Iraq

Main article: Countries of the world

Population

Population

2022:42 million people

2000: Population growth to 23 million

Migration

2021: Net outflow over 4 years

Nationalities

Kurds

Main article: Kurds

Marriages

Allowed to have more than one spouse

Foreign policy

2023: MIDA's pro-American chief Hussain

As of May 2023, pro-American Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, who is one of the main lobbyists for the American military presence in Iraq, is operating in Iraq.

Economy

GDP

2022: GDP size forecast - $0.29 trillion

Reserves of the country under the management of the United States

The country's own foreign exchange reserves after the US army invaded Iraq in 2003 are controlled by the US Federal Reserve.

Gold reserve

2023:132 tons of gold

The Iraqi Central Bank in May 2023 increased its gold reserves by about 2% in one day as part of a gradual stockpiling plan. Iraq bought 2.5 tons of bullion to bring its reserves to 132.73 tons.

Banks

2023

No cash withdrawals and dollar transactions

In October 2023, it was announced that Iraq would ban cash withdrawals and transactions with US dollars from January 1, 2024, the latest step in combating the misuse of the country's foreign exchange reserves for financial crimes and circumventing US sanctions against Iran, a senior Iraqi central bank official said.

According to the representative of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), this step is aimed at stopping the illegal use of about 50% of the $10 billion in cash imported annually by Iraq from the New York Fed.

It's also part of a broader program to de-dollarize the economy, with the dollar favored over local banknotes by residents weary of constant wars and crises since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

US sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks

In July 2023, Iraqi banks received fines from the US Federal Reserve and received restrictions on transactions in dollars.

The Fed's action on 14 Iraqi lenders sent the dinar rate in the unofficial market down to 1,570 to the dollar, 17% weaker than the official rate of roughly 1,300.

According to the data, the Fed Wall Street Journal acted as part of the fight dollar Iran against leakage to other Middle Eastern countries under American sanctions.

2022: Theft of $2.5 billion from the account of the tax service in the state bank "Rafidain"

Iraq's finance ministry found that five companies stole 2.5 billion from the dollars state tax commission's account. They were stolen from a government account at Baghdad's Rafidain Bank - a state-owned bank and Iraq's largest - between September 2021 and August 2022.

During that time, 247 checks were cashed out by five companies, three of which were created just over a month before the scheme began.

Oil Production and Processing

2024: Reopening of Northern Refinery in Baiji after 10 years of downtime

In February 2024, Iraq resumes the operation of the Northern Oil Refinery in Baiji.

The plant was closed for a decade during the violence and chaos that followed the 2003 U.S. invasion, making it nearly impossible to manage one of the country's most important energy complexes.

2023: Iraqi authorities take back control of oil export revenue

After the invasion of US troops in Iraq and the hanging of President Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Kurdistan for many years gained wide autonomy from the central government in Baghdad and the ability to independently export oil, receiving all the proceeds from it.

Iraq's biggest victory in March 2023 was the decision of the International Arbitration Court for the Export of Oil through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The Iraqi authorities have long sued Turkey because the latter imported energy directly from Kurdistan, and the autonomy authorities in Erbil received all the proceeds. Now only Iraq's state oil company SOMO will manage export operations, and all revenues will go to the federal budget.

After the court's decision, export through the oil pipeline temporarily stopped, presumably to resolve organizational issues.

In addition, the court awarded 1.4 billion dollars compensation to Iraq, which, according to the data MEDIA, , suited Turkey, since initially the Iraqi authorities demanded 33 billion.

In addition, the central government of Iraq, led by Muhammad al-Sudani, was able to reach an agreement on control over export revenues oil- now the funds will go to an account controlled by the authorities in Baghdad, which has not happened for about 20 years.

In addition, Iraq plans to auction a number of large oil and gas fields in eastern Baghdad within a month.

2021

Transport infrastructure

2024: Road and rail plan from Persian Gulf to Turkey

April 22, 2024 Iraq,, and Turkey Qatar UAE signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the framework of the Development Road project.

The project, which will connect the Persian Gulf with Europe through Turkey, is due to be completed in 2028. It is expected to cost $17 billion.

One of the main problems for the project is the presence of the Kurdistan Workers' Party formations in northern Iraq. Turkey and Iraq intend to remove this barrier using force.

Foreign trade

2022: China is the biggest export destination

2019: Iraq is a major energy supplier to the EU

Power

Energy consumption per capita

and

R&D

2020: R&D costs - $206 million

Agriculture

2019: Low use of pesticides in agriculture

2001: Main farming model - mixed

The main model of agriculture is mixed: irrigation and rain irrigation.

