Tuesday, March 12, 2024
"KURDISTAN NEEDS TO GET RID OF THE IDEA OF BE INDEPENDENT OF IRAQ: THERE MUST BE A NATIONAL UNITY" BY MNT GOAT, 12 MARCH
MNT GOAT
MP: POLITICAL DIFFERENCES BEHIND OBSTRUCTION OF OIL AND GAS LAW LEGISLATION
Information/Baghdad.A member of the Oil and Gas Committee, Bassem Nghimish, said on Monday that there are problems and political differences between Baghdad and Erbil over the oil and gas law, pointing out that political differences hinder the legislation of the oil and gas law.
Nghimesh said in an interview with Al-Maalouma that “the law is waiting for the understandings of Baghdad and Erbil to legislate the oil and gas law under the dome of the House of Representatives.”He added, “The passage of the oil and gas law in the House of Representatives needs political consensus, which hinders the vote on it until the moment.”
He explained that “the law was carried over many times during previous parliamentary sessions and was not included in the current parliamentary laws and legislation.”Ngueimish pointed out that “the oil and gas law is still a matter of controversy and disagreement between the political parties.”
(However, we can see from the February 21, Federal Supreme Court ruling [see article above] that the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government must hand over “all oil and non-oil revenues” to Baghdad. This is the beginning of the end of the controversy over the oil revenues and how the will be handles and the Oil and Gas Law controversy. Kurdistan wants to keep what oil revenues it wants as long as they fund the budget, they think the rest of the revenue is their, but the courts now say differently, and this ruling is according to the Constitutional mandates. Afterall isn’t there supposed to be National Unity between all parts of Iraq for one, free nation state of Iraq? Kurdistan needs to get rid of this idea of independence.)
"PARLIAMENT & MALIKI STATE THE OBVIOUS!!! BUT... WE TOLD YOU THERE WAS A REASON FOR 1310!!!" BY FRANK26, 12 MARCH
KTFA
FRANK26:"PARLIAMENT & MALIKI STATE THE OBVIOUS!!! BUT... WE TOLD YOU THERE WAS A REASON FOR 1310!!!"..............F26
Coordination Framework seeks early election to curb al-Sudani's growing popularity: analysis
3/11/2024
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani is strikingly popular among the Iraqi people, but the parties who once supported him are organizing to take him down, a report by Medialine suggested.
"Iraq's ruling coalition plans to call for early elections in an attempt to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani," it said.
Al-Sudani belongs to the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite parties loyal to Iran. But after assuming the premiership, "al-Sudani changed his approach toward the parties and came to disagree with many of their political positions."
A leader in the Islamic Dawa Party, which al-Sudani led until stepping down in 2019, told The Media Line that Coordination Framework parties have been meeting for about five months and plan to call for elections in 2024 or early 2025.
"The plan is to attack the prime minister, belittle his achievements, bring him down popularly, and create more political and economic problems, after which the Iraqi street will go out in demonstrations demanding the overthrow of the government, and then call for early elections, and not nominate al-Sudani again, or grant him any position," the source, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
The source noted that two previous Iraqi prime ministers had lost their positions after the Iraqi public turned against them. "The party fears that Al Sudani may announce the formation of a new political party or alliance, run in the upcoming elections, and become the ruling political majority in Iraq."
The dispute between the Coordination Framework and al-Sudani relates to the prime minister's approval of US Federal Reserve policies to prevent currency smuggling, according to the report. "These measures reduced the circulation of US dollars in Iraq and increased the price of the dollar."
Al-Sudani also implemented several policies that have boosted his popularity. "He increased government salaries and wages for retirees, launched major development projects in the capital and several Iraqi governorates, and announced plans to improve infrastructure and expand the nation’s road network."
According to official statistics, he also significantly reduced unemployment and passed a social security law for workers in the private sector and announced a plan to build 1,000 schools and more than a million residential units.
Since mid-2023, at least 10 countries, including some in the Gulf Cooperation Council, have announced new investments in Iraq. The exchange rate of the dollar in the parallel market has also stabilized since November 2023.
