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By John Lee.

Iraq and Russia are leading the global surge in oil exports despite a highly competitive market. This has maintained low prices not seen since 2009, with a February settlement for Brent Crude at $56.42 a barrel.

Bloomberg reported record export data of 10.6 million barrels a day from Russia and 2.9 million bpd from Iraq, a rate not seen since 1980, the height of the post nationalisation oil industry under Saddam Hussein.

Slowing Chinese economic growth and a slowdown in European manufacturing, as well as Saudi geopolitical motivations have created an unprecedented oil market.

A strong dollar has also contributed to what analyst Walt Zimmerman described as a "double whammy" for prices.

This has forced oil dependent nations such as Iraq to urgently review their budgets for 2015.

(Source: Bloomberg)

By Ali Mamouri for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Despite all the negative developments concerning extremist groups in the Middle East, they have had a positive impact on religious communities.

Shiite and Sunni institutions in Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to denounce and condemn extremists, deeming their acts to be in direct conflict with Islam.

The extremist voices calling for the killing of other Islamic denominations have been drowned out by calls for moderation, dialogue and cooperation.

The past three weeks have witnessed three major conferences to combat religious extremism in the Middle East. The Iranian city of Qom, the Vatican and Cairo have each hosted conferences one at a time.

Senior clerics from different Islamic sects took part in these conferences and stressed the need for joint action to combat extremism and militancy.

The Pontifical Councils initiated the interreligious dialogue under the auspices of Pope Francis and held the Catholic-Muslim summit titled "Muslims and Christians: Believers living in society," Dec. 2-4. The conference was attended by senior Christian and Muslim clerics of every stripe.

In the same vein, during his visit to Turkey on Nov. 28-30, the pope called upon believers of all religions to differentiate between religiosity and intolerance and to reject all forms of extremism and fundamentalism that use religion. He also urged Muslim clerics to condemn the brutal acts of the Islamic State (IS) that are being committed in the name of Islam.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said that on Dec. 5 he had received promising and encouraging messages from Muslim scholars who attended the conference.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and World Food Programme (WFP) have collaborated to deliver eight mobile medical clinics which arrived in Erbil on Sunday.

These urgently needed clinics will be immediately deployed to parts of Iraq and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The vehicles, flown in from Amman, Jordan, were procured by WHO and have been purpose-built to address the health needs of displaced populations residing in places with limited access to health care services – in camps, informal settlements and urban areas across the country.

The clinics were made possible through the support of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and are the first of their kind to be brought to Iraq to accelerate response efforts.

To mark the arrival of the mobile clinics, a ceremony set to host the Ministers of Health of both Iraq and KRI governments, a delegation from the government of Saudi Arabia, and representatives from WHO and WFP, will be held at Erbil airport on Wednesday.

“We are very pleased about the arrival of these new mobile clinics which will provide round-the-clock health services for vulnerable populations in Iraq,” said Dr Jaffar Hussein, WHO Representative for Iraq.

“Not only are mobile health clinics swift and relatively cost-efficient, they also enable health care to be provided as close as possible to affected communities. Each clinic has the capacity to support patient examinations, vaccinations for children, diagnosis and laboratory confirmation of diseases, pre- and antenatal care, the treatment of minor conditions such as skin infections, management of minor wounds, and to address dehydration,” he said.

The first flight in a new UNHCR airlift aimed at providing winter aid to Iraqis displaced by conflict this year has landed in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region. The first of seven planned flights from Pakistan touched down at Erbil International Airport at 2345 local time (2045 GMT) on Thursday, carrying 3,600 tent insulation kits. The kits, comprising polystyrene flooring and fiber insulation for tent walls, will be distributed in camps across Iraq.

Six more cargo flights are scheduled to arrive before 12 December, bringing a total of 25,000 insulation kits to Iraq from Lahore, where a major producer is located.

"Time is growing short," warns UNHCR Regional Director Amin Awad. With temperatures now dropping across Iraq, we must get this essential support to the most vulnerable Iraqi displaced immediately."

Latest figures now indicate that around 2 million Iraqis have been displaced since January. More than 60,000 people are now living in eight tented camps, and new camps are being constructed to house more than 300,000 others. Currently, as many as 700,000 people are living in unfinished or abandoned buildings, schools, religious centres, and even in parks.

