Iraqi News Highlights Monday Evening 10-17-22
Iraqi News Highlights Monday Evening 10-17-22
Tlm724 Administrator Bondlady’s Corner
Oil Signed A Contract With China's Cnooc To Study The Onshore Part Of The Offshore Area In The Gulf
10/17/2022 5 Earth News/ The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil for Extraction Affairs, Karim Hattab, confirmed today, Monday, the ministry's keenness to develop land and sea exploratory patches to increase the country's oil and gas reserves.
This came during his presence on behalf of Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, the signing ceremony to prepare a study on the offshore exploration area between the Oil Exploration Company and the Middle East Cinoc and Iraq China.
In a statement received by Earth News, Hattab said, “Today we celebrate together the signing of a joint study contract for the land part of the offshore patch in the Gulf, between the Oil Exploration Company, one of the leading national companies in this field, and Cinoc Iraq and the Middle East, as this contract is an important step for developing The marine exploratory patch in the Gulf, which is the first joint exploratory study experience in the territorial waters.
The agent added that "the ministry is keen to develop and invest in joint border fields, land or sea and in regional waters, despite the various challenges,"
stressing that "the ministry has worked to attract international companies to cooperate, work and joint investment to develop the national oil industry."
And he added, "The ministry affirms its full confidence in the national effort and in the company SINOOC Iraq and the Middle East to complete this study and reach positive results, which contribute to strengthening the oil reserves of oil wealth."
The Director General of the Oil Exploration Company, Ali Jassim, said,
“The Oil Exploration Company, which represents one of the arms of the national effort, was able to achieve important steps in the field of exploration through the spread of seismic teams in many regions of Iraq and conducting surveys for vast areas of our dear country, including the Western Desert. In Anbar Governorate, Tal Afar in Nineveh Governorate, Muthanna, Maysan, Basra, and others.”
Pointing to "the ministry's continuous support for the work of seismic teams, which work with the latest devices, equipment, mechanisms and advanced technology in this field, believing in maximizing the guaranteed reserves of oil and gas."
The General Manager of Cinoc Middle East and Iraq, "Vincent Shih," said that
"the contract to conduct a joint study of the Arabian Gulf area, which was signed, represents a start to build cooperative relations of a new type between Iraq and Cinoc.
The Iraqi side in this project is keen on close cooperation to achieve positive results and deepen exploratory operations,”
noting that “this cooperative relationship will contribute to the development of the oil industry in Iraq, and create a new situation for cooperation in the field of oil and gas between China and Iraq in a way that achieves the common interests of both parties.”
Shih added, “Futureful results have been achieved thanks to the joint efforts made by both parties.
Today, we are proud to announce the signing of a bilateral seismic survey services contract for the onshore part of the patch with the Oil Exploration Company, and that
CNOC announces its readiness to deal with all difficult situations in cooperation. With the Ministry of Oil, Maysan Oil Company and all partners.
It is noteworthy that the joint research agreement for the Gulf region was signed in 2019 and included conducting exploratory operations for the land and sea parts, where the land part is 120 km² and the marine part is 530 km².
This contract comes as a prelude to the comprehensive development operations of the onshore and offshore part of the offshore patch, which the Ministry aims to maximize oil and gas reserves.
After The Second Largest Theft In The Country's History, An Invitation To Establish A Court For The History Of Oil In Modern Iraq
Monday, 10-17-2022, Am 1:27 Karar Al Asadi 164 Written by: Emad Abdel Latif Salem
On the occasion of the discovery of the second largest theft in the modern history of Iraq, worth 3.7 trillion dinars (2.5 billion dollars) from the trust account of the General Authority for Taxation in the Rafidain Bank..
A call for the establishment of a court for the history of oil.. in modern Iraq
Some dreams are very simple and achievable, for example: establishing a court for the history of oil in modern Iraq.
A court in whose cages we put, and through which we prosecute, all political systems, and all “personal” and societal entities - “material” and “moral”, which have successively controlled oil rents, and the management of oil revenues, so that they are held accountable and accountable for every penny and cent for every cent. By spending it from it.. since the first drop of oil flowed over the soil of Iraq (in 1927) and until this moment.
Establishing a court for the history of oil in modern Iraq..not here..but in other countries that respect themselves, and respect such issues, topics, and preoccupations.
