BP’s New Iraq Adventure Could be a Turning Point for the West in the Middle East

Oil companies occupy a unique position at the intersection of global economics, politics, and security. Part of the reason for this is that energy is a crucial determinant of every country’s financial future and therefore its political manoeuvrings at home and abroad. Another part is that oil firms’ enterprises in foreign lands are enormous and multilayered operations involving the cultivation of relationships at the highest levels of a host nation’s government, industry, and society. The final part is that oil companies are legally…