KTFA Members "News and Views" Saturday Morning 5-9-2020
KTFA:
TINK: FRANK JUST CALLED ME AND HE HAS CLEARANCE FROM ONE DOCTOR TO COME HOME TODAY. PLEASE PRAY THE SECOND DOCTOR COMES IN AND SAYS YES YOU CAN GO HOME TOO.
HE SOUNDS SO MUCH BETTER THIS MORNING...
HE SAID HE WAS HAPPY AND WITH THAT FIRST NEWS FROM THE DOCTOR HE WAS SO HAPPY HE WAS GOING TO ORDER A CHEESEBURGER FOR BREAKFAST!!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL AND I WILL UPDATE SOON I HOPE
Don961: 10 challenges await Al-Kazemi .. Hisham Al-Hashimi
2020-05-07
Hisham Al Hashemi wrote: The new Iraqi government, headed by Mustafa Al-Kazemi, is awaiting huge challenges;
1 - Fighting Corona Virus.
2. Confine the loose weapon and dismantle its security.
3. Confronting the return of ISIS.
4. Relationship with the United States, the American withdrawal from Iraq, exemptions for Iranian energy purchase without sanctions, and IMF loans.
5. The return of popular protests.
6. Double the poverty rates.
7. Holding the protesters' killers accountable and early elections.
8. Unvoted budget.
9. The collapse of oil revenues.
10. Currency printing, employee salaries and pensions. LINK
MilitiaMan: The new PM has a very serious and a professional back ground and some serious issues to tackle. "Mustafa al-Kadhimi, director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service." The military nature of the guy is to be organized, punctual, well versed in many key items such as, things like human behaviors, economics, taxation, revenues and on down to even writing skills, etc..
Why is any of that important? He has now the job that will need all of that and much much more. The economic side of things is so very key now, imo. The country has no liquidity and will need to implement the reforms to alleviate the lack of liquidity issue. imo..
Then there is the pointed pressure from many different fronts noted below in a few snippets out of many found in the link provided, below. It goes to show that they have a plan of attack. Which we know this last weekend there were meetings at the highest levels to provide immediate solutions.
I believe that the PM was privy to those meetings and understands the totality of where they are in regard to the crisis.
The tools and or solutions would have been discussed and options were probably on the table. The best ones were i'll bet the ones we are looking forward too. That is the citizens get jobs, they get purchase power and we do as well and contractors will be able to start the reconstruction process noted from the past Kuwait Conference!
All things point to the Reforms getting in place now and very quickly from here on out.
The pressure is now far to intense to not. The corruption will be curtailed along with the reforms.. They know the who what and where.. The PMs background probably has the files to memory.. lol imo ~ MM
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Samson: Political analyst: The time is right to hit the corrupt and recover the money smuggled out
8th May, 2020
Yassine Al-Bakri, a professor of political science at Al-Nahrain University, saw that the dramatic drop in oil prices and its direct impact on the conditions of citizens portend serious social repercussions, and the government may not be able to pay salaries for the coming months.
He added, in a press statement, that "this will definitely lead to austerity measures, such as reducing salaries and pursuing the corrupt to recover the stolen money."
Al-Bakri added, "The current time is appropriate to hit the corrupt, pursue the smuggling of funds, and recover them from abroad, as he will get support from the people, in the event that these campaigns are launched to dry up the sources of corruption, as the current time represents an opportunity for such activities, with low imports from Iraq, And the Corona crisis. "
He pointed out that "those measures will remain inadequate, in light of the decline in oil imports, and perhaps the cash issuance and printing of the currency will be resorted to, despite the risks involved in this procedure, such as inflation and others.
And perhaps not going towards that step, its repercussions will be more serious, such as The economy has stopped altogether, and this is reflected socially, politically and security," noting "Iraq needs international assistance, specifically from the United States and Saudi Arabia." LINK
Samson: The Popular Mobilization announces the arrest of princes and leaders of ISIS in Kirkuk: the organization's weapons are developments
9th May, 2020
The Popular Mobilization announced, on Saturday, the arrest of princes and leaders of ISIS in Kirkuk.
"We have arrested a group of princes and leaders from ISIS in the province of Kirkuk," the official of the North Axis for the crowd, Abu Reda Al-Najjar, told a news conference in the presence of the brigade commander of the 16th in the crowd and attended by Shafak News.
He added that "ISIS weapons have developed recently and their number has increased in the outskirts of Kirkuk Governorate and Nineveh Governorate," explaining that "ISIS elements are supported by parties, and this is no longer hidden." "But nevertheless, ISIS cannot and do not have sufficient strength to control both provinces," he added, stressing that "the PMF will confront them."
Al-Najjar pointed out that "the PMF has always surrounded and killed ISIS and is always alert and ready."
Meanwhile, the popular crowd reported the destruction of several ISIS hideouts and the killing of a number of elements by artillery and missile strikes in eastern Salah al-Din. "The brigade's forces treated ISIS targets with missile and artillery shelling in the areas of" Maidan, Hodeidah and al-Sultana, "which resulted in the destruction of several ISIS hideouts and the killing of numbers of terrorists whose number was not counted precisely because the targets were completely destroyed," brigade order 21 of the popular crowd, Khudair al-Matrouhi, told Shafaq News.
