"Petty Politics" - Mon. PM TNT Thoughts/News 3/11/19

by **Ssmith** Tue Mar 12, 2019 11:32 am

TNT

Tishwash:
parliament meeting is over they will meet again tomorrow it seems they only discussed a bunch of laws and amendments

Fuze:
Tishwash, Ty I'm not surprised...IMO they are trying to score political points by scheduling the GOI completion with Rouhani's visit. Then Trump will have to visit and pull the trigger on the RI to Trump Rouhani...petty politics at this point... Smh

Fullsail:
I relate this experience to 52card pickup..... cards are in the air, trying to figure how each card will behave Before it lands, how it lands, where it lands, face up/face down,...... Isn't as important to me as knowing the fact They Will ALL land, and once they do, We will know which direction to go, which actions to take towards Our New Future....

Cutebwoy:
GM room do u all remember the cbi al-alaq article last week stating that they have enough money for all projects but he said that he is scared to implement funds due to cbi and goi corruption ,so IMO all the needed laws will need to be inplace before and currency RI takes place .and this is the cbi telling us the reason for delay…. just follow the articles out of the CBI and we all will know a time frame and whats really going on…. corrupt people been in power wont help without laws to scare them from doing wrong ,we know they will still try after the laws are in place but if caught they now face the people in the streets ,so laws first seated goi anytime

Briona:
Corruption is a part of life, it also abounds in our country, so the best they can expect is to curb it.

Jambie67:
I believe a lot more progress has been made than anyone wants us to be aware of. Why? Because nobody intends on allowing anyone a heads-up on this RV green light. We can only speculate, and that's the intent. Given that, I believe we are only footsteps away from the finish line... as in today or tomorrow. Let's wait and see what MORE comes out!

Harambe:
AP News: First time in Baghdad: Iran's president to visit Iraq (from @AP)
https://apnews.com/199018fd8072464ebf092931fc278ba9

AP News: Iran's Rouhani seeks to boost ties on first visit to Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was in Baghdad on Monday, making his first official visit to the nation that Tehran once fought a bloody war against and later backed in the battle with the Islamic State group.

Since Rouhani’s election in 2013, Iraq has relied on Iranian paramilitary support to fight IS, following the militant group’s capture of the Iraqi city of Mosul and other territory in both Iraq and Syria.

Now with the militants facing a final territorial defeat in the Syrian village of Baghouz, Iran is looking for Iraq’s continued support as it faces a maximalist pressure campaign by President Donald Trump after his decision to withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Rouhani, who is accompanied on the three-day visit by a high-ranking political and economic delegation, was received by an honor guard on landing in Baghdad, where he was welcomed by Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali Al-Hakim.

Rouhani then visited the shrine of Imam Kadhim, the seventh of 12 clerics revered by Shiites worldwide. Rouhani, a Shiite cleric himself, paused to reach out and touch the gate surrounding the imam’s tomb.

He then met President Barham Salih and spoke to journalists, telling them that a “stable Iraq will lead to stability in the entire region.”

“We want to be united countries, not against others, but attracting others to our unity,” Rouhani said.

For his part, Salih said Baghdad’s central location made it crucial to resolving regional issues. He thanked Iran for its support during Iraq’s fight against IS.

“The victory that was achieved against IS group in Iraq was an important and huge victory, but incomplete as the eradication of that sick, deviated line of thought and extremism require more sustainable regional efforts and cooperation,” Salih said.

Rouhani was to later meet Prime Minister Abel Abdul-Mehdi. He plans on meeting with other politicians and Shiite leaders during his visit.

Rouhani’s visit underscores how much has changed since the 1980s, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, sparking an eight-year war that killed an estimated 1 million people. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam, Iran began a campaign of backing militants who targeted American forces in Iraq.

Tehran also made political connections with Iraq’s Shiite leaders, who had been persecuted by Saddam’s government. Iran’s former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the first Iranian president to visit Iraq on a trip in 2008.

