anyway ....
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/22/international/europe/22CND-RUSS.html
"MOSCOW, Dec. 22 — Russia offered today to forgive about two-thirds of Iraq's $8 billion in debt, after officials of the Iraqi Governing Council signaled that Moscow would have the chance to revive oil contracts signed under Saddam Hussein, its ousted leader.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the American-backed Governing Council, said talks with President Vladimir V. Putin led Russia to propose wiping away 65 percent of Iraq's Soviet-era debts to Moscow in return for Baghdad's favorable treatment of Russian oil and other companies.
"We received a generous promise to write off the debt, or at least a part of it," Mr. Hakim told reporters after meeting Mr. Putin for the first time in the Kremlin. In return, he said, "we will be open to all Russian companies."
Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader and a member of the Iraqi delegation, said, "Russia said it is willing to consider the write-off of the rest of the debt if it received beneficial treatment in terms of oil contracts."
As one of Iraq's biggest creditors, Russia is owed $8 billion in principal and interest and wants the write-off negotiated through the Paris Club, a group of 19 creditor nations that negotiates debt."
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This is exactly what I was worrying about. If this sort of horse-trading and side-dealing becomes par for the course in Paris Club deals (which it decidedly is not at present), it can't be anything but bad news for the Third World.
dd
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