By Shwan Zulal
Oilmen have often described Iraqi Kurdistan as the last unexplored on-shore frontier in the world. Since the region opened to petroleum developers after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, it has lived up to expectations of plenty. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated in 2007 that the Kurdistan reserves alone contained a median of over 45 billion barrels of oil... Read More
By Shwan Zulal
Published on Niqash
The Iraqi VP, accused of terrorism, has said he would be happy to face trial in Iraqi Kurdistan. This puts the Kurds in a difficult position. Can they act as mediators between opposing Iraqi parties? Or will they choose sides? As most Iraqi observers now know, the last US troops were barely out of Iraqi airspace when the delicate coalition government in Baghdad was hurtled into a serious political crisis. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked parliament to dismiss one of his three deputy prime ministers, Saleh al-Mutlaq, with a vote of no confidence and also issued an arrest warrant for one of Iraq’s two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi, on charges of terrorism... Read More
