ISIS, the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Iraqi government, and numerous other regional and international players have all vied for control of Kirkuk’s oil. But the struggle to rule this commodity has become a political chess game stretching across northern Iraq and beyond.
China has unveiled a “win-win” policy paper to guide its approach to the Middle East. Its $1 trillion One Belt One Road infrastructure initiative will extend all the way to North Africa. But can trade buy Beijing political clout in the region?
The GCC states are now entering into the early stages of reconfigured citizen-state relations similar to what most other non-energy-rich Arab countries experienced from 1986 to 1995.
A case for shaking the oil habit.
