KTFA:

Samson:  24 Hours after his arrest, the death of a government official in Nineveh

3rd August, 2021

The director of the Nineveh Antiquities Inspectorate died today, Tuesday, 24 hours after his arrest on charges of "bribery and forgery".

"Mawazine News" correspondent in the province stated, "The director of the Nineveh Antiquities Inspectorate, Ali Hazem Al-Sumaida'i, died today after his arrest on charges of bribery and forgery, yesterday, Monday," noting that "Al-Sumaidaie died after being transferred to the hospital."

Al-Sumaida'i was arrested yesterday, Monday, by order of the Judicial Committee in charge of pursuing land fraud in Nineveh Governorate.   LINK

Samson:  Biden extends the "state of emergency" in Iraq and Syria for another year

11:24 - 05/07/2021

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden signed a decree extending the "national state of emergency" related to the situations in Iraq, Syria and African countries for another year.

"I am extending for one additional year the system of the declared state of emergency in response to the actions of the Syrian government," the decree stated.

In addition, Biden signed similar orders to extend the state of emergency regime in some Central African Republics and Iraq.

It is noteworthy that the extension of the state of emergency regime will allow the United States to continue to freeze the property and assets of a number of people associated with the Syrian government, as well as prohibiting the export of some goods.

During its war on Iraq, America declared, under an executive order, a state of emergency in Iraq, to deal with its unusual threat to national security and foreign policy, leading to the development of political, administrative and economic institutions in Iraq.

Biden said in the  decree, "There are still obstacles to the reconstruction of Iraq and the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country."

He added that the development of political, administrative and economic institutions in Iraq constitutes an extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”  LINK

DeepWoodz:  Part of E. O. 13303.....

A major national security and foreign policy goal of the United States is to ensure that the newly established Development Fund for Iraq and other Iraqi resources, including Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, are dedicated for the well-being of the Iraqi people, for the orderly reconstruction and repair of Iraq’s infrastructure, for the continued disarmament of Iraq, for the costs of indigenous civilian administration, and for other pur- poses benefiting the people of Iraq. The Development Fund for Iraq and other property in which Iraq has an interest may be subject to attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execu- tion, garnishment, or other judicial process, thereby jeopardizing the full dedication of such assets to purposes benefiting the people of Iraq. To protect these assets, I have ordered that, unless licensed or otherwise authorised pursuant to my order, any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohib- ited, and shall be deemed null and void, with respect to the following:

(a) the Development Fund for Iraq, and

(b) all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein, and proceeds, obligations, or any financial instruments of any nature whatsoever arising from or related to the sale and marketing thereof, and interests therein, in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons.

Deepwoodz:  Sounds good to me. Their oil and the development fund are protected. Goes along with the immunity of their reserves in the CBI. 

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Samson:  Biden administration backs repealing Iraq War Authorization Act

3rd August, 2021

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said today, Tuesday, that the administration of President Joe Biden supports repealing the 2002 Iraq War Authorization Act, saying that it is no longer necessary to protect American interests in the foreseeable future.

"For the State Department, revoking the 2002 AUMF would not affect our diplomatic activities," Sherman said in prepared testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Little impact on military operations.

The US Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to authorize a declaration of war. But that authority has moved toward the White House in recent years, in part due to the passage of the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which has not expired.  US lawmakers are seeking to repeal it, partly because of fears that it could be used to justify a war on Iran, which neighbors Iraq, without congressional approval, but also as part of ongoing efforts to reclaim this mandate from the executive branch.

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the committee's chair, said he hoped Tuesday's hearing would also lead to a serious discussion of repealing and replacing the authorization for the use of military force established after the September 11, 2001, attacks that authorized the fight against al-Qaeda. "We must have a frank conversation about the scope of this mandate and the authority of Congress, by virtue of Article 1 of the Constitution, which gives it the right to declare war," Menendez said.

Caroline Krass, the Defense Department's general counsel, said at the hearing that the Department of Defense agreed that repealing the 2002 Iraq War Authorization Act would not threaten the country's ability to protect.

On July 27, US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi signed an agreement officially ending the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021, more than 18 years after US forces entered the country.

With the decision to withdraw the last US troops from Afghanistan by the end of August, the Democratic president will put an end to US combat missions in the two wars started by former President George W. Bush.   LINK

Samson:  The largest in its history .. the International Monetary Fund provides 650 billion dollars to support countries in the face of Corona

3rd August, 2021

The Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund has agreed to provide the largest support in its history, amounting to $650 billion, to help countries deal with the increasing repercussions resulting from the “Covid-19” pandemic.

The fund said in a statement that the board approved a general distribution of the equivalent of $650 billion in special drawing rights units (456 billion units) to support global liquidity.

