...The Iraqi Marshlands was once called the “Garden of Eden “by those who knew it. Thriving with fish, birds, buffalo and the marshland people, who fished and used the land for farming. Basic people, living in huts and modest homes until 1991. It was then that war and a dictator decided to make the marshlands into a desert. The marshland Arabs opposed Saddam Hussein and were strong supporters of the Shiite uprising. This support caused Saddam Hussein cut the flow of water to the Basin between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Hussein used dams, dikes and canals to bring an end to the Shiite supporters. In doing so, the marshlands transformed from a beautiful garden paradise to a desert void of the life it had once been home to. Most of the marshland people, who were fisherman moved to the cities, as there was no life and their financial stability depended on the marshlands, which was now completely gone. After 90% of the marshland had been destroyed, many people believed the marshland had been destroyed forever. Thankfully, this was not the case. After the fall of Saddam in 2003, the water was again allowed to flow freely. The people of the marshland and formerly of the marshland began to break the dams and dikes to bring the water back. Many others, who were concerned with the Iraqi marshlands, also, came back to bring the water back to the marshlands. Within months, life came back to the “desert” marshlands. The people returned, the birds and fish returned and much of the wildlife...
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...to upgrade an important stretch of highway. Cash flows for this project have determined that the estimated net present value at 15 per cent return is a positive SAR8.8 million; which undoubtedly makes a net contribution to value. However, when examining the project further, there may be several constraints and risks that may negatively affect the project, thus negatively affect the project’s net present value. These constraints and risks are detailed in the following. Political Context of Saudi Arabia in 1992/1993: Saudi Arabia is a nation of nearly 30 million people. It borders Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen in the south. At the time, the region experienced the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988 and shortly after moving into the Gulf War which lasted until 1992. During the Gulf War, Saudia Arabia was surrounded and projected by United States troops, which were prime targets for attacks by neighbouring Iraq. When the war ended in 1992, Saudi Arabia was in need of considerable infrastructure upgrades and repairs, hence the likely need for the Dhahran Roads project. In entering negotiations with Saudi Arabia, SADE must also account for the political unrest and strife in the post-war region. These risks, along with the possible threat of retaliation from political opponents, could have severed the project, posing serious risks to being unable to recoup upfront investments...
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...S w 9B09M035 TALISMAN ENERGY INC.: THE DECISION TO ENTER IRAQ Natalie Slawinski wrote this case under the supervision of Professor Pratima Bansal solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Ivey Management Services prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Management Services, c/o Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail cases@ivey.uwo.ca. Copyright © 2009, Ivey Management Services Version: (A) 2009-07-02 In June 2008, John Manzoni, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Talisman Energy Inc. (Talisman), and his senior management team were called to a special board of directors’ meeting. The board was debating Talisman’s proposed entry into the oil-rich Kurdistan region of Iraq. This move was potentially very lucrative for the company but also posed many risks. Talisman had been tracking the issues related to the Kurdistan region for a number of years. The company had consulted multiple stakeholders...
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...The Effects of Alternative & Renewable Energy The Effects of Alternative & Renewable Energy The United States has massive dependency fossil fuels. Based on the US Department of Energy 2010 information, an incredible eighty five percent of the U.S total energy needs are directly related to the use of fossil fuels and seventy percent used for transportation needs. As stated by Lefton, R. & Weiss, D.J. the U.S accounts for three percent of the world’s population, however the U.S gulps down twenty three percent of the world’s oil. To satisfy its thirsty needs the U.S imports fifty seven percent of its oil needs. Fossil fuels come in three different forms, coal, oil and natural gas. This is a result of fossil remains of prehistoric plants and animals that have been in place for millions of years and trapped in sediments and rocks well below the earth surf. The leading exporting of crude oil are Canada, Mexico, ……..(Name top 5) Alternative/renewable energy are common “water cooler” conservation at work and dinner parties, they were also major discussions about alternative/renewable during the last presidential race. As we go about our everyday lives we constantly hear about the subject, from the evening news and our local to national print media. The increased use of alternative/renewable energy can ease the dependency on foreign oil from unstable counties and improve national security. Alternative/renewable would play a key in our efforts to also aid in reversing...
