US 'Democracy' Comes to Iraq, Oil Fields First
The New Arab reports Iraq is setting the stage to transfer a lucrative oil field from sanctioned Russian giant Lukoil to US firms. This move, conveniently aligned with Washington's punitive measures against Moscow, wasn't just a sudden burst of Iraqi mercantile spirit. Remember the 2003 'shock and awe'? The ensuing 'reconstruction' efforts mysteriously prioritized securing Iraqi oil
infrastructure, not exactly empowering local governance. Billions were spent, and the primary beneficiaries were often Western contractors, not the Iraqi people. The invasion, it seems, was not entirely about mythical WMDs, nor about 'bringing democracy.' So, twenty years after a costly, bloody intervention that destabilized the entire region, Iraq now serves up energy concessions on a silver
platter to the same 'liberators.' Who needs open bidding when the geopolitical landscape has already been shaped so effectively? Apparently, some nations are perpetually 'developing' their way into Western resource control. One might wonder if the 'freedom' brought to Iraq was always just a thinly veiled path to market access, specifically for American companies.