A September 2023 opinion poll by the Government Advisory Board found that al-Sudani enjoys a 78% approval rate. Another poll by the nongovernmental Iraq Statistics Organization found him to have an approval rate of 51%, the highest of any Iraqi official.
The Iraqi government is currently weighing the question of changing the currency so that the official cost of a US dollar will be 1.32 Iraqi dinars instead of 1,320 dinars. Implementing such a decision is likely to significantly increase al-Sudani's popularity.
Abbas al-Musawi, adviser to the former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said in statements to Iraqi media that al-Sudani's achievements are "for everyone", while also saying that al-Sudani will not be reelected as prime minister.
"We are not afraid of al-Sudani. We have our audience, and it is a stable audience," al-Musawi said.
Jaafar al-Khudairi, a member of the National Wisdom Movement, one of the Shiite parties within the ruling Coordination Framework, told The Media Line, "The Dawa Party is trying to state that only its cadres are capable of running the state, but this is not true."
He said that the parliament is discussing a new law regarding elections and that new elections might be called after that law's passage.
Karar Sahib, director of the Iraqi Media Observatory, told The Media Line that al-Sudani has faced constant criticism on Iraqi television.
"There are channels affiliated with the Shiite religious parties, which were the most offensive, as they only showed the negative aspects of the decisions, and tried to exaggerate them," he said.
He said that consistencies across different channels suggest that there may be a single writer behind the criticism.
Sahib defended al-Sudani's achievements. "Iraq is now making an unprecedented renaissance," he said. "It is true that the situation is still below ambition, but it is much better than before."
Muhammad al-Bouflah, a former professor of political science at the University of Baghdad, told The Media Line that the current political climate is a result of the premier's attempt to fracture the coalition. He also said that the Coordination Framework will succeed in holding early elections only if Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr comes out in favor of the plan.
"I do not think that Muqtada al-Sadr will return to trusting the Coordination Framework after they removed him from the political process, and therefore the prime minister will continue to complete his term as president," he said.
Former Member of Parliament Shaiban al-Kilani told The Media Line that the disputes have to do with the different parties' attempts to vie for power.
"The disputes are only over shares of the cake," he said, "and are not disputes over the popularity of the current prime minister."
"IMPORTANT IRAQ NEWS: Financing the region with about 130 billion dinars to pay retirees’ salaries and care" BY CLARE, 12 MARCH
CLARE:
Financing the region with about 130 billion dinars to pay retirees’ salaries and care
3/12/2024
Baghdad - Qusay Munther
The Ministry of Finance directed to fund the Kurdistan Region’s account with more than 130 billion dinars to pay the salaries of retirees and those covered by care, after the decision of the Federal Supreme Court to provide justice to the beneficiaries, similar to other provinces.
The Ministry said in a statement yesterday, “Based on the directives of the Prime Minister and the approval of the Minister of Finance, and based on what was stated in the letter issued by the Federal Supreme Court, we directed to take the necessary measures to deposit an amount in the current account in the name of the regional government, in order to disburse the entitlements of the disabled in the directorates of the Social Protection and Welfare Network.” and Social Development in Kurdistan for the month of February last, noting that the amount was credited to our current account open with the Central Bank of Iraq.
He added that “another amount was deposited to disburse the entitlements of civilian and military retirees in the region for the same month.” He pointed out that “the Ministry informed the Federal Court in It wrote that funding for salaries for the month of February was launched for the region, since the localization mechanism requires a period of time for this month only, and salaries for the current month of March will not be released until after the requirements for salary localization are completed by the region), holding (the regional government) the legal responsibility for the validity and accuracy of the information.
And the data presented before the regulatory and legal authorities and bodies, and the responsibility of disbursing salaries to those actually entitled to them),
stressing (providing them with a position on the extent of the region’s commitment to what was stated in the Budget Law in Articles 11 and 12 of the quantities of crude oil exported or received from the regional government on a monthly basis, and considering it as a work context followed in each month of Without the need to approach you, it will be returned to our department as of the 25th of each month, in addition to quickly providing us with a position on the quantities of crude oil exported or received from the regional government).