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...The Carter Doctrine and the Effects in Afghanistan POL 300 July 28, 2013 Professor Koltochnik Adreion Rice Assignment 2 As recorded, The Carter Doctrine was a policy proclaimed by the president of the United States Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union address on January 23, 1980, which stated that United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interest in the Persian Gulf region. The doctrine was a response to the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet Union, and was intended to deter the Soviet Union-the Cold war adversary of the United States-from seeking hegemony in the Gulf. After stating that Soviet troops in Afghanistan posed “a grave threat to the free movement of middle east oil,” Carter proclaimed: The region which is now threatened by Soviet troops in Afghanistan is of great strategic importance: It contains more than two-thirds of the world's exportable oil. The Soviet effort to dominate Afghanistan has brought Soviet military forces to within 300 miles of the Indian Ocean and close to the Straits of Hormuz, a waterway through which most of the world's oil must flow. The Soviet Union is now attempting to consolidate a strategic position, therefore, that poses a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil. When Carter assumed office in 1977, he was a tabula rasa, the perfect American innocent in a world set in its ways. Predictions of how he would behave were few, and those that were attempted were based on Carter’s...
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...other countries, Iraqis will create a new era: the era of democracy. It all started on January 30, 2005 when an Iraq election promoted and built democracy. The world was speechless by the results of the significant amount of numbers to vote for Iraq’s Transitional National Assembly. The Iraqi government took a huge risk by publically announcing that voting was a human right in practicing Democracy. The United States played a huge role in helping Iraq promote and build democracy, with the final goal of ending dictatorship. For the past twenty five years the U.S. has provided crucial support for democracy as well as a basic principle of the U.S. foreign policy. Not only has America helped Iraq turn away from dictatorship, but it has also helped other countries such as Philippines, Nicaragua, Indonesia, and Ukraine toward democracy. The U.S. has grown to have the label of “leadership” stamped on them when it comes to helping other countries towards Democracy. Today electoral democracies now exist in 120 out of 192 countries that are about 63 percent of the world’s population! (Soudriette, 2005) One author however disagrees with the outcome of the elections and believes they did not create a democracy but rather it was replaced by a sovereign Shiite government. Mortimer B. Zuckerman argues that removing Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, only placed more danger in Iraq because it is replace by the Shiite government. He argues furthermore to make a case that even the Special Forces...
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...In June 2014, the Islamic State which sometimes calls itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shram (ISIS) announced its establishment on the world politics (Lister, 2014). The organization is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who declared himself the Caliph. On his announcement, al-Baghdadi assumed the title of the Commander of the faithful Caliph Ibrahim II. Islamic State aspires to unite all Muslims in one state. According to the jihadists, this is only possible through a caliphate in which ISIS is closest to achieving. The difficulty of the formation of the caliphate is the harsh opposition the group obtains from the Shias who are a fifth of all the Muslims. Such oppositions had already been observed in the history of Islamic schism (Lister, 2014). ISIS ideological appeal has worked in its favor to recruit its fighters all over the world. The strategy has also resulted to some supports from Muslim countries such as Pakistan. Nonetheless, the group has unspeakable violence majorly directed to Christians and the Shias. This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the Islamic State regarding its evolution, modus operandi in terms of its operations and recruitment. The paper then assesses the impacts and threats of the group not only in the Middle East, but also world-wide. Literature Review The Islamic State has made great advances in both Iraq and Syria. It has captured significant cities, military armaments, weapons and oil...
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...Middle East Water Shortage | | | ------------------------------------------------- Top of FormRate This Paper: 12345Bottom of Form Length: 1101 words (3.1 double-spaced pages) Rating: Red (FREE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Due to geography and population growth, the Middle East nations are faced with a growing demand for a shrinking water supply. Throughout most of the Middle East region rainfall is irregular and the rainy season is very short. The World Bank reports that this area (including North Africa) has 5% of the world’s population, but only 1% of the world’s water. Droughts have been occurring more frequently and lasting longer, warning of a bleaker future. Man himself has not helped the situation. The rivers in the Middle East are being diverted, dammed, aquifers are being drained and polluted by pesticides and sea salt, and even marshes are drying up due to over-pumping. The countries that do have access to the precious few water sources do not conserve it, preserve it, nor can they agree on how to manage and share the water fairly. The need for water is not only for human consumption, but it is also vital in order to sustain agriculture. A nation that is unable to produce enough water and thus, food, for their own people is reliant on other nations to provide for them. This dependence can give rise to suspicion and conflict, which unsurprisingly has plagued this area of the world for centuries. The population...
