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On this trade deal, their interests are aligned

Editors note (December 11th): This article has been updated.

UNION LEADERS and Democratic lawmakers were cool at first towards the USMCA, a replacement for the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which was signed by American, Canadian and Mexican trade negotiators over a year ago. But on December 10th, after months of further talks, they swung behind a reworked version. Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, Americas largest trade-union group, proclaimed a new standard for future trade negotiations. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, called it a victory for Americas workers.

The reversal may seem surprising. The AFL-CIO has not endorsed an American trade deal in nearly two decades, and Ms Pelosi is trying to get President Donald Trump, whose deal this is, impeached. According to polling data provided to The Economist by YouGov and published on December 11th, though 79% of Americans say that trade and globalisation are important to them, only 37% say the same of replacing NAFTA with the USMCA.

But both the politics and the content of the deal have led to unexpected alliances. Supporting the USMCA lets Democrats claim that they are not obstructing Mr Trumps agenda for the sake of it. And on trade, Mr Trump has more in common with the left wing of the Democratic Party than with his own Republicans. Many Democrats agree that previous deals made trade too free, with too few of the benefits going to American workers. And several of the changes secured by the Democrats are meaningful. Some are sure to be to Mr Trumps taste, too.

Among the revisions are an end to intellectual-property protections for biologics, a specific class of drug, and weaker patents for pharmaceuticals in general. Democrats say such protections stifle competition from generics and raise drug prices. Unsurprisingly, those changes went down badly with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry lobby. Its president said they amounted to an abandonment of protections for American companies.

Enforcement has been beefed up. Improvements to NAFTAs dispute-settlement system are probably the most important thing in the whole treaty, says Jess Seade, Mexicos chief negotiator. Under NAFTA, countries could block the appointment of arbiters to hear awkward disputes. This should no longer be possible.

The shared vision of the Trump administration and Democratic lawmakers is clearest when it comes to labour standards. The aim was to make it less attractive to move jobs from America to Mexico than had been the case under NAFTA by supporting Mexican workers employment rights. But in the first version of the USMCA, the AFL-CIO complained, the bar for proving a breach of the rules was too high and enforcement mechanisms were too onerous. Critics pointed to the only labour complaint ever to make it as far as a formal dispute as part of an American trade deal: a case against Guatemala in which arbiters agreed that the rules had been broken, but not that any harm to trade or investment had been demonstrated.

The new deal shifts the burden of proof regarding such harm. To avoid penalties, defendants will have to show that it did not happen. Moreover, accusations that manufacturers are breaking Mexican laws covering freedom of association and collective bargaining will be sent for speedy consideration to panels of independent labour experts. Rule-breaking will lead to penalties on exports. Overall, the revised labour provisions are good for Mexico, Mr Seade says, and will reinforce its governments own labour reforms.

The revised USMCA will restrict trade a bit more than NAFTA did. It will probably not live up to the hype. Even if greater use of collective bargaining raises Mexican wages, the USMCAs official impact assessment suggests that American wages would rise by just 0.27% in response. But for Mr Trump, his Democratic foes and their neighbours in Mexico, it counts as a win.

Read more:
Why the revised USMCA pleases both Democrats and Donald Trump - The Economist

Recent protestsin Iraq have demanded an end to rampant state corruption, the removal of foreign influences from Iraqi politics and the proper provision of public services.

State-Society Relations in Iraq

The causes of these demands are partially shaped by the myriad militia groups that began to emerge at the end of the Baathist era in 2003. They took on greater prominence in response to the threatof ISIS to Iraqs Shia. The most significant of these groups, operating under the Shia dominated umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi), utilize patronage links with Baghdad to support illicit economic activity that deprives the majority of Iraqis wealth. Iraqs state-society relations, therefore, entails that political elites in Baghdad maintainrelationships with state-sanctioned armed groups to buttress the power of the central state and resist inclusive government or wide-spread economic prosperity.