Baghdad's cessation of paying regional development allocations to the region's governorates 10 years ago, amounting to more than two trillion dinars, led to the cessation of hundreds of projects, including 250 projects in only one governorate. The head of the Parliamentary Regions and Governorates Committee, Kurdo Omar, said, “The committee intends to host Finance Minister Taif Sami to explain the reasons for not disbursing regional development allocations to the governorates of the region,” stressing that “there is a consensus in the committee on this matter,” and added that “the committee is waiting for the amendment of the budget law, especially Other governorates suffer from the same problem, as a small percentage of these allocations were disbursed, reaching 30 percent in some governorates, and the reason is red tape and corruption,” noting that “the allocations for regional development amounted to 3 trillion and 500 billion dinars in 2015, and 1 trillion and 244 billion dinars.” dinars in 2016, 375 billion dinars in 2017, 5 trillion in 2018, two trillion in 2019, and 4 trillion in 2021), and he continued that (the total allocations for regional development in 6 budgets amounted to 16 trillion and 120 billion dinars, and the region’s governorates’ share of it was according to a percentage 12.67 percent (more than two trillion dinars).
"RV UPDATE" BY NADER FROM MID EAST, 12 MARCH
Nader From The Mid East
Article quote: "The Iraqi government and the Central Bank are dissatisfied with the nature of the US treasury's dealings with Iraqi banks...There is an effort to lift the sanctions..." They need to take off the sanctions of Iraq IQD.
A lot of good news come out yesterday and I'm very happy...You know what? I'm excited. I'm very excited what's happening.
Article: "Data from the Central Bank of iraq show a decrease in the amount of printed currency by 1.2 trillion dinars between the months of November and December 2023 while indicating this decrease in the amount of currency is the 3rd largest decrease recorded in 20 years..."
Very good news, IQD decreasing. Wow.
The RV will not happen if no one declares the end of the war...we still on war. In December 2021 they took troops out... but they never declared the end of the war...and they never took out the international coalition."THE SAGA OF THE IQD RV CONTINUES: THE CBI IS FOLLOWING THE 2011 DR. SHABIBI AND IMF PLAN?:"GOOD NEWS! THE NEW IRAQI OIL LAW WILL NORMALIZE IRAQ", BY MNT GOAT, 12 MARCH
MNT GOAT
...The saga about the Iraqi dinar RV continues. It is what you don’t know that can cause you some stress and anxiety. Even I sometimes want to rush the RV process and I have to step back and relax. I have to ask myself if the CBI is following the 2011 Dr Shabibi and IMF plan.
As long as they are following it, I am very happy and so should you. As we all know Iraq is NOT working on our timetable as their newly formed government is sometimes very slow to act...
GOOD NEWS! THE NEW IRAQI OIL LAW WILL NORMALIZE IRAQ
THE NEW IRAQI OIL LAW UNDERMINES THE DREAM OF KURDISH INDEPENDENCE
The new Iraqi oil law undermines the dream of Kurdish independence with the increasing importance of the role of energy resources in the independence of countries, the oil dispute between Baghdad and Erbil cannot be viewed as a mere emergency dispute, but rather extends beyond that to political calculations related to the option of Kurdish independence and providing the infrastructure for this independence.
Baghdad – Analysts believe that the new oil law being prepared by the Iraqi government in Baghdad will be the final factor that will end the dream of independence for Iraqi Kurdistan, which in turn will affect the future of Western oil companies operating in the region.
On February 21, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government must hand over “all oil and non-oil revenues” to Baghdad.
(This is a solid start to getting the Oil and Gas Law completed and to parliament for a vote. This must be completed to finish a Constitutional requirement to fully implement the new 2005 Iraqi Constitution. This was told to me a decade ago that this is critical to normalizing Iraq. So this is all excellent news for us today.)
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Frank26 [Bank story] This time we didn't go down, we just called [the bank]... We said we want to see if we can exchange some cu...
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Bank appointment for Currency EXCHANGE Instructions/Checklist Bank Name_________________________________________ Bank 800#____________...
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Walkingstick All these meetings that the CBI had with all these agencies that were helping them with their monetary reform are done. Al...