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...The Involvement of Fritz Grobba in Iraq during the Interwar Years Sören Meier-Klodt 201103442 22.12.2014 Word Count: 4876 The Involvement of Fritz Grobba in Iraq during the Interwar Years The personage of Fritz Grobba in the mechanisms of Iraq nationalist aspirations and fascist movements is controversial to say the least. The British, tainted with years of influence and covert action themselves, to this day, claim that the doings of Mr. Grobba had a fundamental part in uprooting the peace in Iraq during the war years and that he played an important role in destabilizing the Iraq government and leading anti British sentiment during the inter-war years during his stationing in Baghdad. Grobba himself who in his work, Männer und Mächte im Orient, claims that he did not commit any such actions contested this. He goes onto to argue that it was in-fact the British that were the main conspirators of any covert political actions that led to both the destabilization of Iraq which indirectly also led to the rise of National sentiments that had at their heart an anti British Agenda. To this day this question remains of Importance, as the question of German involvement and the seeding of propaganda for the Hitler Reich and for Nationalism would have had an implicit role in creating the Farhud massacre of 1941 of the Jewish population in Iraq. If there exists such a correlation the descendants of the Jewish victims would have the right to compensation and would officially...
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...spread throughout the Middle East. Through the combination of: barbarism, military skill, strong religious beliefs, and the twisted use of social media, ISIS has become one of the most notorious terrorist groups in the world, and the actions of this group of outlaws have prompted reactions from various world leaders. If ISIS is not combatted, they could become powerful enough to wreak havoc amongst the entirety of the Middle East. ISIS is an acronym standing for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria; it is also sometimes known as ISIL, because sometimes "Syria" is replaced with the term "the Levant". At a certain level, one gets the impression that ISIS just emerged from nowhere: the organization was not a presence in Iraq when the United States was actually engaged in full-scale military operations there and has only emerged as a strong political power since the American withdrawal from Iraq. Ward has pursued the hypothesis that the origins of ISIS can be traced back to an American prison camp in Iraq called Camp Bucca: "According to a CBS News investigation, at least 12 of the top leaders of ISIS served time in Camp Bucca, including the man who would become the group's leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. CBS News obtained photos of 10 of them in Bucca's yellow prison jumpsuits" (Ward). So, it would seem that a group of prisoners met in Baku and began developing political ideology and strategy; and this was the beginnings of the organization known today as ISIS. The magnitude of the threat...
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...OUTLOOK OF IRAQ GROUP MEMBERS NAMES REG NO SIGNITURE 1. Tari Elizabeth Qabale DS/0002/010 2. Sessia Sammy Kipyegon DS/3005/010 INTRODUCTION Country formal name: Republic of Iraq and the local long form is (Jamhuriyyat al-Iraq) Convectional short form: Iraq and the local short form is al-Iraq Continent: Asia Country Motto: Allahu-Akbar (God is the Greatest) National Anthem: Mawtini (My Homeland) National symbol: Golden Eagle Terms for citizens: Iraqi(s) Capital city: Baghdad which lies in the center east of the country and actually the largest city. Current president: Jalal Talabani Current Prime Minister: Nouri Al-Maliki Year of independence: From United Kingdom on 3rd October 1932 and was declared a republic on 14th July 1958. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Historically, Iraq was known in Europe by the Greek troponin ‘Mesopotamia’ meaning the land between the rivers. Iraq has been home to numerous civilizations since 6th century BC. The ruins of Ur, Babylon and other ancient cities are situated in Iraq as well as the legendary location of the Garden of Eden. The region between Tigris and Euphrates rivers is identified as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing and the wheel. The water from these two rivers as well as the fertility of the soil in the alluvial plain and the delta allowed early agriculture to sustain the population as early as 6 BC. Once known as Mesopotamia, Iraq was the...