While UNHCR, the central Government in Baghdad, the regional government in Kurdistan, and dozens of aid agencies are working to provide safe and warm shelter to all in need, challenges of time and scale loom ahead. UNHCR and other organizations are also providing additional winter relief in-situ, for those living in substandard housing who will not be moving to camps.

As Iraq struggles to deal with the increasing security threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as well as with dire financial and humanitarian conditions, the United Nations envoy to the country has cited an inclusive political process as vital to finding comprehensive solutions.

In an interview with UN Radio, Nickolay Mladenov, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), said that there is “general agreement,” not just in the UN but in Iraq as well, that the security element of dealing with ISIL is one part of the solution, but is not the comprehensive solution to the problems facing the country.

“What also needs to happen is a political process, and a political process that allows for the various communities of Iraq to come back together,” Mr. Mladenov stressed.

“The last decade has seen a lot of violence that has been driven by divisive politics, that [in turn] has been driven by the communities looking more inwardly rather than working together, and it is time now to address that,” he added.

Indeed, he said, the new Government in Iraq is inclusive of all the political parties, and is embarking on an agenda of addressing some of the long-standing grievances that exist within Iraqi society, including those related to poverty, security, participation in decision-making and revenue-sharing.

As such, the UN is working “intensely” with the Government of Iraq, as well as with Kurdish authorities and with various groups on the ground to find where agreement can be reached on security, political and social solutions, and, ultimately, pushing for those agreements to be implemented, Mr. Mladenov said.

“Our role really in this process – what I think is fundamentally the role of the United Nations around the world – is to bring people together, to facilitate dialogue, and to come up with proposals for solutions that could work on the ground, and to help implement them,” he said.

The atrocious crimes perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) risk plunging Iraq into catastrophe as the country reels from bitter sectarian tensions and a growing humanitarian crisis affecting over 5 million people, top United Nations officials warned today, as they called on the international community to increase efforts in aiding Iraq’s full transition towards a stable democracy.

Briefing the UN Security Council this morning, UN envoy for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, delivered an ominous assessment of the on-the-ground situation in Iraq, amid an ongoing offensive perpetrated by ISIL militants and a growing number of internally displaced persons (IPDs) fleeing the brutal violence.

“ISIL’s strategy is obvious – to insert themselves in the ethnic and religious fault lines of Iraq, to undermine legitimate authorities and to spread fear among all communities,” said Nickolay Mladenov in his address to the Council. “Their goals are also clear – to destroy the Iraqi State and replace it with a ‘State of Terror’ built on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Such a “State of Terror” governed by ISIL and spanning the territory of Iraq and neighbouring Syria would then ultimately seek to advance on the rest of the region, warned Mr. Mladenov, destabilize bordering States and “threaten global peace and security.”

The emergence of ISIL as a cogent threat to the democratic and humanitarian stability of Iraq has been steady yet devastating. Adopting a Takfiri belief system used by many extremely radical religious groups, including Nigeria’s Boko Haram, ISIL militants automatically assume the authority to declare anybody to be kafir, or apostate, condemning thousands of ethnic and religious minorities and women and girls to gross human rights violations and, in many cases, death.

Wheat seeds, fertilizer and animal feed are starting to roll out to nearly 28,000 farming families in Iraq whose livelihoods have been left in tatters as a result of hostilities -- part of an effort from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) aimed at reinforcing food production and helping people recover.

But the Organization is warning that an additional $38.5 million in support is urgently needed to prevent the country's agricultural sector from collapsing and an already-worrisome food security situation from further degenerating.

Thousands of Iraqi farmers have been forced to flee their lands or have had their assets destroyed or seized. Others have seen markets for their crops disappear, or have sold off livestock, supplies and equipment to make ends meet.

As a result of these disruptions, June's harvest was severely compromised, reducing food availability across the country – currently an estimated 2.8 million people in Iraq are in need of food assistance. This situation could worsen as families continue to lose productive assets and income opportunities, or find themselves forced to unload livestock for quick cash.

“If not addressed in time, this will translate into longer-term reliance on food aid and other forms of aid," said Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa. “Millions of vulnerable Iraqis are in dire need of help to restore their self-sufficiency and build resilience,” he added.

