Wednesday, 21 July 2010

Was it a tip off? It could be, but for what?

A well-known Kurdish figure suggested today that the latest New York Times report on smuggling crude and refined products from Iraq's self-ruled northern region of Kurdistan to Iran was a tip off from one of the two main parties to set a major blow to the other.

Hiwa Osman, the IWPR Iraq's country director, the son of the independent veteran Kurdish politician Mahmoud Osman and the former media adviser to the current Iraqi Kurdish president, Jalal Talbani said: "Although publicly the PUK and KDP say that they are united over this issue (oil) but in reality they are different. The recent New York Times report was apparently a tip off by one of the leading figures in one of the two ruling parties."

The animosities between PUK which is led by Talabani and KDP which is led by his rival Masoud Barzani dated back to decades ago and it reached its climax in the 1990s when the two embroiled in fierce clashes over land after the Gulf War which led to announce the three-province region as an off-limit zone to Saddam Hussein regime and enjoyed the international community protection.

The younger Osman also chastised the Kurds for not adopting a media policy that provides steady stream of information about their oil development plans and of course they can't because all the deals were awarded privately and none, inside or outside Iraq, heard anything about holding bidding rounds but instead they were awarded on no bid-basis and secretly.

I can agree with Osman's suggestion especially if we know that since Barham Salih took office as the regional Prime Minister in the second half of last year, he's been suffering with dealing with Barzani's party and his close aides mainly the region's Natural Resources Minister, Ashti Hawrami and this is something the New York Times has been mentioning in all their stories by its reporter Sam Dagher who was granted a residency in the region since early this year.

The question is what was the aim of bringing such matter to the surface by this official now? Is he only trying to smash his rival by showing how corrupt he is? Or is he trying to court the central government in Baghdad after March 7 national elections took the title away of post-Saddam era kingmakers from the Kurds?

kassakhoon@gmail.com

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love to read your blog. it is very interesting to me, and I'm sure other readers.
I work in foreign currency investments (forex) my manager forced me to read a lot
forex books
but it's very boring so I'm running here to read your blog .. :)

Kassakhoon said...

You are welcome!

網頁設計 said...

I am honored to wander your blog. Thousands of points can invite you to my blog to be exchanges. Thanks

網站設計 said...

I am honored to wander your blog.

抓姦 said...

you were fantastic! really that is great post, thanks very much.

偵探社 said...

you were fantastic! really that is great post, thanks very much.

尋人 said...

you were fantastic! really that is great post, thanks very much.

討債 said...

you were fantastic! really that is great post, thanks very much.

討債 said...

I am honored to wander your blog.

法律諮詢 said...

you were fantastic! really that is great post, thanks very much.

網頁設計 said...

Are pleased to come to your blog to read your article! Thank you for sharing!

抓姦 said...

Are pleased to come to your blog to read your article! Thank you for sharing!

偵探社 said...

Are pleased to come to your blog to read your article! Thank you for sharing!

尋人 said...

Are pleased to come to your blog to read your article! Thank you for sharing!

討債 said...

I would like to invite you to visit my blog.

討債 said...

Are pleased to come to your blog to read your article! Thank you for sharing!

法律諮詢 said...

Are pleased to come to your blog to read your article! Thank you for sharing!

網站設計 said...

Keep the faith, my Internet friend.

AdSense