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...1941: IRAQ AND THE ILLUMINATI The growing guerrilla war in Iraq has shown Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to be far more resilient than anyone realized. To understand their resilience and grass-roots strength, one must look at the party's mystical origins. Columnist Maureen Dowd says the Arabic word Baath stands for resurrection. But Baath is not a word that translates well into English. A better synonym would be the Italian word Risorgimento. Actually, the party had its origin in the little town of Asadabad in western Iran. Here, in 1839, was born Sayyid Jamal ad-Din, a Muslim mystic sometimes known as al-Afghani (Arabic for the Afghan--J.T.) and "the Sage of the East." Jamal ad-Din was raised as a Shiite Muslim and, in 1845, his family enrolled him in a madrassa (Islamic school) in the holy city of Najaf in what is now Iraq. Here Jamal was initiated into "the mysteries" by "followers of Sheik Ahmad Asai (1753-1826). He also may have had some family connections with the Babis, followers of Siyyid Ali Mohammed al-Bab," an imam keenly interested in politics. "After years studying Shia theology at the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, he spent several years in India, the Caucasus and Central Asia before surfacing in Afghanistan as the senior advisor to the pro-Russian ruler." (Editor's Comment: Strange that a supposedly devout Muslim would head for India instead of making the traditional haj or pilgrimage to Mecca. It appears that Jamal ad-Din was one of the few Illuminati to...
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...INTRODUCTION 1. From time immemorial the land known today as Iraq has been the scene of conflict. Iraq has been, not only a strategic highway linking the Eastern Mediterranean lands with those of the Orient, but also the scene of frequent clashes between empires and great powers. It has seldom been the master of its own destiny, and in the numerous conflicts that stud its history, it has more often than not, been a pawn or the prize of other powers seeking regional hegemony. Until the beginning of twentieth century, most conflicts in the region were imperialistic in nature and involved Iraq because of its strategic important position. However, the discovery of vast oil deposits in the region in 1907 added another element to the equation, and conflicts, since have sprung from imperialistic motives as well as from a desire to protect or control sources of much of the world’s most important strategic resource. 2. Iran-Iraq war and the misadventure in Kuwait bear testimony to the misuse of power by Saddam Hussein. Saddam had always been labeled by the West as a producer of weapons of mass destruction. Ultimately a stage had reached where US and UK convinced themselves that Saddam was stockpiling these weapons. They demanded a change of regime and when threats were not taken seriously by Saddam, they launched Operation Iraqi Freedom or Gulf War II, despite all the opposition the world over, to attack and liberate Iraq. 3. Operation Iraqi Freedom consisted of the largest special...
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...Baghdad city was one of the wonders of the world. ... It is [our] hope that the aspirations of your philosophers and writers shall be realized and that once again the people of Baghdad shall flourish, enjoying their wealth and substance under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws and their racial ideals.[1] The government of Iraq, and the future of your country, will soon belong to you. ... We will end a brutal regime ... so that Iraqis can live in security. We will respect your great religious traditions, whose principles of equality and compassion are essential to Iraq's future. We will help you build a peaceful and representative government that protects the rights of all citizens. And then our military forces will leave. Iraq will go forward as a unified, independent, and sovereign nation that has regained a respected place in the world. You are a good and gifted people -- the heirs of a great civilization that contributes to all humanity.[2] Britain's 1917 occupation of Iraq holds worrying parallels with today.[3] After the euphoric 1917 capture of Baghdad and expulsion of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq soon became an ever deepening financial drain and graveyard for Britain. The same situation faces the US and to some degree...
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...Battle of the 73rd Easting Headed due east on the afternoon of February 26, 1991, VII Corps was advancing with a front of four armored/mechanized divisions. In the center of this front, leading the way and conducting reconnaissance for the corps, was the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR). The 2nd ACR’s job was to locate the forward elements of the IRG divisions suspected to be in the area, fix them in place, then pass the heavy divisions of VIII Corps through their lines so that they could smash the elite Iraqi units with a single killing blow. It was a difficult assignment, made more so by the weather conditions. The winter of 1990/91 was one of the wettest on record in the Persian Gulf, and had been a major problem during the preceding six weeks of the Desert Storm air campaign. Now the wind was howling, causing a sandstorm that was grounding the Army’s aviation assets and limiting visibility to as little as a thousand meters. Air reconnaissance was limited mostly to signals intelligence data, which meant that finding where the IRG divisions were located, would be up to the 2nd ACR. Like the prairie horse soldiers of 150 years earlier, the troopers of the regiments would grope forward until they physically ran into the enemy, in this case the IRG Tawakalna Division. Generally known to be the best and most aggressive of the various IRG formations, Tawakalna was the unit that would bear the brunt of the coming battle with VII Corps. As 2nd ACR moved forward, the regiment’s...
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