Al-Matrouhi affirmed the continued pursuit and pursuit of ISIS nests and pockets through the night ambushes and the continuous patrols across the responsibility sectors east of Salah al-Din, indicating that "all ISIS exposures to lightning are carried out by motorcycles and then disappear in the burrows."
The overlapping areas of eastern Salah al-Din between the borders of the governorates of Salah al-Din, Diyala and Kirkuk are among the nests and hot spots for armed organizations and witnesses continuous security exposures and operations since 2014 until now. LINK
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Samson: Lebanon .. Security stops the captain of the cash changer as the lira continues to collapse
France Press May 08, 2020
On Thursday, the Lebanese security forces arrested the cashier's captain, Mahmoud Murad, after a two-week campaign against workers in the parallel market, against the backdrop of the accelerating collapse of the exchange rate of the lira against the US dollar, a security source told AFP.
The source said on Friday that "the captain of the money changer has been arrested, based on a signal from the Malian Public Prosecutor, because the money changers bought the dollar at very high prices, which leads to strong speculation and manipulation of the Lebanese pound." His investigation is still ongoing.
He pointed out that "during the past two weeks, about 50 ATMs have been arrested, those of whom have signed pledges not to manipulate the dollar and have been released, while the unlicensed have been referred to several judges for investigation."
Since the summer, it appeared in Lebanon for the first time in parallel market contracts, in which the value of the local currency gradually decreased, while the official exchange rate is still fixed at 1507.
In the face of the accelerating collapse, the Bank of Lebanon asked at the end of last month for the cashiers not to exceed the price of selling the dollar 3200 pounds. However, since that time, the lira has recorded an unprecedented decline in its value, today, it crosses the threshold of 4100 liras against the US dollar on the black market.
During the past two weeks, the security forces launched a campaign against the cashiers who closed their offices, and many of them were working in secret, while the lira continued to collapse.
The country has been experiencing for months the worst economic meltdown in its modern history with a severe shortage of liquidity and a significant decline in foreign reserves.
Since September, banks have imposed strict procedures on cash operations and withdrawing funds. The outbreak of the new Corona virus exacerbated the crisis after banks failed to provide their clients with the dollar completely.
In April, the Central Bank of Lebanon asked banks to pay customers' withdrawals from their deposits in dollars in Lebanese pounds. Banks have set their exchange rate at 3,000 liras.
"We have to buy the dollar on the black market because we need to secure the dollar daily for traders, especially food and meat traders, because the Banque du Liban and banks do not believe in the dollar, and therefore there is no dollar except on the black market," one of the money changers told France Press.
The Money Exchange Syndicate issued a statement calling Mourad's arrest "an unfortunate incident." She stressed its commitment to "the regulatory teachings that set the exchange rate of the US dollar, despite the difficulty of adhering to any pre-determined price in a mobile market that is controlled by the strength of supply and demand."
The Lebanese government approved last week a reform plan, on the basis of which it submitted a request to the International Monetary Fund to help Lebanon out of a cycle of accelerated economic collapse that has brought nearly half of the population below the poverty line.
The plan adopts, according to the Minister of Finance, "the flexible exchange rate policy in the coming stage in a gradual and deliberate manner." LINK
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Clare: Presidential Message on the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day
Seventy-five years ago today, the last remnants of the Nazi regime unconditionally surrendered to the Allied Powers, marking the end of World War II in Europe. Today, we celebrate the forces of freedom who defeated tyranny and emerged victorious in that monumental struggle. We pay tribute to those who served for their service and pause to remember those who gave their last full measure in defense of the flames of liberty.
The campaign to end fascism in the European Theater is a somber reminder of the price of freedom. More than 30 million lives were lost and tens of millions more were shattered in the war. Most of those who perished in Europe were civilians, including 6 million Jews and millions of others from Poland and the former Soviet Union.
The United States also suffered incredible losses. Of the more than 2 million Americans who deployed to Europe and the Mediterranean or patrolled the Atlantic Ocean, more than 186,000 paid the ultimate sacrifice, and more than twice that number were wounded.
Most of these selfless and heroic warriors had never known life in a prosperous America. They grew up during the Great Depression, when America’s economic prospects seemed bleak. Yet, they answered our country’s call of duty because they believed in the principles that lie at the foundation of our Nation. They came from the plains of the Midwest, industrial and manufacturing towns, the sprawling farmlands of rural America, and our country’s up-and-coming cities. Many had never traveled outside of their home states, but they would trek thousands of miles around the world to meet their tyrannical enemies on the beaches of France, in the forests of Belgium, on the hills of Italy, and on hundreds of other battlefields of Europe and North Africa. These American heroes would not relent in their noble efforts until they had liberated all of Europe from the abhorrent Nazi regime.
Today, as we reflect on the 75th anniversary of the end of the World War II in Europe, we are reminded that no challenge is greater than the resolve of the American spirit. Over the past months, our Nation has faced remarkable adversity during the coronavirus pandemic. But just as we have so many times before, America will triumph, and we will emerge from this a stronger and more united country.
I join all Americans in honoring our brave warriors for their gallant service and sacrifice in World War II. Fewer than 400,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in our Armed Forces during World War II remain with us today. Their generation—the Greatest Generation—will never be forgotten. We are forever grateful for their immeasurable contributions to the success and prosperity of our Nation.