Iraq and Iran share a 1,400-kilometer-long (870 miles) border. Trump made a snap December trip to Iraq and made comments that U.S. forces should stay in Iraq to keep an eye on Iran, something dismissed by both Iran and Iraqi leaders, whom Trump did not meet on the visit.

Speaking at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport before leaving for Iraq, Rouhani’s official website quoted him as saying the trip’s goal was “deepening bilateral relations.”

“Relations between Iran and Iraq are special,” Rouhani was quoted as saying. “In the recent years, the people of Iran have passed a test with pride, and that is wherever the peoples of the region faced a problem and asked for the help of the Iranian nation and government, we rushed to help them.”

Rouhani, who had visited Iraq privately before becoming president, had planned an official visit in 2016 but it was cancelled over unspecified “executive” problems.

This time, Rouhani, who is on a second four-year-term, is particularly vulnerable because of the economic crisis assailing the Iranian rial, which has hurt ordinary Iranians and emboldened critics to openly call for the president’s ouster.

Tehran sees the U.S. military presence at its doorstep in Iraq as a threat — one that could also undermine Iran’s influence over Baghdad.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif alluded to that on Sunday while in Baghdad, saying that any country which tries to interfere with the good Iran-Iraq relations would “be deprived of opportunities for itself.”

Iran also sees Iraq as a possible route to bypass U.S. sanctions that Trump re-imposed last year after pulling the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Last year, Iran’s exports to Iraq amounted to nearly $9 billion. Tehran hopes to increase the roughly $13 billion volume in trade between the two neighboring countries to $20 billion. Also, some 5 million religious tourists bring in nearly $5 billion a year as Iraqis and Iranians visit Shiite holy sites in the two countries.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

https://apnews.com/ac1e43f86e7747479c5a041cb290ed15

Tishwash:
Iraq recovers a large sum from Spain

On Sunday, the Authority announced the recovery of about 12 million euros from Spain; the value of oil shipments equipped by the Ministry of Oil of a Spanish company in 1988.

"The amount of (11.915.440) million euros was recovered from the value of oil shipments equipped from Iraq to Spain under the Iraqi-Spanish agreement," the agency said in a statement.

He added that "these funds were frozen under the resolutions of the Security Council of the United Nations," noting that "the details of the recovery file completed by the Board indicates that the total funds were determined by the Spanish side and return after examining the merits of the file all."

He pointed out that "Iraq and Spain signed a memorandum of understanding provided for the recovery of the said funds in the form of contracts for the benefit of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals."

The Integrity Commission announced in October last year that its efforts had resulted in cooperation with the technical support team to recover Iraq's funds abroad, which includes the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Oil; as well as the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme National Accountability and Justice and the National Intelligence Service for recovery Funds belonging to the former regime were deposited in Jordanian and Lebanese banks. link

IMF hails Zimbabwe currency reforms as step in the right direction

Harare ‑ Zimbabwe needs an effective overall monetary policy framework if its currency reforms move is to succeed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

Addressing the media Thursday in Washington DC, the United States, Gerry Rice, from the IMF communications department, said the Zimbabwe’s monetary policy framework should be supported by market-determined interest and exchanges rates, together with prudent fiscal policies.

“And our initial evaluation of (the monetary policy) which has been announced by the Zimbabwean authorities recently is that it’s a step in the right direction to address distortions that have significantly impaired those macroeconomic outcomes...,” he said.

Asked what Zimbabwean finance and economic development minister Mthuli Ncube had discussed with IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, Rice said Ncube briefed Lagarde on economic developments and reforms in the investment-hungry country.

Rice said at present, the IMF did not have a financing programme with Zimbabwe, though they would continue to have discussions with the authorities to assist them in implementing the economic reforms contained in their transitional stabilisation programme.

“(The transitional stabilisation programme) is a wide ranging stabilisation and reform programme aimed at addressing what is clearly a deep macroeconomic imbalance challenge, as well as a broader set of social and economic challenges. So the...discussions are certainly continuing,” he said.

Rice said given the absence of a financing programme, future plans would depend on clearance of arrears to other international financial institutions and financing assurances from bilateral predators, agreement on policies and many such arrangements. link