Iraqi Kurdistan is risking the loss of its share of Iraq’s national budget to secure greater independence and the right to manage its own oil. Although oil exports could net the Kurdistan Regional Government a healthy revenue stream, for now it cannot plug the gap if Baghdad continues to withhold the 17 percent of the national budget that it provides to Kurdistan every year. That revenue makes up the largest chunk of the Kurdish region’s budget, even though the Kurds say they regularly receive much less than promised. Baghdad began withholding that money in January, and the KRG has already had to delay paying public sector workers’ wages – April’s paychecks still haven’t arrived, and some workers have gone on strike. Officials say they will have to dip into savings. The Kurds, spread across Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, have long faced persecution and clamored for greater independence in each […]