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Who really controls Kurdistan’s gas? The Dana Gas deal, the KRG’s silence and the hidden cost of selling energy to Iraq

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By Dr. Pshtiwan Faraj | Kurdish Policy Analysis      A $2.239 billion arbitration settlement, a contract running until 2049, expanded rights for Pearl Petroleum and a new battle over gas sales to Baghdad are raising uncomfortable questions about who ultimately controls Kurdistan’s most strategic natural resource. The latest dispute over Khor Mor gas is exposing a much deeper problem in the Kurdistan Region’s energy sector: the public still does not appear to have a clear picture of who controls the region’s gas, who is authorized to sell it, and how much of its future value has already been committed to private companies. At the center of the controversy is Pearl Petroleum, the consortium led by Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, and a settlement agreement reached with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on August 30, 2017. Kurdistan Parliament member Kawa Sheikh Ali has now sharply criticized that agreement, asking why a government would effectively commit its natural ...
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Iran Used Ad Tracking To Hunt American Soldiers: Report

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By Dr. Pshtiwan Faraj   New Reports Suggest Commercial Ad-Tech and Mobile Network Vulnerabilities Were Exploited to Track American Forces Across the Middle East The U.S. government has used private ad data to get around the Fourth Amendment. Now foreign enemies are turning it into a weapon. The Iran war gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "targeted ads." During the war, the U.S. military evacuated many of its bases, moving personnel to hotels and civilian office spaces. A new report in the Financial Times reveals the high-tech ways in which Iran followed them. In at least one place, Iraqi Kurdistan, the Iranian military is suspected of using ad tracking data to figure out which hotels were housing U.S. troops. "Any government with a halfway decent cyber intelligence program is participating in these [ad data] exchanges, because it's such an immensely valuable source of data," Byron Tau, author of the book that revealed many of these practices, told Re...
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