop a highly organized effort that frequently provides financial benefits to Iraqi political parties and powerful political leaders, according to American and Iraqi oil traders and experts.

Iraqi fuel oil, acquired by smuggling operations with close connections to political leaders at extremely low prices with the help of government subsidies, is being smuggled from Iraq through Kurdistan and into Iran. From Iran it is smuggled once again, with some going to Afghanistan, where the cheap fuel is resold at a large profit. American and Iraqi oil experts say they believe that at least some Iranian oil is finding its way to Iraqi ports for export.


James Risen reported from Washington, and Duraid Adnan from Baghdad.

[BigDreamer]

intersting..

obama's giving a small hint to Baghdad to watch their steps when it comes to iran..

[sheytanElKebir]

Iranian IOEC to develop Arvand shared oilfield

Date: Saturday, August 18, 2012
Source: IranOilGas.com

The contract to develop Arvand shared oilfield with Iraq was signed between Arvandan Oil and Gas Production Co. and Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Co. (IOEC) today 18th August 2102.

Arvand oilfield is located in the Southwest of Iran in Khuzestan province and estimated to house 0.5-1 Bln bbls of oil in place, about 150 Mln bbls of which is recoverable.

Based on this EPC contract, worth $135 Mln, IOEC is expected to produce 5,000 bpd of light crude oil (39-43 API) in early production stage (EPS) of the field.

Stating that the EPS of this field is foreseen to take 18 months, Salbali Karimi managing director of Arvandan Oil and Gas Production Co. said: “This field, which is shared with Iraq, is expected to have 5,000 bpd of crude oil output at its early production stage and to reach15,000 -20,000 bpd in the next stage.”

[Sinjar]

Is the share is going to be 50/50 or based on which side they produce on?

[Sinjar]

Iraq rejects report it is helping Iran avoid sanctions

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq on Monday said its trade and financial ties with Iran were in compliance with international law, rejecting a report it was helping its neighbor get around U.S. and European sanctions imposed because of Tehran's nuclear program.

The U.S. government in December signed a law imposing sanctions on financial institutions dealing with Iran's central bank, the main channel for its oil revenues and the European Union has also announced a ban on Iranian oil shipments.

The New York Times reported at the weekend that Iraq has helped Iran skirt sanctions on Tehran, using financial institutions and oil-smuggling operations that are providing Iran with a crucial flow of dollars.

The newspaper, citing sources in Washington, current and former American and Iraqi officials and banking and oil experts, said Washington has privately complained to Iraqi officials about financial and logistical ties between Baghdad and Tehran.

"Iraq is not involved in any practices violating international laws," said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's media advisor Ali al-Moussawi. "Iraq has been allowed to deal with Iran as have many other countries."

Moussawi said Iraq did not have a formal waiver from Washington on sanctions on Iran - something Baghdad considered earlier this year because of its high trade with Iran and to protect its foreign reserves from penalties - but he said its current economic ties were not in violation of sanctions.

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government has moved closer to Tehran since the 2003 invasion and Iran is now Iraq's main trade partner after neighboring Turkey. Tehran said last year it planned to boost bilateral trade to $10 billion in 2011 from $6 billion in 2010.

Iraq in February said it was considering seeking a waiver on Iran's sanctions.

Under the U.S. law, Washington can exempt institutions in a country that has significantly reduced its dealings with Iran and in situations where a waiver is in the interest of U.S. national security or necessary for energy market stability.

Iraq has $60 billion in foreign reserves, most of which are generated by its oil revenues. Countries and companies trading with Iran risk being barred from the U.S. financial system under the terms of the sanctions. London-based bank Standard Chartered Plc had to reach a $340 million settlement with New York regulators last week over transactions linked to Iran.

Iran provides Iraq with fuel and electricity for its domestic market as well as food, construction materials, petrochemicals and medical equipment. Iran has invested heavily as part of Iraq's post-war reconstruction.