A court that completes its investigation papers. It is not politicians who are thieves, nor cult kings, nor war merchants, nor intrusive “contractors” at the tables of these mean people..
Rather, professional researchers and those interested in this matter..believe that this case is part of their personal concern and their knowledge function. Their academic effort, and their noble fatigue, are free from any ambiguous goal, utilitarian goal, or serving interests.
The "criminals" against Iraq are not only those who committed war crimes, genocides, or crimes against humanity... but those who used oil rents to produce (and reproduce) tyrants, thieves and murderers. Those who have indulged our money and our blood, violated our dignity, waste our land and our resources, and squandered a hundred years of development, prosperity and civilisation.
These are the ones who should be put in "cages" and retroactively charged.
It concerns the long-term ruin that does not fall with the passage of time, nor is it forgotten complicity with those who squandered the chances of a dream of a better life, in this country full of bounties, capabilities and talents.
All the roots of our present ruin have been watered and nurtured by reckless government spending that lacks efficiency, discipline, and sound economic calculation.
The "archive" of public spending (for every penny, cent, fils, dinar, pound and dollar) of Iraq's "lavish" budgets... has not been destroyed or gone away yet.
As for what gives “immunity” from accountability and prevents going to the courts, it is the realization of those who committed wasteful crimes that no one has the courage now to turn over books, restrictions, accounts, and pains, in this oppressed, overwhelmed country.
Thus, these "novice" thieves left everything as they were, because they did not know that the "financial data" had an unbreakable memory and an unbreakable cipher.
By deluding us that they are "strong"... Legions of villains took turns to "plunder" us in the successive, rapid, and short-lived stages of our decline. Thus, the names, systems, and creeds differed, while the determination of our fate remained subject to the most dark, oppressive, and backward forces in this world.
And when the pleading ends, the pens are lifted, the Qur’an dries up, and the years of embers have cooled, perhaps we will have set our feet on the right path towards achieving some measure of justice for the victims... and some just retribution for those who became (inadvertently) our guardians for a century of death. Darkness and absurdity.
When the pleading is over, we will read their names one by one.
Some of them..we will restore their esteem..and commend what they have done and accomplished..and correct the inequities of history and the injustices of false facts.
And some of them..we will disgrace them..by all possible means. https://www.non14.net/public/151679
1.7 Billion Went To The Pockets Of The Corrupt .. Al-Moussawi Reveals A New Corruption File In Diyala (video) https://youtu.be/xtTO1QP2gi0 Policy- 10-16-2022 10:52 PM - Number of readings: 8098
https://www.dijlah.tv/index.php?page=article&id=318748
The Deadly Greed Of Iraq’s Elite
Report Iraq 2022-10-01 00:29 Shafaq News/ On December 9, 2017, the prime minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, said:
‘We have accomplished a very difficult mission. Our heroes have reached the final strongholds of Daesh [Islamic State] and purified it.’
Many argued that this moment, following the defeat of the last remnants of Islamic State in Iraq, would usher in a rebuilding and ‘post-conflict’ stage for the country.
Though the threat of Islamic State has receded, five years on Iraq is still mired in conflict, with no end in sight.
The deadly fallout from October 2021
The spasm of direct political violence at the end of August 2022 caught the attention of the world.
But its roots lie in less apparent unresolved conflict dynamics in Iraq that are just as deadly to its citizens, and that current stabilization efforts will not improve.
In the most recent escalation, protesters and militia members linked to the populist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr invaded Baghdad’s Green Zone – a fortified area which houses Iraq’s government buildings and international representations.
The clashes with security officials led to more than 30 deaths.
Their armed opponents, linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), sent followers to stage a counter protest, leading some to warn that the country was again on the brink of civil war.
That episode was the latest in the fallout from the election of October 2021.
Though the Sadrists emerged victorious in that ballot, they bucked the custom of forming a consensus government with the main Shia, Kurdish and Sunni parties.
Instead, Sadr pushed to establish a ‘majority government’ that included the dominant Kurdish and Sunni parties but excluded his powerful Shia opponents, Nouri al-Maliki, the former prime minister, and parts of the Popular Mobilization Forces.
When the attempt by the Sadrists to form a government failed, they decided to pull out of parliament.
Their Shia opponents saw an opportunity and with the Kurdish and Sunni parties moved to create a government without Sadr.
