Sign Your Country on the Dotted Line

Old research habits die hard. Actually, it’s my belief that knowledge should not be compartmentalized – you know what you know, and latent awareness can only help. Now, why does my linguistic training apply to fossil fuel?

I can read the new Iraqi oil law in its original form.

My Arabic is passable on a street-conversation level, largely confined to buying food, asking directions, and looking for old record albums. So how can I read a long series of “whereas” clauses from an Arab country?

Because it was written in English.

That’s right, the draft legislation approved this week by Iraq’s cabinet was apparently hewed by Anglophones and only later honed by officials in Baghdad.

Energy and Capital