China, Iraq begin construction of new city near Baghdad
The Cradle | December 29, 2023
Iraq broke ground on 29 December on 30,000 housing units near Baghdad, as part of a $2 billion project in partnership with Chinese firms to build five new cities across Iraq, Bloomberg reported on 29 December.
The government of Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani is seeking to build 250,000 to 300,000 housing units for poor and middle-class families. The new city on the outskirts of Baghdad will include universities, commercial centers, schools and health centers and should be completed in four to five years.
Contracts to build the housing units were awarded to East China Engineering Science and Technology Co., Ltd. and China National Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd along with their Iraqi partner Shams al-Binaa.
Contracts to build four more cities are expected to be awarded soon and another 10 will be announced next year, including in Karbala, Anbar, Nineveh and Babel governorates.
Chinese firms have increased their presence in Iraq in recent years, in part due to a deal between Baghdad and Beijing.
In 2019, Iraq signed a 20-year contract, agreeing to supply Chinese firms with 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, with the revenue earmarked for funding various development projects in Iraq undertaken by Chinese firms.
Following the deal, Chinese firms built 1,000 schools, developed the Nasiriya city airport, erected power plants, and completed several other infrastructure projects.
China has accelerated its investment in Iraq and other West Asian nations as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) announced in 2013.
China seeks to maintain stability in West Asia, given the region’s energy resources and geo-strategic location, to safeguard Beijing’s energy imports and shipment of manufactured goods to foreign markets.
Kremlin Warns of Potential Retaliatory Steps Against Assets of Foreigners
Sputnik – 29.12.2023
MOSCOW – Russia has a list of the assets of foreigners that can be taken as a reciprocal measure, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
On Thursday, the Financial Times newspaper reported, citing sources, that Germany, France, Italy and the European Union have expressed reservations regarding Washington’s idea to confiscate Russian assets worth $300 billion and consider it necessary to first assess the legality of the measure.
“Of course there is [a list of foreign assets that Russia can take]. Understanding the unpredictability of our counterparts, let us say, complete unpredictability and, understanding their tendency to violate international law and other laws, including their own national ones, understanding their tendency to self-destruction, I mean the destruction of the modern economic system, undermining confidence in the basic postulates of the world economic system, I mean, the main reserve currency, the principle of inviolability of property and so on, then, of course, we analyzed possible retaliatory steps in advance, and we will do everything like this, so that it would best suit our interests … Therefore, such actions are fraught with very, very serious consequences,” Peskov said, answering the question whether Russia can withdraw foreign assets.
The seizure of Russian assets abroad is illegal and can cause serious harmful consequences, including becoming another blow to the global economy, the spokesman added.
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From the Archives
The lies about the 1967 war are still more powerful than the truth
By Alan Hart | June 4, 2012
In retrospect it can be seen that the 1967 war, the Six Days War, was the turning point in the relationship between the Zionist state of Israel and the Jews of the world (the majority of Jews who prefer to live not in Israel but as citizens of many other nations). Until the 1967 war, and with the exception of a minority of who were politically active, most non-Israeli Jews did not have – how can I put it? – a great empathy with Zionism’s child. Israel was there and, in the sub-consciousness, a refuge of last resort; but the Jewish nationalism it represented had not generated the overtly enthusiastic support of the Jews of the world. The Jews of Israel were in their chosen place and the Jews of the world were in their chosen places. There was not, so to speak, a great feeling of togetherness. At a point David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father and first prime minister, was so disillusioned by the indifference of world Jewry that he went public with his criticism – not enough Jews were coming to live in Israel.
So how and why did the 1967 war transform the relationship between the Jews of the world and Israel? … continue
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