The reduced oil prices and Saudi as a lead of OPEC choosing to maintain production levels, seems to assume they can eventually ride out the shale oil producers in the US. They might, but it will hurt them and all of OPEC and of course Russia big time. The problems with all this or should say concern, is that these adjustments can turn out ok over the long haul OR can lead to conflict. I am uncomfortable with Russia becoming to miserable and think it dangerous.
back to Iraq, in the scheme of things this Minister of defense does not worry me, nor do I think he will make the Sunni citizen feel much better about the government. Who really bothers me is the Minister of Interior:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/world/middleeast/after-delay-iraq-appoints-two-to-posts-for-security.html?_r=0
For interior minister, a coveted post overseeing the nation’s police forces, the lawmakers approved Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, a member of the Badr Organization, a Shiite political group that controls a militia fighting alongside government forces against the Islamic State.
The Badr Organization had been pressing Mr. Abadi to name one of its members to reflect the party’s strong showing in the recent parliamentary elections.
Mr. Abadi had been reluctant to pick a Badr candidate because he feared that appointing someone closely associated with a militia would jeopardize his plan for a more inclusive administration. The Badr Organization’s armed wing has been accused of torturing and killing Sunnis, especially during the sectarian violence of the mid-2000s.
Mr. Abadi had won praise from Sunnis for resisting the candidacy of the Badr Organization’s chief, Hadi al-Ameri. Badr officials, however, reportedly threatened to withdraw from the government if one of their members was not nominated for the post.
Mr. Ghabban, a longtime activist against Saddam Hussein, was detained in 1979 and later lived in exile in Iran. His candidacy was opposed by some Sunni lawmakers who said Mr. Ghabban was simply a proxy for Mr. Ameri.
In choosing nominees for his cabinet, Mr. Abadi has been somewhat constrained by Iraq’s sectarian power-sharing arrangements, which reserve the Interior Ministry for a Shiite and the Defense Ministry for a Sunni.
Interesting, it was the Badr militia that got in that fight with the Peshmerga near Kirkuk.
The Saudis didn’t start pumping 24/7 except as a last resort. The last time they pulled this, it was while Saddam was occupying Kuwait, and the lower price of crude helped finance the US’ war spending to get him out. They never do it gladly, as it causes their budget to go underwater.
Russia miserable and dangerous? What else is new? But don’t worry, the EU will run to the rescue. Russia supplies 42 percent of the EU’s petroleum, and the EU wants Russia to behave itself (more accurately, the EU wants Putin to behave himself; that will happen when the Russian forensic guys will be scraping what’s left of him off the roof of what’s left of his car).
Turkish destabilization will happen fast, and soon, IMV; the spillage into the EU from that mess will lead to some good things and some bad things. Iran’s grip on Lebanon and Syria will be loosened.