(Reporting by Baghdad newsroom; Editing by Susan Fenton)

[sheytanElKebir]

BAGHDAD — Top US military officer General Martin Dempsey insisted during a quick trip to Iraq that Washington was still playing an important role there, eight months after the last American troops departed.
Dempsey met with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and army chief of staff Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari during a six-hour stop, becoming the highest-ranking American to visit Iraq since the December 2011 pullout.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an interview with AFP that Iraq was now a sovereign state, on an equal footing with the United States, a remark completely removed from the 2003 American-led invasion.

“We still retain significant investment and significant influence. But now it’s on the basis of a partnership and not on the basis of ownership,” Dempsey, who served in Iraq as a commander during the war that toppled Saddam Hussein, said before landing in Baghdad.

Clad in a formal military dress uniform instead of the combat fatigues worn during the war years, Dempsey stressed that he came to build a dialogue with his Iraqi counterparts and not to make demands.

After a 90-minute meeting with Maliki, Dempsey later told reporters the two discussed the conflict in neighbouring Syria, Iraq’s interest in expanding training with US forces and the purchase of American military hardware, including radar, air defence weaponry and equipment to bolster border security.

After flying over the bustling Iraqi capital by helicopter, Dempsey said he was struck by the air of “normalcy” compared to a few years ago when he served during a raging war with insurgents.

“Only eight months out, and it seems to me that they’ve gripped the opportunity for now that we hoped they would grip,” he said en route back to Washington.

Although Iraq still faced daunting challenges, Dempsey said the country could eventually serve as a democratic model for the rest of the Middle East, which has been shaken by popular uprisings since early 2011.

Since the departure of American combat troops, however, Iraq has witnessed a protracted political stalemate, while several deadly attacks have underscored gaps in safety here despite US and Iraqi officials’ insistence that local forces are able to maintain security.

Dempsey arrived from Afghanistan, where his C-17 aircraft was damaged by an insurgent rocket attack on the tarmac overnight at Bagram air base, forcing the general to use another plane for his trip to the Iraqi capital.

Asked by AFP about the rocket attack at Bagram, Dempsey smiled and shrugged, saying perhaps it was a “lucky shot” by the Taleban.

Washington is carrying out $12 billion worth of arms and training contracts in Iraq, with the first batch of 36 F-16 fighter jets set to be delivered in September 2014.

Iraqi officials have said that while the country’s police and army are capable of ensuring internal security, they will not be able to fully defend the country’s borders, waters or airspace before 2020.

Iraq’s ability to maintain order has come under question, however, as violence remains high here — 409 people were killed in attacks over the holy month of Ramadan.

Iraqi officials have repeatedly warned that Al-Qaeda fighters were likely crossing the 600-kilometre (375-mile) border with Syria, and have bolstered border security.

They have also denied helping Iran skirt international sanctions, insisting that any relations with the Islamic republic were public and transparent.

Dempsey acknowledged Iran’s influence in Iraq but rejected some analysts’ suggestions that Baghdad was now firmly within Tehran’s orbit at the expense of the United States.

[Sinjar]

Syria:



Jordan:

[Sinjar]

A need to revise Iraq’s Foreign Policy

Repercussions of the inflamed fighting in Syria will also influence future Iraqi-Syrian relations

By Mohammad Akef Jamal | Special to Gulf News | Published:August 25, 2012

Both Iraq and Syria are of great political and economic importance in drawing policies and devising power equations in the Middle East. Their bilateral relationship has special importance which as they affect each other’s policies. This relationship is also important to Iraq because Syrian policies affect its economic circumstances. The two rivers that irrigate Iraq — the Tigris and Euphrates — pass through Syria. The geographical and social closeness of the two countries give the relationship a new dimension. On the other hand, both countries are diverse in their ethnic, sectarian, and religious realms, hence the similarities in their internal crises and problems.

These similarities, instead of drawing both countries closer, have resulted in conflicting policies as though the historical and blood-drenched differences between the Amawids and Abbasids are still alive in the eyes of decision-makers at the presidential palaces in Baghdad and Damascus.