Consumption

2023: Poultry meat is the most consumed type of meat

Information Technology

2023: Telegram blocked due to national security concerns

On August 6, 2023, Iraq's Ministry of Communications blocked Telegram's instant messaging system. This is said to be for "national security reasons" and to preserve the integrity of personal data in the country.

Telegram is widely used in Iraq to exchange information, as well as as a source of news and to forward various content. At the same time, as noted by Reuters, some Telegram channels contain a large amount of personal data, including the names, addresses and family ties of Iraqis.

In a statement, Iraq's Ministry of Communications said it had asked Telegram management to shut down "platforms that leak data from official government agencies and personal data from citizens." However, it is alleged that the company did not respond to these requests and did not contact the department.

The Ministry of Communications confirms its respect for the rights of citizens to freedom of speech and communication without compromising the security of the state and its institutions, the ministry said in an official statement.

It is noted that Telegram services were actually blocked by noon on August 6, 2023. Users have lost the ability to exchange messages and forward any files. However, the app was still available via VPN.

NetBlocks statistics collected in real time indicate that Telegram's external and internal interfaces are limited to the leading Iraqi providers Zain and Earthlink. At the same time, the service remains available to Kurdish operators Kurdistan Net and Korek Telecom.

Metrics show Telegram's messaging platform is limited across much of Iraq, with the exception of operators in the autonomous Kurdistan region, NetBlocks said.[1]

Education

2019: Number of years of education by citizens over 25

Health care

Maternity leave

in

2020: Duration of guaranteed paid sick leave 6 months or more

Armed Forces

2023: 2nd most military and economic aid from the US in 23 years

2021: Defence spending - 2.28% of GDP

2020: US military aid worth $548 million

US military bases

2020: Plan to reduce the number of US military in the country to 3 thousand people

The United States will reduce the military contingent in Iraq by more than a third by the end of September 2020, General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), said on September 9, 2020.

He told reporters that this month the number of US military in Iraq will decrease from about 5.2 thousand to 3 thousand.

2008

Ecology

2021: Ninth in terms of air pollution

In March 2022, Greenpeace, in collaboration with the development company AirVisual, compiled an annual rating of the countries of Europe and the world with the cleanest air. In Iraq, air pollution in 2021 was 49.7 PM2.5 (mkg/m³). Read more here.

Crime

Terrorism

• Islamic State

Prisons

2021: 7th in the world in the number of death executions: 17 in a year

2019: The minimum age for children to be jailed is 9

2018: Number of prisoners per 100 thousand citizens

Sport

2022: The most popular sport is football

in

History

2023: Map of Iraqi Kurdistan

2022

Political crisis: A year without a government and president

By October 2022, there is no government in Iraq for a year after the parliamentary elections in October 2021. This is the longest period of de jure anarchy since the 2003 US invasion.

In October 2021, the Muqtada al-Sadr-led political bloc As-Sairun lil-Islah (Reform-Minded) won a majority of votes (73 seats) in the parliamentary elections. The alliance of Shiite parties - including those affiliated with Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (a power structure that includes paramilitary Shiite groups, part of the Iraqi Armed Forces) - received a record low number of seats, essentially losing an instrument of political influence.

According to the Iraqi constitution, the next step was to elect a president, prime minister and speaker. The first should be representative of the Kurdish community, the second should be Shia, and the third should be Sunni. And the choice should be based on the consensus of the country's powerful groupings.

In Iraq, the "three presidents" system ensured the interests of each of the three ethno-religious groups inhabiting Iraq, and made it possible to create the appearance of stability in the country.

Sadrists, along with the Sunni Sovereignty movement and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, have tried to lure several Shiite parties to their side and push for a majority-based parliament, avoiding the rule in place since 2005.

Muqtada al-Sadr tried to completely deprive his traditional opponents of power - the party of ex-Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and pro-Iranian groups. The confrontation that arose led to the fact that neither the president nor the head of government were ever chosen.

After a string of setbacks and a breakdown in dialogue in June 2022, all 73 Sadrist MPs resigned. Their seats went to the Al-Maliki party, strengthening the pro-Iranian position in the country.

Al-Sadr tried unsuccessfully to bring opponents to negotiate on more favorable terms. However, Nouri al-Maliki and the allies tried to elect a new prime minister without the participation of Sadr, which caused great indignation from the Ayatollah and his supporters.

In early July 2022, an audio recording of Nuri al-Maliki's offensive statements about Muqtad al-Sadr was published on the Web - this provoked mass pogroms.

