Toby C Jones on America’s Oil Wars and the military-energy complex in the Persian Gulf
Kani Xulam on Turkey’s “Dirty War” Against the Kurds
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More about this week’s guests:
Toby C. Jonesis associate professor of history at Rutgers University, New Brunswick where he also directs the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the M.A. program in Global and Comparative History. He teaches courses on global environmental history, energy, and the modern Middle East. Jones has traveled and worked extensively in the Middle East, including in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. His more recent work examines the global history of oil, including the recent energy boom in the United States. During 2008-2009 he was a fellow at Princeton University’s Oil, Energy, and the Middle East project. From 2004 to early 2006 Jones worked as the Persian Gulf political analyst for the International Crisis Group.
Jones is the author of two books. The first, Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia was published by Harvard University Press in 2010. The second, Running Dry: Essays on Energy, Water and Environmental Crisis, published by Rutgers University Press, appeared in 2015. He is currently working on a third book, America’s Long War, which is under contract at Harvard University Press. He has written for both scholarly and general audiences, including at the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Journal of American History, Middle East Report, Raritan Quarterly Review, The Nation, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, the London Review of Books, the New York Times, and elsewhere. In 2015 Jones was recognized as a Rutgers Chancellor’s Scholar for distinguished scholarship.
Jones appears regularly on local and national media discussing political developments and challenges in the Middle East, including at NPR, the BBC, Democracy Now!, and others.
Kani Xulam is director of the American Kurdish Information Network and a native of Kurdistan.He studied International Relations at the University of Toronto, holds a BA in history from the University of California Santa Barbara and an MA in the International Service program at American University. At the University of Toronto, he represented Kurdistan at the Model United Nations, which passed a nonbinding resolution recognizing the right of the Kurdish people to self-determination.At the University of California Santa Barbara, he was part of a group of peace activists who protested the first Gulf War by taking part in a sit-in at Chancellor’s office in January 1991. Everyone was arrested. Mr. Xulam pled not guilty, defended himself, and was sentenced to 18 hours of community service to plant saplings in Santa Barbara. In 1993, at the urging of Kurdish community leaders in America, he left his family business in Santa Barbara, California to establish the American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) in the nation’s capital. AKIN is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering Kurdish-American understanding and friendship.
In 1997, he took part in a hunger strike on the steps of the Capitol urging members of Congress to use their good offices on behalf of their imprisoned Kurdish colleagues. 153 members signed a letter urging President Clinton to intervene on the matter. Mr. Xulam, on the advice of his physician, ended his fast on the 32nd day.
Kani Xulam recently wrote the piece “A Kurdish Girl’s Lonely Death,” for CounterPunch and is continuing a vigil outside the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C. — now in its eleventh week — protesting Turkish attacks on Kurds.
As American jobs are sent abroad and candidates grandstand on the topic, we talk with Civil Rights attorney James Otto about a lawsuit he filed against Disney “Whose Preference For Foreign Workers Over U.S. Workers Resulted In Over 700 Competent U.S Workers Forced To Train Incompetent Foreign Workers”
The US has started to use manned airstrikes from a base in Turkey against ISIS forces in Syria. At the same time, the country’s leading Kurdish politician accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of ‘supporting ISIS’ in the past. He said that Erdogan wants early elections as part of a strategy of ‘attacking the Kurdish movement’ and reversing its recent political gains.” We discuss the background with Kani Xulam
More about this week’s guests:
James A. Otto, a former Marine Corps officer in the 1970s, is an attorney based in Northridge, CA. He served as an Officer in the United States Marine Corp. from 1976 to 1980. From 1996 to 2002, he worked for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing prosecuting violators of California’s civil rights laws in both employment and housing. Presently, he is developing new legal theories to protect American workers and green card holders from national origin discrimination.
The following is extracted from a press release by Otto:
“Civil Rights Attorney James Otto says that “an unholy alliance of lawyers and craven corporation practices have installed surreptitious strategies to illegally discriminate against the American workforce. The result is the betrayal of the American dream of “fairness to all”. Otto states that “Disney Corporation authorized a NO U.S. WORKER EMPLOYMENT POLICY firing over 700 competent U.S. workers in Florida, Anaheim and Burbank, California, as well as, New York. Disney required them to train their foreign imported replacements in order to be paid. Disney executives told employees “Get used to it. You need to learn to wear a sari [Indian dress] because that is the only place you will ever get a job.”
The result is an inequality that is rapidly undermining democracy. Like an odorless gas, every corner of our country is being sapped of its strength. The evidence of the economic pollution is everywhere. As Bob Dole once said” The poor don’t contribute to campaign funds.” Our government is consistently favoring the rich. This is the sad source of the problem.
WHERE DO SOME OF OUR POTENTIAL PRESIDENTS STAND?