Sensing his mistake, Sadr sent followers to invade Iraq’s parliament to prevent any political process without him, leading to clashes with government forces and his Shia rivals and dozens of casualties in Baghdad.
Since 2003, a number of Iraqi and foreign leaders have declared military victories in the country.
The first was pronounced by George W Bush, the US President, only six weeks after the invasion, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a banner reading ‘Mission accomplished’.
Each subsequent US president has announced a victory and ushered in a ‘post-conflict’ phase.
Yet, almost two decades on, Iraq has never been free of conflict.
Structural violence linked to corruption in key sectors harms Iraqis every day.
From 2006 to 2014, for instance, the country lost an estimated $551 billion to corruption.
The ruling elite relies on politically sanctioned corruption through an ethno-sectarian power-sharing system – muhasasa – to benefit from Iraq’s wealth, with an annual budget that can reach $100 billion.
This revenue is meant to provide basic public services.
But corruption means that Iraqis don’t have enough electricity, many don’t have clean water and most medicine is past its sell-by date.
The result contributes to Iraq having one of the lowest life expectancies in the world.
As a result, most Iraqis remain disillusioned with the country’s elite and its political system.
With one of the region’s largest youth bulges – two-thirds of Iraq’s 42 million population are under 25 – the system is less able to accommodate the million or so who are born each year.
Hundreds of thousands of graduates struggle to find jobs. Many flee to Europe as migrants.
The elite’s patronage networks, largely established since 2003 and built from the country’s wealth, exclude this growing part of the population.
Consequently, more Iraqis have given up on the system.
Voter turnout has been plummeting with each subsequent election, hitting a mere 30 per cent in 2021.
Two years earlier, in October 2019, young Iraqis across central and southern Iraq took to the streets to protest.
This movement, known as Thawrat Tishreen – Arabic for October Revolution – did not call for the removal of a specific leader or party but instead for revolution against the system.
They chanted: ‘We will never back off. No way. Let all parties hear us.’
Since elections only reinforced the toxic political order, its followers refused to vote and instead insisted that protest was the only way to be heard. Iraq’s ruling elite struggled to respond to Thawrat Tishreen.
They could no longer convince the electorate that they represented their ethnic, sectarian or other communities, or that they promoted democracy and reform. Nor could they provide economic benefits, namely public sector jobs.
Ideologically and economically bankrupt, Iraq’s elite and the political machinery turned to direct violence to suppress the movement, killing hundreds of protesters and wounding thousands more.
Since then, the system has continued to employ violence to minimize free speech and protest.
Someone familiar with this is Ahmed al-Bashir, the prominent Iraqi political satirist.
To continue producing his Albasheer Show on television and YouTube, which reaches millions of Iraqis, Bashir lives and works outside Iraq because of threats to his life. ‘In Iraq there is no longer free speech,’ he said at Chatham House’s annual Iraq Initiative conference last year.
Demographic realities and shrinking public authority have exacerbated intra-elite fragmentation.
One speaker close to the Sadrist movement has stated that Sadr wants none of the former leaders to be able to participate in elections or government formation.
Sadr’s attempt to form a majority government after his 2021 electoral victory was his solution to the crisis and a bid to regain some ideological power with his base and the wider, disenfranchised population.
Following its failure and this summer’s violence, the Sadrists seem unwilling to play by the rules of the game and form another consensus government.
In response, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Iraq, has struggled to bring together the elite, including Sadr and Nouri al-Maliki, to reach a consensus government to combat the direct violence.
Following the clashes in August, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued a statement that ‘Iraqis cannot be held hostage to an unpredictable and untenable situation.’
However, Iraqis have not only been held hostage to the recent violent clashes, they have been hostages of the political order put in place after 2003, when the US-led coalition worked with returning exiled Iraqi political parties to establish muhasasa.
Since then, this ruling elite has acquired its wealth and power through corruption.
Iraq’s political system has proved resistant to both grassroots revolutionary protest and attempts at manipulation by its elite.
In their current efforts at stabilization, both Iraqi and international actors are again focusing on a short-term settlement within the elite.
Their solution is to limit the direct violence that erupted this summer in the hope that this will lead to change.
But such a settlement will not address the everyday conflict consuming Iraqis.
Instead, it will reinforce the status quo and once again ignore the dynamics of structural violence, which will continue to take the larger toll of lives.
https://shafaq.com/en/Report/The-deadly-greed-of-Iraq-s-elite
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