Iraq's Maliki threatens to cut funds if Kurds pipe oil to Turkey

[Lodestar]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened on Sunday to cut Kurdistan's share of the federal budget if the autonomous region exports oil to Turkey via a new pipeline without central government consent.

The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow to Turkey and exports were expected to start at the end of this month and then rise in February and March.

"This is a constitutional violation which we will never allow, not for the (Kurdistan) region nor for the Turkish government," Maliki told Reuters in an interview.

He reiterated Baghdad's insistence that only the central government has the authority to manage Iraq's energy resources.

"Turkey must not interfere in an issue that harms Iraqi sovereignty," Maliki said.

Cont'd



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/12/us-iraq-kurdistan-oil-idUSBREA0B0AY20140112

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Uh oh.... Turkey is going to lose their neutral status in that region which could throw their delicate balancing act off and ignite an already volatile situation.

My previous post in GD gives a little more background:

Independent sale of Kurdistan oil could "break Iraq apart" ---
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024281425

[polly7]

1. Wasn't this the plan all along though, to divide Iraq up into oil-friendly producing states? nt.

[Lodestar]

2. Not sure what the original plan included although oil and gas were central to our 'invasion' of Iraq

And it's very interesting that some factions within the U.S. are suddenly making 'noises' about possibly returning to
Iraq just as this pipeline situation heats up. .
Their reason? Well Al qaeda of course.

And we are being friendly with Iran who is part of this pipeline deal and has been cooperative

[another_liberal]

3. If any Americans want to return to Iraq . . .

I say good riddance, let them go. If they want to return to Iraq and fight for Maliki's government, let them do so as private citizens and on their own dollar. I doubt, though, that they will be very warmly received.

[Lodestar]

4. Corporations are employing their own armies (mercenaries) these days...

I think that trend will continue though it opens up a whole can of worms regarding U.S. foreign policy, etc.

[another_liberal]

5. Better some mega-corp should lose it's people and money chasing "Terrorists."

Last edited Mon Jan 13, 2014, 08:12 AM - Edit history (1)

The American taxpayers and their military are sick of doing that job for them. Let the CEO of Chevron be charged with war crimes, if he wants to kill people so badly.

[Lodestar]

6. Might be a good idea to think that idea through a bit more thoroughly...

I would rather we find a way to wean ourselves off oil/gas and make changes to our foreign policies close alliance
with corporate interests.

I see all kinds of problems and conflicts of interest with corporate use of their own armies although it's been going on for some
time covertly.

[AdHocSolver]

7. The Kurds making independent oil deals undermines the ability of oil companies to set prices.

This is the main reason the U.S. invaded Iraq. Saddam Hussein was making deals independent of OPEC's and Big Oil's control, so the oil companies had to make an example of him for not kowtowing to oil company and OPEC direction.

Basic economics: Oil prices are manipulated by controlling supply relative to demand. To increase the price of a product, reduce the supply and force those who need the product to pay extra to get the limited amount put up for sale.

Normally, we encounter this fact in that companies advertise their products to increase demand relative to supply, and then companies increase production to meet the demand.

Too much supply relative to demand drives prices down. By outsourcing so many jobs to China and elsewhere, the corporations reduce the number of jobs relative to the number of workers looking for jobs, so that workers will compete against each other by agreeing to work for less pay and poorer working conditions.

Worker pay drops due to the reduced number of jobs available even if the jobs go to countries with higher paid workers.

This is another reason the TPP trade agreement is so bad. It provides the corporations the ability to ship jobs anywhere to debase pay and working conditions in any country that is a signatory to the agreement, even if that country has a reasonably high wage scale to start with.

That is, the TPP trade agreement will allow companies to effectively increase the number of workers applying for any job within the trade group. ALL workers within the countries in the trade group will lose their bargaining ability.