Extortive economic practices

One way in which PMF have spread their influence across the country is by managing and taxing smuggling networks.These networks formed in the late 1990s as Saddam Husseins Baathist regime sought tocircumvent the comprehensive sanctionsregime imposed by the United Nations Security Council and generate revenue from crude oil. In the decade after the 2003 invasion, many of the Baathist officials that had smuggled oil for Saddam joined ISIS and operated along the same routes, reportedly generating$1 million per dayat its peak. As early as2007, Shia militias were also reported to have taken over some of the old Baathist routes and they now maintain significant smuggling routes to and fromIran,Syria, and Turkey. Basra, Iraqs leading oil-producing province, which has been central to the protest movement that began in 2018 is reportedly run by mafiaswho operate arentier economythat fails to translate the density of resources in the area, into widespread economic gains.

Related: These Secretive Oil Companies Control $3 Trillion In Wealth

Checkpoints also generate income along the traditional smuggling routes run by a mixture of PMF brigades (such as the powerful Kataib Hezbollah, the Badr Organization, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Saraya al-Salam). It is further supported by federal police, Iraqi Security Forces, and Sunni tribal militias. Taxing the route from oil-rich Basra to the Jordanian borderis a vital source of income that operates with the implicit support of the state.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, for example, reportedlygenerates $300,000 per daythrough checkpoint fees across Diyala Province.The political economy of Iraq is therefore structured such that state officials in Baghdad benefit from the extractive economic practices carried out by armed, non-state groups who in return gain via patronage links to the central state. For example, the influential PMF, the Badr Organisation, is the military wing of the Fatah party which holds48 seats in the Iraqi Parliament.

As a result, the PMF candraw $2.17 billionfrom the federal budget (reportedlytwice the amountavailable to Kurdish Peshmerga forces), to employ 128,000 personnel. Consequentlysimilarities between Lebanese Hezbollahand the Iraqi militias are be constructed. Despite former Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdiissuing a decree in July, which ordered the PMF to vacate their headquarters and formally integrate into the states security forces, they have continued to entrench their influence over the state and the rest of the country.

The nexus between these non-state actors, the central government and activities such as smuggling and extortion is therefore central to the political economy of contemporary Iraq. Irans alignment compounds the problem with the powerful militia groups.

Irans role

Despite the decentralized and diverse nature of the PMF, the most significant groups profess an ideology of Islamic Revolutionism. This is in line with Irans Qud forces which is the foreign arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The head of the Popular Mobilization Committee and Kataib Hezbollah,Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, previously served with the IRGC against Baathist Iraq. The Badr organization, which was created as a formation of theIRGC during the Iran-Iraq Warhas a long history of allegiance to Tehran. Furthermore, newer, emerging groups are thought to have evencloser links to the IRGCthan Badr, suggesting a significant Iranian role in the activities of the PMF.

Related: Israel's Plan To Bypass The World's Most Critical Oil Chokepoint

In April, the IRGC and the Quds Force were designated as aterrorist entity by President Trump. Kataib Hezbollah, which was a prominent anti-US militia, has held the status since 2009. The designation, which forms part of President Trumps maximum pressure campaign against Iran, may have paradoxically harmed US strategic interests in Iraq. Broadly stated these are to leaveIraq internally stable and free of foreign(read, Iranian) interference. However, with the economic sanctions that come with being designated a terrorist organization by the US, the PMFs commercial interests have become more closely aligned with Tehran and the IRGCs. Unable to access global markets, there is more incentive to maintain the so-called rentier economy.

Conclusion

The system based on patronage links between the state and militias with external connections, which incentives an extortive economy of embedded violence has generated many of the grievances that are driving the current protest movement. This also partially explains why thePMF has been instrumentalin repressing these brutal protests over300 people have diedand 15,000 have been injured. Consequently, the structure of Iraqi governance which generates the incentives for militias to maintain extortive economic practices needs to be addressedbeforethe demands of the protestors can be met.

However, the extent to which these networked links have embedded themselves into Iraqi society implies that the problem of corruption and foreign interference will not be solved by simply replacing the current political elites but will require a bottom-up reconfiguration of much of the economy.

