BACK TO IRAQ

China Makes A Move On OPEC's No.2

Following a political backlash over details of its plans to make Iran effectively a client state through various multi-layered oil and gas deals, China has switched its attention – for the time being at least – to Iran’s equally oil and gas-rich neighbor, Iraq. China has the advantage in Iraq that the northern part of the country – the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan – is already under the control of its increasingly close ally, Russia, with its corporate proxy Rosneft having secured control over Kurdistan’s oil and gas infrastructure in a deal in November 2017.

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/china-makes-move-opecs-no2

All U.S. troops withdrawing from Syria expected to go to western Iraq: Pentagon chief

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that all of the nearly 1,000 troops withdrawing from northern Syria are expected to move to western Iraq to continue the campaign against Islamic State militants and “to help defend Iraq.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-usa/all-u-s-troops-withdrawing-from-syria-expected-to-go-to-western-iraq-pentagon-chief-idUSKBN1WZ01S