Hillary Clinton supports importing more foreign workers to replace and fire competent U.S. workers. As Secretary of State, she authorized the U.S. Embassy in India to break federal law by accepting and processing EVERY VISA IN EXCESS OF 60,000 TO REPLACE American workers. Clinton spent over 40 million tax-payer’s dollars to build and educate foreigners to be imported and replace American workers
Donald Trump supports firing competent American workers to replace them with incompetent imported foreign workers. Carly Fiorina brags that she fired Americans and replaced them with foreign workers.”
Kani Xulam is director of the American Kurdish Information Network and a native of Kurdistan.He studied International Relations at the University of Toronto, holds a BA in history from the University of California Santa Barbara and an MA in the International Service program at American University. At the University of Toronto, he represented Kurdistan at the Model United Nations, which passed a nonbinding resolution recognizing the right of the Kurdish people to self-determination.At the University of California Santa Barbara, he was part of a group of peace activists who protested the first Gulf War by taking part in a sit-in at Chancellor’s office in January 1991. Everyone was arrested. Mr. Xulam pled not guilty, defended himself, and was sentenced to 18 hours of community service to plant saplings in Santa Barbara. In 1993, at the urging of Kurdish community leaders in America, he left his family business in Santa Barbara, California to establish the American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) in the nation’s capital. AKIN is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering Kurdish-American understanding and friendship.
In 1997, he took part in a hunger strike on the steps of the Capitol urging members of Congress to use their good offices on behalf of their imprisoned Kurdish colleagues. 153 members signed a letter urging President Clinton to intervene on the matter. Mr. Xulam, on the advice of his physician, ended his fast on the 32nd day.
Quote: “The U.S. use of bases in Turkey follows Ankara breaking a three-year truce with the Kurds — and the U.S. government is not stopping that. This is in line with prior U.S. government policy. Three years ago, the U.S. provided Turkey with ‘actionable intelligence,’ which resulted in the death of 34 Kurdish villagers. While Kurdish forces have been quite effective in fighting ISIS in Syria, the Turkish government has turned its back to ISIS fighters crossing its borders. This is partly driven by an incredible animosity toward [Syrian President] As’ad — partly out of an anti-Alawite sectarianism. With elections coming up and with Erdogan restarting a low-intensity conflict in Turkey, the ongoing war in Syria and Iraq could easily spread to Turkey.”
So much is being said and written about ISIS (ISIL/IS) but very little context of Iraq’s history is given. This week we spend the show looking at that history: A detailed look at Iraq from 1991 to the present with Abbas Kadhim.
Dr. Abbas Kadhim is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Gulf Affairs, specializing in Iraq, Iran and Shi’a Studies. He is also a Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University (2005 – 2013). He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006.
His recent publications include: “Reclaiming Iraq: the 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State,” Austin: The University of Texas Press (2012); The Hawza under Siege: A Study in the Ba‘th Party Archive, Boston: Boston University Institute for Iraqi Studies (2013); Handbook of Governance in the Middle East and North Africa, London: Routledge (2013); “Efforts at Cross-Ethic Cooperation: the 1920 Revolution and Iraqi Sectarian Identities,” International Journal of Contemporary Iraq Studies, vol. 4, issue 3, 2010; “Forging a Third Way: Sistani’s Marja‘iyya between Quietism and Wilāyat al-Faqīh, in Iraq, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World, edited by Ali Paya and John Esposito, Routledge, July 2010; “Beyond the Oil Curse,” Iraq’s Wealthy State and Poor Society,” in Bob Looney (ed.), Handbook of Oil Politics, London: Routledge, 2012; and “Opting for the Lesser Evil: US Foreign Policy Toward Iraq, 1958-2008,” in Bob Looney (ed.) Handbook of US Middle East Relations, London: Routledge, 2009.
His book translations include Shi‘a Sects (Firaq al-Shi‘a): A Translation with an Introduction and Notes, London: Islamic College for Advanced Studies Press (2007); Wahhabism: A Critical Essay, by Hamid Algar (Arabic Translation), Köln, Germany: Dar al-Jamal (2006); and Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping our Lives, by Anthony Giddens (Arabic Translation), with Dr. Hassan Nadhem, Beirut: (2003).
He is currently engaged in a long-term project documenting the 1991 Uprising in Iraq, and a research project examining the Ba’ath Party Archives hosted by the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
Economic Direct Democracy – an interview with John Boik
The Kurdish question and its impact on the situation in Iraq – an interview with Edmund Ghareeb
More about this week’s guests:
John Boik is the founder of the Principled Societies Project and author of the new book (published June 2014) “Economic Direct Democracy: A Framework to End Poverty and Maximize Well-Being.” The book is available via Amazon and other retailers, and a free PDF version can be downloaded from the Principled Societies Project website. “Economic Direct Democracy” is a book-length proposal for transforming local economies into sustainable, democratic systems. In it, I describe a novel local economic framework that represents a synthesis of approaches already in use in some cities around the world. The framework builds on ideas from buy-local, invest-local, local-currency, local-food, local-sharing, open-source, open-government, open-data, participatory democracy, and related community development, knowledge transfer, and decision-making initiatives. The framework is intended to empower communities to strengthen local economies and take meaningful action on infrastructure repair, debt, income inequality, health care, climate change, environmental degradation, and other issues of importance.
