MER Article Iraqi Unions vs. Big Oil On February 26, 2007, the Iraqi cabinet passed and recommended for parliamentary approval a new law governing the country’s immense and largely untapped supplies of oil and natural gas. Grasping at straws for any sign of success in Iraq, the law’s international sponsors hailed a major accomplishment Shawna Bader-Blau • 19 min read
MER Article Europe, the US and the Strategic Triangle Oil is by its very nature a finite commodity. The question has always been not whether it would run out, but when it would. The doomsday scenarios that some predict --mass blackouts and the imminent demise of suburbia -- may be far-fetched, but the era of “peak oil” is here. Saad Rahim • 13 min read
MER Article The Curious Case of Oil-Exporting Jordan From time to time, the boring economic data regurgitated by Jordan’s amply staffed ministries offers up a tantalizing mystery. In the Monthly Statistical Bulletin (May 2004) published by the Central Bank of Jordan, for example, one learns that Jordanian export of refined oil products increased 46 ti Pete Moore • 1 min read
MER Article Oil Prices and Regime Resilience in the Gulf The steady summertime creep of oil prices past $40 per barrel and over an unprecedented $45 surprised most oil analysts, including this one, who were expecting the price to drop after the US-led invasion of Iraq. But no one is likely to have been as stunned as the Bush administration Fareed Mohamedi • 8 min read
Current Analysis Scandals of Oil for Food Rep. Ralph Hall opened a set of Congressional hearings on July 8 with a dramatic flourish, denouncing "the deaths of thousands of Iraqis through malnutrition and lack of appropriate medical supplies." "We have a name for that in the United States," the Texas Republican told a subcommittee of the Hou Joy Gordon • 10 min read
MER Article World Oil Markets and the Invasion of Iraq George W. Bush's regime-changing war in Iraq is widely seen as an oil war -- a grab for the second-largest petroleum reserves in the world. In the minds of many, this interpretation was confirmed when the United States pressed for, and secured, a UN resolution giving the US-British Raad Alkadiri, Fareed Mohamedi • 22 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Winter 2002) If there is to be a US-led conquest of Iraq, the American public and the world are entitled to know why. Unable to demonstrate that Iraq's putative weapons of mass destruction pose a "mortal threat" to the United States or to provide evidence implicating Iraq in The Editors • 9 min read
MER Article Kuwait's Economic Quandary Aiming to restore Kuwait's historic role as a hub of trade in the Persian Gulf, a member of the ruling family is spearheading a team to consider the deepening of economic ties with Iran and, eventually, with Iraq. Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah's effort to Karen Pfeifer • 8 min read
MER Article The Iraqi Klondike Talk of a "new Middle East" was very much in vogue in the early 1990s. With a seeming Pax Americana reigning over the region after the Gulf war, and with Israel and its neighbors apparently nearing a comprehensive settlement, it looked as if economic interests, not political rivalries, (Author not identified) • 14 min read
MER Article The Decline (But Not Fall) of US Hegemony in the Middle East Americans who voted for “compassionate conservatism” in the November 2000 presidential election have been disappointed. George W. Bush has proven to be much more radical than his moderate campaign rhetoric implied. In the area of environmental policy, Bush’s moves to lift regulations on pollutants, promote the use of nuclear Fareed Mohamedi, Yahya Sadowski • 32 min read
MER Article From the Editor (Fall 2001) Upon its installment in the White House, the second Bush administration was universally expected to be the loyal handmaiden of Big Oil. The US oil and gas industry lavished $1,387,975 upon the hastily assembled committee which planned the inaugural festivities for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. BP- The Editors • 3 min read
Current Analysis Khatami and His "Reformist" Economic (Non-)Agenda Mohammad Khatami is widely expected to be the winner in Iran's June 8 presidential election. He will, most probably, serve a second term, despite his own reluctance to enter the race, and the disappointment of those who gave him his surprise landslide victory in the tight contest of Sohrab Behdad • 7 min read
