No friends for Iraq
As this week’s Arab summit sidestepped Iraq ‘s quagmire, Iran and the United States were getting ready to
For months Iraq Iraq
National efforts to resolve the sectarian conflicts have failed as rival factions remained entrenched in their positions on a wide variety of disputes, primarily on power and wealth sharing.
This has prompted frustration among ordinary Iraqis who see the chances of defusing the situation peacefully shrink and ethno-sectarian struggle escalates and their country plunges deeper in violence.
So, can world and regional powers assemble enough diplomacy to guide the country out of its current impasse where Iraqis have failed?
An Arab summit in Kuwait this week has ignored the worsening situation in Iraq Iraq than other Middle East issues.
But surprisingly, the United States and Iran , the other foreign nation which is accused of muddling in Iraq
While Iran has sent its point man in Iraq , the United States dispatched its top diplomat on Iraqi affairs in what Baghdad media described as separate mediating efforts to solve Iraq
As the story goes the two emissaries managed, each in his own way, to head off further deterioration in the strained relationships between Iraq’s main communities, though there has been no talk about durable solutions to Iraq’s outstanding problems.
First, we read about a US
Under the agreement Iraqi Kurdistan will export crude via the country’s main oil marketing company, potentially removing a major obstacle in a dispute with the central government over oil export.
McGurk, who shuttled between Baghdad and Kurdistan in diplomacy, said his mission was part of the US commitments to Iraq under a Strategic Framework Agreement that cleared way to the US
The “US is proud to stand with the Iraqi people, equidistant from all political blocs, as neutral broker and facilitator where appropriate,” McGurk wrote on his twitter account on Saturday.
“The United States
Kurdistan Regional Government had insisted to take oil exports into its own hands through a pipeline it built bypassing the central government and.
But a statement following McGurk’s shuttling said it agreed to export 100,000 barrels of oil per day through the Iraqi pipeline network from 1 April “as a good will gesture” until the issue is solved.
Some media outlets also suggested that McGurk was engaged in mediation effort to end a four-month standoff in Iraq ‘s western province of Anbar
The US
As for Iran , Iraqi media outlets suggested that General Qasim Soleimani, Iran ‘s most influential intelligence official, visited Baghdad
Soleimani has reportedly succeeded in brokering a tentative truce between Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and other top Shia leaders who have engaged themselves in a nasty war of words in a highly polarized election campaign.
According to different accounts, Soleimani, who supervises Iranian foreign policy in Iraq
Tense relations between Al-Maliki and Shia leaders Amar Al-Hakim and Muqtada Al-Sadr have been further strained in recent months as Iraqis remain split over Al-Maliki’s attempts to bolster his chances for a third term.
Yet, the question remains whether McGurk and Soleiman were actually trying to provide a way out for Iraq or their initiatives were just part of their efforts to consolidate a détente between the two countries following Iran
Indeed, few Iraqis are convinced that Iran and the United States have enough good will to help Iraq
Many Iraqis fear that Iran and the United States
Iraqis who see their bickering leaders fail to end the bloodletting and heal a divided nation find the reports about the peace efforts by the two protagonists too good to be true.
The Arab-Kurdish schism is wider than could be bridged by flamboyant diplomacy or self-congratulatory tweets.
Soon after McGurk flew back to Washington Kurdish politicians resumed their criticism of Al-Maliki government over its policy toward Kurdistan . Many Kurdish MPs said they will continue boycotting the parliament over the budget dispute.
Relationship between Iraq’s semi-independent northern region and Baghdad have remained at low ebb since December when Kurdistan completed a 400,000 barrels a day pipeline which will allow the region to export oil independently through Turkey and Baghdad retaliated by cutting off the region’s revenues.
In one of his most scathing attacks against Kurds, Al-Maliki warned this week that Kurdistan can do alone with its oil.
“The Kurds had the illusion that they could control the oil in the north themselves. They believed that neighboring Turkey Kurdistan ‘s sponsor. On the contrary, they would devour the Kurds in one bite,” he told German Der Spiegel in an interview.
“Kurds only have a future as part of Iraq Iraq
Relationships between Kurds and Shia have taken a nose dive this week following the murder of a Shia journalist by a member of the Kurdish presidential guards.
Tensions rose at the scene of the murder after the shooting sparking ethnic fever with mourners and protesters shouting anti Kurds slogans.
Al-Maliki himself rushed to the scene where he stood over the body of the slain journalist and vowed that he would personally avenge his death.
“It is my responsibility to avenge this killing. Blood is for blood,” Al-Maliki told the state-owned Iraqiya television as he left the scene.
Such anger reveals deep-seated hostility which can only worsen the already blazing bickering between the Kurds and the Shia-led government.
Kurdish politicians condemned what they termed as anti Kurd’s chauvinism and demanded that Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani stand up to Al-Maliki.
On the other hand, Soleimani seems to have failed to achieve a breakthrough in relationships between Al-Maliki and his key Shia rivals. Soon after he left Baghdad
In launching his group’s election campaign on Friday, Al-Sadr called on all Iraqis to participate in the forthcoming elections to prevent “thieves” and “beneficiaries” from gaining power.
Al-Sadr, who had denounced Al-Maliki earlier as a “tyrant” called on his followers to go to polls en mass in order to prevent Iraq
It is bloody business as usual in Iraq
At the same time, neither Iran nor the United States
Unfortunately, as the Kuwait summit and all previous Arab gatherings have shown, Iraq Tehran and Washington