At the end of July, Al-Sadr's followers stormed the parliament building twice, and in August, after Al-Sadr's announcement that he was leaving politics, the riots turned into riots. Then at least 30 people died, and over 700 were injured.

Despite Al-Sadr's statements, spontaneous riots and rallies continue.

At the end of September, Muqtada supporters defeated the office of Channel 4 in the Karrad district of Baghdad due to the disrespectful treatment of the leading Mahdi Army. Then a federal police officer was injured.

In early October, scuffles took place between sadrists and pro-Iranian factions in Basra over an attempt by sadrists to seize the local headquarters of Al-Hashd al-Shaabi.

In Di Kar province, during rallies, the building of the provincial council caught fire, the arson of which was accused of protesters. Members of the security forces began to use live ammunition.

On October 4, rallies were held in several cities of Wasit province, Tahrir Square and the Republican Bridge in Baghdad. Then more than 100 people were injured.

The next day, unrest in Baghdad continued between sadrists and supporters of Nuri al-Maliki in the vicinity of the Republican Bridge and on Saadun Street. Several people were injured.

Protests and insurgencies in Iraq are quite common. Each such case ended quite predictably, despite the statements of analysts of all varieties about the upcoming collapse of the country.

But the crisis of 2022 is knocked out of the previous ones due to the desire of Muqtada al-Sadr to completely take control of power, the Rybar telegram channel noted. Al-Sadr took advantage of the loss of popular confidence in pro-Iranian parties due to failed social policies and a catastrophic election campaign.

Ayatollah encroached on the principle of distribution of power, which has already become familiar to all Iraqi society. Since it is almost impossible to achieve the necessary quorum of 220 places in modern Iraq.

But since both the top of Iraq and their curators are completely satisfied with the current order of things, nothing came of Muqtada al-Sadr's attempt. Each faction has its own bit of power, and this maintains a very shaky parity between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds in parliament.

But the Sadrists' desire to redraw the political system predictably faced resistance, primarily from pro-Iranian formations, which since the war with IS have received enormous powers in Iraqi state life.

Even looking at the geography of the protests, it can be seen that only the southern and southeastern regions of Iraq and Baghdad are affected - mainly the places of compact Shiite residence.

What does Sadr want?

By this time, Muqtada al-Sadr has been a kind of "necessary opposition" for 15 years, whose interests must be reckoned with due to the wide support of the Iraqi population and the increasing popularity of the concept of withdrawing all foreign forces from Iraqi political life promoted by him.

Al-Sadr all these years competently used his supporters to gain benefits in the ongoing political processes. When he needed something, he would drive off followers and knock out a tidbit without crossing the "red line."

In this case, the Ayatollah most likely intended to do the same. He announced the withdrawal of his party from parliament, under its pretext he wanted to agree with his opponents on favorable terms, after which he would give a signal to his supporters to go home. However, the Coordination Union, led by Al-Maliki, decided to do otherwise, which put the country at risk of starting a civil war.

Western curators do not allow the conflict to develop into something more, realizing that it will then be more difficult to control.

The most important problem of the Iraqi political system is its disorganization. Pluralism, due to the abundance of opposing parties, deprives Iraq of the opportunity to resolve the internal political conflict.

Turkey launches new operation in Iraqi Kurdistan

On April 17, 2022, SV special forces units Turkey with artillery support landed in the Metina, Zap and Avashin districts of Dahuk province with UAV support from the air. The positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party were attacked by F-16 aircraft.

The Turkish foreign minister said: "If we see a fire in our neighboring country, we come to extinguish it."

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar: "The tasks of the first stage of the special operation have been achieved. Unlike previous operations, this will be long, as Turkey will not stop until the last terrorist is killed. "

On Turkish television, in addition to the above-mentioned areas of the operation, it is said that the territories at the Sinjar-Mosul line may be possible final goals.

Simultaneously with the operation, bots started working on social networks talking about "Great Turkey" with part of the territories of Iraq, Syria and Greece.

On the morning of April 18, the Iraqi official authorities did not speak out about the actions of the Turkish Armed Forces.

2021: Pope's Visit

On March 5, 2021, Pope Francis arrived in Baghdad, which was the Pope's first visit to Iraq. His trip is designed to rally the country's dwindling Christian community after decades of war.

