"Anyone care to speculate why countries who were against this war are so quick to forgive debt?"
Well, for the forseable future, it seems to be a win-win move. I mean, given the shape the country is in and will be in for a while, there is NO money to pay back anything anyway. So, if they forgive debts, 1) they do well by the U.S., which I'm sure is twisting some arms; and 2) they do well by whatever Iraqi govt comes to power for being supportive in Iraq's hour of need.
Joanna
--- How could the US twist Russia's arm? It could use a carrot approach by e.g. letting Russian oil companies into Iraq, but negative US leverage on Russia is close to zero.
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