In the past few decades, the differences between Baghdad and Damascus have arisen from issues that relate to political leadership, one that attracts public opinion and strengthens its position as an Arab and regional leader.

Iraq’s stand on the Syrian uprising raises concerns regarding the future of bilateral relations. The outstanding feature of this stand is vagueness and instability. Spectators have seen contradictions between the stand of the Iraqi foreign ministry and that of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. There is also an acute difference in the stands of Baghdad and Arbil.

During the 22nd Foreign Ministers conference in Doha in July, Iraq expressed its reservations regarding the Arab League’s call to the Security Council to intervene in Syria according to the UN Charter’s Chapter Seven. However, Iraq stood with the international community at the UN General Assembly on August 3, when it denounced the Syrian regime and called for the transfer of power.

Following that, Iraq attended the 9th Tehran meeting for Syria’s friends, which even Lebanon, a country very close to Syria, refused to attend. Iraq’s decision not to allow Syrian refugees into the country was surprising. It was followed by the government’s acceptance to receive the same refugees after it was pressurised by the Iraqi people and the international community. Moreover, the statements made by key Iraqi officials were also contradictory as Iraq does not have a unified opinion or policy regarding the Arab Spring.

At the official level, Al Maliki was never sympathetic to the Arab Spring because he felt that his government was threatened in the light of the fragile political situation in Iraq. Al Maliki had also expressed on several occasions his reservations regarding the developments in a number of Arab capitals; he alluded to this in his speech about Syria, without naming it, on August 12.

Al Maliki said Iraq was part of an inflamed area, and that the fires are either set by ignorant individuals or foreign interests. The fear expressed by Al Maliki of the ‘fires in Syria’ is justified as sparks may easily reach Iraq and beyond. However, Al Maliki’s reading of the situation in Syria is not objective. All indications show that the Syrian regime is about to collapse and adopting a hesitant stand is not in the interest of Iraq because it will mean additional regional and international isolation.

A stand supporting the Syrian people is an important issue for Iraq and it provides an excellent occasion for Iraq to announce its return as a pivotal Arab state in the Middle East with an independent free stand, free from external political influence.

It is in Iraq’s interest to have good relations with the new government that will emerge in Syria once Bashar Al Assad is toppled.

The fighting in Syria will not just affect the country’s future, but the repercussions are bound to impact future Iraqi-Syrian relations.

Iraq has had its share of misery as a result of the porous Syrian borders crossed by terrorists to carry out their lethal operations in Iraq. Therefore, it is not in its interest of Iraq to have a repeat of the situation.

On the other hand, Iraq’s stand on the Syrian crisis raises questions regarding its national security policy.

National security can be achieved by objectively foreseeing the future of the region and accordingly devising appropriate policies to generate good neighbourly relations instead of creating enemies of governments next door.

Dr Mohammad Akef Jamal is an Iraqi writer based in Dubai.

[Sinjar]

Kuwait Gets $3.66b UN ‘Compensation’ - Iraqi Invasion Damages

KUWAIT, Sept 3, (KUNA): Chairman of the Public Authority for Assessment of Compensation for Damages Resulting from the Iraqi Invasion Khaled Al-Mudhaf announced here on Monday that the amount of compensation received in 2011 amounted to USD 3.66 billion, the highest throughout the authority’s work period.

Al-Mudhaf said in a speech on the occasion of the release of the authority’s annual report for 2011 that last year had been excellent in terms of continuation to receive compensation amounts transferred from the United Nations Compensations Fund to Kuwait.

He added that the Authority is still implementing its orientations for the current and future phases on the axis of continuing to receive and disburse approved compensation and the creation of a database of claims and related statistics to be a reference for researchers both locally and internationally.

He added that turning the authority’s paper archives of the Kuwaiti claims files to an electronic archive within the e-government portal is another axis.

[haiderpass]

sam u za8nabut ibgalubhum inshalla

[sheytanElKebir]

belongs in the "kicking iraq when its down" thread...