2011: "Payments" to Unaoil in Iraq to obtain contracts in the oil sector

Unaoil made the payments in an attempt to influence at least five Iraqi officials making decisions on lucrative contracts for oil production and infrastructure maintenance in the country. Four of them were mentioned in emails under code names:

• Hussein al-Shahristani served as Minister of Energy from 2006 to 2010, was Deputy Prime Minister under Nouri al-Maliki in 2010-2014, and briefly became Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2014. The company gave him the codename 'Teacher'. For 2023, he is the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq for power.

• Karim Luaibi, who succeeded Shahristani as oil minister, who was called 'M'.

• Kifah Numan, head of the Southern Oil Company until 2009.

• Dhia Jaffar al-Mousavi, CEO of Iraq's Southern Oil Company from 2009 to 2015, when he became the country's deputy oil minister. The emails refer to him as' The Lighthouse '.

• Odai al-Quraishi, another Southern Oil Company employee, codenamed 'Ivan'.

The two most important people Unaoil tried to bribe in Iraq were so senior that the company was forced to use an intermediary - Ahmed al-Jibouri, codenamed 'Doctor' - to try to contact them. In 2010 and 2011, Unaoil paid Djiburi at least $20 million in an attempt to influence Shahristani and Luaibi.

Unaoil employee Bazil al-Jarah, who handled the company's Iraqi business, said he believed Jibouri was not just a lobbyist, but was handing over some of his remuneration to Shahristani and Luaibi. 'He is a tool,' Al Jarah wrote in a Skype conversation that was copied and pasted into an email. 'The people standing above him are real greedy mu * * ki'. In another email, Al Jarah described promising '1.5 days of leave' - the code for paying $1.5 million - for Djiburi's' side '. Djibouri 'passed on this information to the' Teacher 'and on the basis of this the' Teacher 'gave the go-ahead,' Al Jarah added.

It was possible to decipher these code designations as a result of a leak from the company's internal server - then tens of thousands of emails fell into the hands of journalists. The management and management of Unaoil are not personnel officers of the special services. Their lack of experience in working with classified data allowed investigators to quickly draw up a complete picture of what is happening.

From the full context of the emails, it became clear that 'holidays' are bribes, one day of which corresponds to $1 million. Sometimes an invoice for the appropriate amount was attached directly to a letter mentioning 'leave'.

In several emails, Unaoil employees gave enough details to identify the people behind the code names. In one letter, for example, Unaoil staff describe how the Prime Minister sent 'The Teacher' to inspect a particular site. From that day's news reports - and subsequent responses in the email chain - it becomes clear that 'Teacher' is Shahristani.

When Saddam Hussein was still in power, Shahristani, a nuclear physicist by training, was imprisoned in Abu Ghraib prison for years after refusing to help with his country's nuclear weapons program.

There is no direct evidence that the money Unaoil paid Djiburi actually went to Shahristani or Luaibi. But this does not absolve the company of responsibility, since even agreeing to pay a bribe, regardless of whether it was executed, is illegal in many countries.

2003: US and British attack on Iraq and hanging of President Saddam Hussein

On March 20, 2003, US troops, with the support of Britain and several other countries, attacked Iraq. On April 9, Baghdad fell, and President Saddam Hussein was overthrown. The Iraqi president was subsequently executed by hanging.

The pretext for the invasion was the statements of the Americans about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which were subsequently never found.

The country plunged into chaos and a series of feuds for a long time, turning into a bleeding ulcer on the body of the Middle East. After 10 years in 2013, it was from Iraq that the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant began.

1991: Amnesty International's false legitimization of the US war in Iraq

Amnesty International reports are believed to have been used to legitimize the US war in the Persian Gulf. The organization distributed the story of a Kuwaiti woman, which was known to the US Congress only by the name of Nayira. She said that when Iraq invaded Kuwait, she stayed to volunteer at a local hospital and saw Iraqi soldiers steal incubators with children and leave them to freeze to death.

Amnesty International confirmed this story, somewhat exaggerating the number of dead children to more than 300, which in principle exceeded the number of incubators available in all city hospitals in the country.

Nayira's testimony aired on ABC's Nightline and NBC Nightly News, and had an audience of 35 million to 53 million Americans at the time. Subsequently, US senators repeatedly cited Nayira's testimony in their speeches in support of the use of military force. President George W. Bush himself repeated the story at least ten times in the weeks that followed.

After the war ended, it turned out that the woman was lying, the story was invented, and her name was not given, since her father was a delegate from the government of Kuwait to the same hearings in the American Congress.

1978

1958

1700: Part of the territory in the east as part of Safavid Persia

114: Roman Emperor Trajan's military campaign

129 BC.

530 BC: As part of the Achaemenid Persian State

650 BC: Assyria and Babylonia

Calendar

Notes