Washington, D.C. - In this episode of Inside America, we will discuss two significant issues that captured headlines over the past week. Firstly, a political agreement has been reached in Iraq between two of the country's biggest political rivals: the autonomous Kurdistan Region and the Federal Government. The agreement is over longstanding oil disputes. But can it last? The deal comes first as good news for the Kurdish public servants who will finally start to receive their monthly paychecks. It has been nearly a year since Baghdad suspended Kurdistan’s budget, which amounts to 17% of Iraq’s national revenue, because of oil disputes between the two entities. As a result, Iraq’s oil exports will also rise to nearly 3.6 million barrels a day because the Kurds are willing to contribute by exporting more than half a million barrels and allow Baghdad to use their newly constructed pipeline at a time when the Islamic State has turned a northern pipeline dysfunctional. Finally in Washington, the Obama Administration has chosen its nominee to replace the outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hugel. The would-be top Pentagon official is Ashton Cater? Who is Ashton Carter? How is he different from his predecessor? What can we expect from him with regard to the war against the Islamic State (IS)? To discuss this subejct, Rudaw’s Namo Abdulla talks to Ahmed Ali, a Kurdistan/Iraq expert with the Institute for the Study of War. Ahmed has written and researched extensively on the disputes between Baghdad and Kurdistan. Merve Tahiroglu, a Turkey analyst with foundation for the Defense of Democracies, is also joining us to tell us about the role Turkey has played in Iraq's oil disputes and the most recent deal. Yishai Schwartz, a Washington DC-based journalist who writes on US foreign policy and the Middle East.