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the Fund, said, "It is a historic decision - this is the largest allocation of SDR allocations in the history of the Fund and is a vaccine injection into the arm of the global economy during an unprecedented crisis." "The distribution of these allocations will include all member countries, address the long-term global need for reserves, build confidence, and enhance the resilience and stability of the global economy. This distribution will help, in particular, the most vulnerable countries that are suffering in their quest to overcome the impact of the Covid-19 crisis."

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the Fund, said: “It is a historic decision - this is the largest allocation of SDR allocations in the history of the Fund and is a vaccine injection into the arm of the global economy during an unprecedented crisis. The distribution of these allocations will include all member countries, address the long-term global need for reserves, build confidence, enhance the resilience and stability of the global economy, and in particular, this distribution will help the most vulnerable countries suffering in their quest to overcome the impact of the Covid-19 crisis. This general distribution of SDR allocations will become effective on August 23, and member countries will receive newly issued SDR units in proportion to their existing quotas in the Fund.

About $275 billion (about 193 billion SDR) of the new issuance will be distributed to emerging markets and developing countries, including low-income countries.  In this regard, Ms. Georgieva said, “We will also continue to actively engage with our member countries to identify possible options for voluntary transfer of SDRs from the richest to the poorest and most vulnerable member countries to support their efforts to recover from the pandemic and achieve resilient and sustainable growth.”

An essential option in this regard is for member countries with strong external positions to voluntarily transfer part of their SDR allocations to support targeted lending to low-income countries through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust Fund (PRGT). Interest-free concessional financing is currently provided through this fund. The Fund is also looking at other options to help the poorest and most vulnerable countries in their recovery efforts. A solidity and sustainability trust fund could be considered to facilitate more solid and sustainable growth in the medium term.   LINK

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Samson: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hands over more than 17,000 cultural artifacts recovered from abroad.. This is the fate of "Gilgamesh's dream"

08/03/2021 10:33:14

Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein announced in a joint press conference with Minister of Culture Hassan Nazim, the Foreign Ministry's receipt of the antiquities recovered from the United States of America.

 Hussein said, "The Iraqi embassy in Washington received the ownership of the smuggled antiquities and to prove their Iraqiness, just as we received the Gilgamesh Tablet from Washington." He added, "We worked to activate the file of recovering smuggled antiquities," noting that "the Iraqi embassy in Washington received the ownership of the smuggled antiquities and to prove their Iraqiness."

Hussein pointed out that "five batches of documents and antiquities have been delivered to the Ministry of Culture, and in 2021 we announce the delivery of 17,321 artifacts from the United States, 9 artifacts from Japan, 7 pieces from Holland and one piece from Italy, bringing the total to 17,338 pieces since the beginning of this year only. 

For his part, Minister of Culture Hassan Nazim said: "We will work in greater coordination and cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to recover more of the Iraqi smuggled and looted antiquities abroad." He added, "Resolute efforts have worked to retrieve antiquities from Washington," noting that "the process of recovering artifacts from America is the largest in the history of Iraq."  LINK

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Samson:  Telecommunications unveils the largest infrastructure modernization process and adopts modern technologies for Internet services

3rd August, 2021

Today, Tuesday, the Ministry of Communications confirmed the adoption of modern technologies to provide good Internet services at controlled prices, while revealing the reasons for carrying out the largest infrastructure modernization process.

The Director of the Infrastructure Directorate at the General Company for Communications and Information, Ali Mahmoud, said in an interview with the official agency (Oula News): “The technologies used by companies to deliver Internet services to the citizen depend largely on (Wi-Fi) technologies, that is, free frequencies,” noting that “The large number of random use led to poor service provided and the difficulty of controlling the efficiency of services and prices provided to citizens.”

He explained that "the Ministry of Communications is working to start publishing new technologies that will enable the provision of good services at controlled prices, as it has begun to work on gradually improving the services provided on the Ministry's projects, as well as implementing a new and modern FTTH network throughout Iraq with a total capacity of seven million lines."  He stressed that "about 3 million and 500 thousand lines have begun to implement the network of what is known as the national project, pointing out that "there are 16 companies in the process of referral and contracting in order to launch the other 3 million and 500 thousand lines."

On the other hand, Mahmoud revealed “the ministry’s efforts to provide the best services provided to citizens and institutions by opening up to international companies such as (WhatsApp) and (Facebook) and others, and opening offices for them in Iraq,” noting that “many deliberations with these companies in order to provide Work requirements, and the ministry has embarked on the largest modernization and expansion of its infrastructure through extension projects and replacing large sections of the current national network, and contracting to modernize and expand DWDM national messaging devices from sober international companies such as (ciena), (Huawei) and (Nokia) and with large capacities and to ensure the provision of an appropriate environment for the provision of services to citizens.”  LIN