By Jonathan Burden via Global Risk Insights

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

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The Uncomfortable Truth Behind Iraq's Violent Protests - OilPrice.com

The Iraqi police and military forces field one of the widest variety of handguns in the world. From modern staples like the Glock 19, HS Produkt HS2000, and S&W M&P to relics like Saddams infamous Browning High Power, many pistols could lay claim to being the Iraqi national handgun. But in fact, the honor belongs to the Tariq, a clone of the Beretta M1951 manufactured in Iraq. While Tariq can refer to both clones of the M1951 and the Beretta 70 series, clones of the M1951 are generally more common, and the Tariq name generally applies to them when said without other context.

But why does the Tariq have lasting popularity with Iraqis?

A lot is probably down to availability and customizability. In an excellent video describing the history and characteristics of the Tariq, Miles Vining of Silah Report and TFB TV calls the Tariq the Hi-Point of Iraq, a reference to the cheap and available Hi-Point pistols in the US.

This is due to the Tariq being license produced in Iraq. In the 1980s, Saddam Hussein wanted to start producing firearms in Iraq, setting up an arms plant in Al-Qadisiyah. The plant primarily produced a version of the Yugoslavian Zastava M70 AK known as the Tabuk, but also produced the Tariq. Presumably, Saddam was able to buy a license for the Beretta M1951 for cheap, as Beretta had already moved on to producing the more advanced Beretta 92.

The Tariq does not make any significant changes in operation from the Beretta M1951. Mechanically, its a single-stack 9x19mm Parabellum pistol that relies on a rising and falling locking block to lock the slide onto the barrel. The most distinct visual change are the metal medallions inset on the grips of Tariq pistols, which depict Tariq ibn Ziyad, a commander who lead Muslim armies across the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain. Gibraltar itself is a Spanish derivation of Tariqs name.

The arms plant in Al-Qadisiyah was a success, and Tabuk rifles and Tariq pistols were mass produced and standard-issue for most of the Iran-Iraq War and the following Gulf Wars. As a result, thousands of Tariqs flooded onto the black market following the collapse of the Baathist Iraqi government and looting of government armories in 2003.

As the Tariq is rather large for its capacity and only has an 8 round magazine, it is thoroughly outclassed by most modern double-stack handguns. However, this ensures that the price is kept low. As it uses common 9x19mm ammunition, it can be seen as an everymans pistol in Iraq. Tariq production was even restarted in 2009 and continues to this day as demand remains high.

The non-tilting barrel of the Tariq also allows it to be easily suppressed. Most pistols with tilting barrels like the Glock, High Power, and HS2000 require an additional component in the suppressor called a booster to suppress, as the additional mass of the suppressor makes the tilt to unlock the barrel require more energy. Conversely, the Tariqs fixed barrel imposes no such limitation, allowing for simple suppressors just made of baffles to be fitted to the muzzle. This has made the Tariq a favorite of assassins and special troops in the employ of insurgents or various militias across Iraq.

Despite its seemingly obsolescent nature, the Tariq, Iraqs national handgun will likely continue to be seen for a long time in the region. Continued production ensures that there will be spare parts to keep even old Tariqs running for a long time.

Charlie Gao studied political and computer science at Grinnell College and is a frequent commentator on defense and national-security issues.

Image: Bob Adams NM via Wikimedia Commons.

Go here to see the original:
Meet the Tariq: The Old Gun (Beretta Clone) That Iraq Can't Get Rid Of - The National Interest Online

Issued on: 12/12/2019 - 16:49Modified: 12/12/2019 - 16:53

Since deadly anti-government demonstrations broke out in Iraq in October, over 400 people -mostly young, unarmed protesters -have been killed by Iraqi forces. But officials say that only 111 people have died.Meanwhile, the families of protesters killed in the unrest are accusing the government of falsifying their death certificates. They say that officials changed the cause of death of their loved onesand are contesting the documents.Our correspondent in Baghdad, Ibrahim Saleh, went to meet with some of these families.

Meanwhile,Lebanon'spolitical and economic quagmire continues. But the situation is at least fuelling the creativity of the country's artists.Showing that a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, young illustrators are making their opinions known through political cartoons. We take a closer look.

