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| Iraq |
| Blood and Oil: Three cheers for Iraq's new hydrocarbon law |
| 2007-03-13 |
| By Christopher Hitchens The recent hydrocarbon law, approved after much wrangling by Iraq's council of ministers, deserves a great deal more praise than it has been receiving. For one thing, it abolishes the economic rationale for dictatorship in Iraq. For another, it was arrived at by a process of parley and bargain that, while still in its infancy, demonstrates the possibility of a cooperative future. For still another, it shames the oil policy of Iraq's neighbors and reinforces the idea that a democracy in Baghdad could still teach a few regional lessons. To illustrate my point by contrast: Can you easily imagine the Saudi government allocating oil revenues so as to give a fair share to the ground-down and despised Shiite workers who toil, for the most part, in the oil fields of the western region of the country? Or picture the Shiite dictatorship in Iran giving a fair shake to the Arab-speaking area of Khuzestan, let alone to the 10 percent of Iranians who are both Sunni and Kurdish? To ask these questions is to answer them. Control over the production and distribution of oil is the decisive factor in defining who rules whom in the Middle East. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 "The most apt characterization of socialism ever.....Privatization to corrupt elite." thats why any meaningful socialism can only occur in a democracy, and "socialism" in a dictatorship is not really socialism, but just a form of feudalism. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-03-13 17:46 |
| #3 quibble: "...the oil fields of the western region of the country..." Wrong. All of the Saudi oil is in the eastern region. |
| Posted by: Groluque Hupesing3980 2007-03-13 16:25 |
| #2 The most apt characterization of socialism ever.....Privatization to corrupt elite. Think about Oil for Food scandal as the UN being an extension of the International...ie the communist party, where the bought and paid for political appointees take control of all resources, making every one associated with the administration of resources rich while everyone else is supposed to throw accolades to them for thier fairness.....what a sham; all corruption all the time courtesy of those whose skills at the trough are what qualifies them as kings.. |
| Posted by: Crusomp Angagum2401 2007-03-13 14:17 |
| #1 The most apt characterization of socialism ever.....Privatization to corrupt elite. Think about Oil for Food scandal as the UN being an extension of the International...ie the communist party, where the bought and paid for political appointees take control of all resources, making every one associated with the administration of resources rich while everyone else is supposed to throw accolades to them for thier fairness.....what a sham; all corruption all the time courtesy of those whose skills at the trough are what qualifies them as kings.. |
| Posted by: Crusomp Angagum2401 2007-03-13 14:16 |