© REUTERS/Sergei KarpukhinRussian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Sept. 7, 2017
Russian steps, US misstep, in IraqRussian President Vladimir Putin repositioned himself as a key broker of Iraqi energy politics last week, while US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was scolded by the Iraqi government for his comments about Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
Given America's history and assets in Iraq, it seems a reach that Russia could be
outflanking the United States in Iraq, as we suggested last week.
But while Putin choreographs each move with a wary and calculating eye on Iran and the ever-shifting regional landscape, the United States limits its options by seeing every Iranian move as adversarial and in zero-sum terms, which only serves to frustrate Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who prefers that the United States and Iran not play out their hostility in Iraq.So in the same week that Tillerson earned a rebuke from Abadi's office for saying "Iranian militias in Iraq" should "
go home" - the prime minister's statement termed the PMU "Iraqi patriots" - Iraq and Russia signed an expansive energy and economic protocol.
The agreement opened discussions of more favorable terms for Russian companies and contractors in Iraq involving electricity and hydropower plants, oil and gas fields, equipment and supplies. The protocol touched on Russian soft loans in support of these projects as long as Russia has the lead in building and running these plants and operations.
In addition to the Iraqi-Russian protocol, Rosneft announced that it would begin exploration and pilot production of its fields in Iraqi Kurdistan, which proved a minor irritant during Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's visit to Moscow on Oct. 23-25, as
Marianna Belenkaya reports.
Comment: According to this local resident, what really happened that night in Abbottabad was that three helicopters circled the compound, one touched down, and everyone on it was killed in a fire/explosion.
And that was it, until Pakistani security services (and possibly American counterparts) arrived to shoo bystanders away.
No arrests were made, no Bin Laden showed up, and no shoot-out took place.