NEW YORK TIMES: …The oil fleet is a costly gamble, to the tune of millions in fees each month, by Kurdish officials who are desperately trying to sell the oil abroad, even as the Iraqi government and the United States are blocking their attempts…
Fearing that Iraqi Kurdistan will use oil profits to fuel a bid for independence, the Iraqi government has threatened to sue any country or company that buys Kurdish oil, and has cut off national funding for the Kurdish region.
The Kurds have kept pumping oil anyway, betting that their American allies, who have pressured them to abide by the Iraqi oil law, will soften their stance, and that buyers will come forward. But as oil prices have plummeted, and as Iraq and the United States have refused to budge, the odds are getting longer by the day… (more)
EDITOR: The Kurds and the Israeli’s are perhaps the two most natural military allies we have in the region.