And this year, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees marks its 70th anniversary.But UNRWA has little to celebrate.Since the US stopped its contributions in 2018, the UN agency is facing its worst financial crisis to date.As Adel Gastel illustrates, the move has put at risk vital aid for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.

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Protests in Iraq: Families angered by altered death certificates - Middle East matters - FRANCE 24

Sgt. Marshall H. Edgerton was 7 years old when his grandfather picked him up early from school in December 2003.

That wasnt necessarily odd, because at the time, the now 23-year-old paratroopers father was serving in Iraq. And for six months before that, he was deployed to Afghanistan.

Me and my mom and sister had moved back to Tennessee, because right on my dads arrival back from deployment, he was getting out. His ETS was coming up," Edgerton recalled during a telephone interview with Army Times.

I got called out of school and I got in the car and there was my mom and her mom and dad, my grandparents, he added. They were crying and no one was really saying anything.

After picking up his uncle, the family explained what happened. His father, then-Spc. Marshall L. Edgerton, had been killed in action Dec. 11 while pulling guard duty at Camp Ar Ramadi, Iraq.

I was 7, so I understood but at the same time I didnt, the son said.

At the time of his death, the father of two was assigned to a signal battalion within the 82nd Airborne Division.

Almost 16 years later, Edgerton was serving in his fathers old division when he received an email from Fort Gordon officials in Georgia. The post was naming a new barracks for signal corps students after his father on the anniversary of his death, and they wanted the Edgerton family at the Dec. 11 dedication ceremony.

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News reports from the early 2000s and a pamphlet passed around at the ceremony detail the elder Edgertons final moments.

Suicide bombers had approached the base west of Baghdad in a furniture truck hiding an improvised explosive device in the gas tank. After it was waived through the gate, the 27-year-old father offered to escort the truck onto the compound, taking the place of another soldier who needed to grab lunch.

Fellow paratroopers heard Edgerton shouting to warn others just prior to a massive blast rigged from several 100-pound artillery shells. He was the only fatality, but soldiers with him that day said that had he not noticed something was wrong, the truck could have made it to the chow hall where soldiers were busy eating their noon meal.

Edgerton posthumously received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals for his actions.

Years later, his son enlisted, too. Attending jump school like his father was always the goal, said Edgerton, who recalled watching his father jump out at Sicily Drop Zone, near Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

That was my focus. Walking into the recruiters office, I was like Hey, I dont care what job it is, I want an Airborne contract, he explained. And then I got to Airborne School and it was probably the most nervous week of my life. This is what I had been thinking about since I was 5, 6, 7 years old. I am actually doing it now."

The dedication ceremony took place Wednesday on Fort Gordon. Edgerton brought his wife and daughter to the event, and his mother and sister also attended.

The ceremony was important for another reason, though. It offered a long awaited chance for Edgerton to reconnect with his fathers old battle buddies.

I keep in touch with all the guys who worked with my dad and I ran into a lot who are still in the military, and a lot are coming down, too, Edgerton said as he was in transit to the dedication ceremony earlier this week.

It will be the first time since the 10-year anniversary of fathers death that Edgerton has seen many of those friends of his father.

Not only is it good in the sense that theyre memorializing him, but its also kind of an opportunity for a lot of those guys to come in and were all going to catch up, he added. This kind of facilitated it in a way.

Edgerton, who currently serves as a signal support systems specialist, wants to make the Army his career. He has even been contemplating putting an application in to become a warrant officer.

Edgerton Barracks is part of a series of construction projects underway as part of a Fort Gordon modernization push, officials there said.

The new barracks will be the largest company and barracks facility on Fort Gordon, according to Col. John T. Batson, commander of the brigade that will use the complex. It will consist of 300 rooms and will house 900 soldiers attending advanced individual training in signal specialties, Batson said.

For Edgerton, the new barracks stands as a memorial to his father, but also as a lesson and reminder to future signal corps soldiers as they enter the Army.

All the new soldiers coming into the signal corps and getting that training, theyre going to see that when they walk in every day, he said. I think its awesome.

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Paratrooper who lost father in Iraq attends dedication ceremony for barracks named in his honor - ArmyTimes.com