By John Lee.

Foreign Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Al Jaafari, stressed that the strategic priorities of the Iraqi diplomacy is to restore Iraqi-Arab relations to normal, calling for intensifying efforts and cooperation to eradicate terrorism, which today constitutes a threat to all countries in the region.

These statements came during the official visit carried out by President of the Republic of Iraq, Dr. Fuad Masum, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia heading an official delegation comprising Dr. Ibrahim Al Jaafari and a number of Ministers upon an invitation from the K.S.A.

The Minister said in a press statement that the purpose of this visit is to restore relations to normal in line with the interests of the Iraqi and Saudi peoples, stressing that the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) threatens Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and all the countries in the region, a thing which requires restoring relations between the two countries rapidly.

The Minister praised the Saudi position regarding the Iraq war against ISIL, saying that the Saudi side revealed excellent understanding and frank and clear stance expressed by His Majesty the King of K.S.A. by denouncing ISIL, pointing to the importance of cooperation against the common threat; the international terrorism.

(Source: MoFA)

The United Nations has launched a US$2.2 billion appeal to address the protection and humanitarian needs of 5.2 million people in conflict-affected Iraq.

“The needs of the Iraqi people are immense,” Neill Wright, acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, said in Baghdad. “It’s imperative we step up our efforts.”

The third revision of the Strategic Response Plan (SRP) of the UN and NGO humanitarian community aims to continue its support of the Government of Iraq in effectively addressing the humanitarian and protection needs of 5.2 million Iraqis across the country through 2015.

Included in this are 1.8 million displaced since January 2014, 1.5 million within communities hosting many of the displaced, and 1.7 million living in conflict areas outside Government control.

An estimated 2.8 million people are in need of food assistance and approximately 800,000 people are in urgent need of emergency shelter assistance.

Throughout Iraq, 1.26 million people are in need of some form of winterisation assistance. The provision of winterisation packages, warm clothes, shoes, health services and food are all critical requirements.

The multi-sectorial plan was produced by more than 45 humanitarian organizations, including UN agencies, international and national NGOs operating in Iraq, and covers the provision of assistance in non-food items/shelter, protection, health, food, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education, and logistics until the end of December 2015.

To date, more than $600 million has been contributed to the 2014 -2015 Iraq SRP, including a major contribution by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in July. The remaining $1.6 billion needed is required for activities over the next 15 months, but early contributions are essential with the onset of winter.

“Although much has been done, much more is needed in the coming weeks to prevent additional, unnecessary suffering for many Iraqis,” Wright said. “This effort requires all of us – the UN, non-governmental organisations, civil society and the private sector – to work together. All of us have a role to play.”

(Source: UN)

By Ali Mamouri for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Shiite community has much more religious coherence than its Sunni counterpart.

This raises several questions for Sunni authorities, including the ones raised by prominent Iraqi Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Qabisi in response to Ali al-Sistani’s fatwa regarding the need to defend Iraq against extremist Sunni attacks. “Shiites have a strong authority that orders and is obeyed. However, Sunnis do not and will not have a similar leadership or authority,” he said.

The religious Shiite institution has never had a clerical system such as the Catholic Church in the Vatican. However, it does have a strong bond with its popular base and can mobilize millions by issuing a single fatwa. The Shiite authority has a prominent historical role within Sunni communities through the social and spiritual power that the religious leadership has over its followers.

One can find several examples of Shiite clerics having prominent social roles in the region’s modern history. Sayyid Hassan al-Shirazi’s fatwa (1814-1896) led the dissolution of one of the greatest trade contracts between the Kingdom of Iran and Great Britain in 1891.

Shiite authorities played a decisive role in the constitutional revolution in Iran between 1905 and 1907. The entire Iraqi public rose up against the British when they occupied Iraq after World War I, in the Great Iraqi Revolution of 1920. There are plenty of other examples that can be seen throughout Sistani’s leadership in modern-day Iraq.

Despite all the social transformations of the modern era, Shiite authorities still have a broad social power over their followers in the various Shiites communities around the world, which gives great power and cohesion to Shiites compared with other denominations of Islam. Where does this power come from, how is it implemented, and how do the religious authorities communicate with their followers in Shiite communities?