"One year later, the China National Petroleum Corporation has struck oil at the Ahdab field in Wasit Province, southeast of Baghdad. And while the relationship between the company and the Iraqi government has gone smoothly, the presence of a foreign company with vast resources drilling for oil in this poor, rural corner of Iraq has awakened a wave of discontent here."

The above passage is quoted from this story.  It is important to realize that the pursuit of energy is within everyone's interest in the international community. The important issues here are that not only is the other great power, China, interested in acquiring energy resources but also that the Chinese are experiencing the same problems the United States faces namely the locals where energy projects are based. 

China needs the energy to feed its economy, thus it is forced to deal with governments that can provide and satisfy those energy needs like Iraq.  Iraq on the other hand benefits from Chinese investment and development of its aging oil infrastructure.  There is a confluence of self interest among the two parties. There is a problem. The local population isn't "on board," in the sense that the expectation of Chinese investment isn't shoring up with reality.  The locals thus resist the Chinese in one way or the other. The Chinese are then obliged to protect their investments using troops either from China or private military firms. Increasingly the Chinese cut themselves off from the population, living within the relative security of the armed protection.  Historically it would seem the greater isolation, the higher chance of violence, which in turns causes for armed guards and more isolation.  The cycle of insurgent and security force violence.

I wonder if the foreign investment pouring into Iraq right now will the next focal point of violence or will this pass into the background?