The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline would effectively allow Baghdad to gain full control of Kurdish oil once it is produced. Baghdad will force foreign oil companies who have contracts with the Kurds to renegotiate with Baghdad to sell their oil through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline instead, which will completely cut the Kurds out and eventually make it impossible for foreign companies to operate there. Incidentally, the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has been offline since ISIS damaged it in 2014, and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces were largely responsible for pushing ISIS back from the region.

Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy installations this week took out the entire power-generating capacity of Trypilska TPP, the largest power plant in the Kyiv region (also supplying three other regions). Ukraine says Russia launched over 80 drones and missiles at energy installations, and that the Ukrainian air force shot down around 60 of those. This is Russia’s retaliation for Ukraine’s persistent…