The proposal is beginning to gain traction. John is now forming a partnership with the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) at the University of Pretoria, South Africa in order to further develop the framework. Our intention is to establish a large multicenter project with additional academic, civil society, and foundation partners in the developed and developing world.
Edmund Ghareeb is an internationally recognized expert on the Kurds and on Iraq. He was the first Mustafa Barzani Scholar of Global Kurdish Studies at the Center for Global Peace at American University. He formerly taught at George Washington University. His books include The Historical Dictionary of Iraq (co-authored with Beth Dougherty), The Kurdish Question in Iraq, The Kurdish Nationalist Movement and War in the Gulf which he co-authored with Majid Khadduri.
Quote: “The 21st Century is likely to be the Kurdish century in the Middle East. There is both great opportunity right now for the Kurds, perhaps the greatest in recent history — and serious threats. The taking of Kirkuk is a critical event that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves because of ISIS’s advance. Kirkuk is especially significant for both economic reasons (oil) and cultural ones. Rival Kurdish, Turkuman and Arab claims to Kirkuk add to the complexity and volatility of the situation. Some Turkuman leaders who have in recent history looked to Turkey for protection have warned that if Kirkuk is not returned to the central government they are willing to fight for it. For the Kurds, control of Kirkuk and its oil would make the Kurdish region financially independent from Baghdad which has withheld money over a long-running dispute over the control of energy resources. It would also make an independent Kurdish state economically viable if the Kurds decide to make that decision. Baghdad has threatened to bring legal action against Turkey at the International Court of Arbitration. Turkey, which has it problems with the Maliki government, has been willing to help the KRG for economic and political reasons. It also seeks KRG help with its own rebellious Kurds and hopes to diversify its energy sources. The weakening of the Iraqi state and other changes on the ground may be a great opportunity for the Kurds to fulfill their dream of independence. In the past, divisions and overplaying their hand have been disastrous for Kurdish aspirations. … The arrival of ISIS puts pressure on the borders of the Kurdish region and in disputed areas and poses great new dangers. It threatens to bring violence, insecurity and large numbers of refugees to the generally stable Kurdish region. Limited clashes have recently occurred between the two sides. The KRG in Iraq has recently been exporting oil through Turkey in preparation for the moment when Iraqi Kurds may opt for independence. Oil revenue would make the Kurdish state economically viable. Such a decision is not likely to be viewed with favor in neighboring Iran and Turkey. Iran and Turkey have their own restive Kurdish populations who may want to emulate their brethren in Iraq. Turkey has over 20 million Kurds while Iran has about nine million. Cooperation with Turkey on oil exploration and the building of a pipeline through Turkey to carry it to external markets has been beneficial to the governments of Turkey and the Kurdish region. The Turkish government has been silent on Kirkuk. In the past it took a strong stance against such a Kurdish advance, in part because of concern for the Turkuman. It is possible that oil changed that equation. Given the Iraqi government’s weakness, it can’t do much to dissuade Turkey from exploring for oil in the Kurdish region, or on building oil pipelines through Turkey and in selling the oil imported from the KRG. However, there are Turkish critics of Prime Minister Erdoğan who argue that he is being very short sighted: if there can be an independent Kurdish state in what is now Iraq with 5 million Kurds, then why not one in what is now Turkey with over 20 million Kurds? The KRG has denied reports that it sold oil to Israel. That is another risk on their part — such a move could have negative consequences with Arabs that could come back to haunt the Kurds. Keep in mind that even within Iraq, Kurds are hardly homogeneous. Some Kurdish youth, especially from around Halabja, have actually joined or allied with ISIS. This is for several reasons: This is an especially religiously conservative area historically and of course, Kurds are mostly Sunni. You had Kurds from the area join in the ‘Afghan Arabs’ fighting in Afghanistan in the 80s. In addition, this area has not benefited economically and you have a great deal of unemployment among the youth. So there’s a confluence of events — a possible confrontation with ISIS even as the Kurdish-Shia alliance is fraying and there may be an opening in Sunni-Kurdish relations. Kurdish leaders face hard choices, which are likely to affect the country’s survival as a unified state. They can opt to work with other Iraqis to build a democratic and stable Iraq or to go their own way. Either choice will have significant impact for Iraq and the region.”
Dr. Abbas Kadhim is a Senior Fellow at the 
John Boik is the founder of the 
The Monitor 