Iraq could be a critical component of Europe's energy security model

 Flying from Dubai to Iraq's Kurdistan Region at night, the geography below is written in distinctive yellow-orange flames. Blazing lines of unwanted gas trace the Rumaila and West Qurna oil fields in southern Iraq, and then the historic Kirkuk field to the north. Driving from Erbil to the northern city of Dohuk, another large torch crowns a mountain in Shaikan Field. This wasteful burning vividly illustrates how Iraq and its Kurdistan region are simultaneously united and divided by oil and its mismanagement.

Last October's elections were followed by a year of disputes, protests, outside pressure and a mix of sporadic and calculated violence before Iraq finally confirmed a new prime minister, Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, on October 27.

The Kurdish parliament has postponed its own elections by a year to the end of next year. The new

government brings together the pro-Iranian Coordination Framework, the Sunni parties, represented by Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi, and the Kurdish parties, from which the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) each receive two prime ministerial contributions. The Moqtada al Sadr movement is conspicuously left out, despite winning the most seats last October. Coordination framework, Al Sadr outdid himself and Iran orchestrated the opposition. On Wednesday, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani told an audience in Dohuk that he was assembling a team to "solve any outstanding issues". Problems” with the Baghdad

government, including a new federal hydrocarbon law.