SKIPPING THE PETROSTATE PHASE IS A PERK:

Baghdad passes federalism law (QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, 10/12/06, ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The federalism law sets up a system for allowing provinces to join together into autonomous regions that would hold considerable self-rule powers, a right given them under the constitution adopted last year in a national referendum.

Some Shiites want to create an autonomous zone in their heartland in the south, much like the self-ruling Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Sunni Arabs deeply oppose the federalism measures, fearing it will divide Iraq into sectarian mini-states, giving Shiite and Kurds control over oil riches in the south and north, and leaving Sunnis in an impoverished central zone without resources. Some Shiite parties, including the faction of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, oppose the measures for nationalist reasons.

Control of Baghdad and the tourism, banking, etc., that will go with it would seem a more attractive prize than mere oil, but why should the Shi'ites let the Sunni dominate it?

MORE:
Tehran's secret war against its own people: The persecution of Ahwazi Arabs and the takeover of their land has led to accusations of 'ethnic cleansing' (Peter Tatchell, 10/12/06, Times of London)

Under the cover of secrecy the fundamentalist regime in Tehran is waging a sustained, bloody campaign of intimidation and persecution against its Arab minority. These Arabs believe that they are victims of “ethnic cleansing” by Iran’s Persian majority.

Sixteen Arab rights activists have been sentenced to death, according to reports in the Iranian media. They were found guilty of insurgency in secret trials before revolutionary courts. But most of the defendants were convicted solely on the basis of confessions extracted under torture. Ten are expected to be hanged in a couple of weeks, after the end of Ramadan. Amnesty International says that two of those sentenced to die, Abdolreza Nawaseri and Nazem Bureihi, were in prison when they were alleged to have been involved in bomb attacks. Three others — Hamza Sawa- eri, Jafar Sawari and Reisan Sawari — say that they were nowhere near the Zergan oilfield the day it was bombed.

The death sentences seem designed to silence protests by Iran’s persecuted ethnic Arabs.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 12, 2006 8:09 AM