Jean Gerard: Those So-Called Oil Contracts in IraqThe most recent report in the New York Times (7/3/07) says "Maliki's Cabinet Approves Oil Law Draft" and goes on to state that this means the Parliament can now begin to debate the proposed contracts. This is touted as "a major sign of progress" and will work "to boost reconciliation between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites." Without stating any particulars at all, the article denigrates the disagreements among Iraqi factions as "bickering" and states that negotiations have been "plagued by squabbling." Use of such prejudicial words minimizes the importance of the proposals at the same time it tells nothing about what those proposals are.
Broken Spring? : Information Clearing House This is a sequel to my June 2011 article, ‘After the spring’, on the upheavals in the Arab world. It is an article that has been painful to write, because it brings bad tidings and offers a pessimistic analysis of the upheavals, at least in the short term, in a number of Arab countries. The outcomes and potential outcomes of these uprisings have also acquired new, very significant dimensions. These include a complex entanglement with the accelerated preparations for a possible attack on Iran, and a poisonous, sectarian aspect that could have the consequence of ripping Syria and the Middle East apart.
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