KTFA Members "Saturday News" 2-15-2020
KTFA:
Samson: Including Iraq .. Learn about the ranking of Arab countries with the size of loans from the World Bank
15th February, 2020
Egypt topped the list of Arab countries, in terms of loans from the World Bank, with a value of 22.4 billion dollars.
According to the latest statistics, Iraq ranked sixth with a loan value of $ 5.6 billion. LINK
Samson: Deputy: The new government does not include any former minister
15th February, 2020
Member of the House of Representatives for the Alliance of Saireon al-Shammari affirmed on Saturday that the Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi almost completed the nomination of the ministers of the new government.
Al-Shammari said in a statement received by Shafak News that the new squad would be from independent technocrats without any former minister, desiring the demands of peaceful demonstrators and protestors and the direction of the religious authority.
Al-Shammari added that most political blocs are with this trend, and the new government will vote and give it confidence and within the constitutional period. He stressed the necessity of the parliament's attendance of the session to give confidence to the new government and its ministerial program, which is in line with popular demands. LINK
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Samson: Deputy: Allawi completed his cabinet and will refer it to Parliament for review before the vote
12:33 - 02/15/2020
Independent MP Nada Shaker Jawdat confirmed, on Saturday, that the Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi had completed his ministerial cabinet while he was sending it to Parliament, noting that Allawi had not yet agreed with part of the Kurds and another part of the year.
Jawdat said in a statement to "Information", that "confirmed information we obtained indicates the completion of the selection of the new cabinet for the government of Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi." She added that "the Prime Minister-designate will send the names of his cabinet during the day or tomorrow to Parliament to review it before the vote", suggesting that "the ministry is passed even if its dispute with part of the Kurds is not resolved by Masoud Barzani and part of the Sunnis represented by Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al-Halbousi."
The MP, Muhammad Al-Khaldi, confirmed, today, Saturday, that the cab was complete and ready to vote as of tomorrow, Sunday, indicating that Allawi met about 100 personalities of various spectra, components and orientations, and he selected 22 of them. LINK
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Don961: Friday, February 14, 2020 4:53 PM
The National Union: Budget and Article 140 are more important than positions
The leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Ghiath Al-Surji, confirmed: "The Kurds do not care about the positions in Allawi's government as much as his commitment to implement the constitution properly, especially as it relates to the region's budget and Article 140".
Al-Surji said in a press statement: "The parties participating in the political process met a few days ago with the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, and during the meeting, unification of visions regarding the government cabinet was reached, but everyone is awaiting the visit of the Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi to the Kurdistan Region to discuss the formation of the government."
He added: "The Kurds have a direction regarding the new government, and positions in the cabinet will not concern them as much as Allawi's commitment to implementing the constitution, especially what relates to the Kurdish people, to balance the Peshmerga and the application of Article 140, and therefore these matters are more important than positions."
F.A. LINK
Pompeo: The Iraqis want only a safe country free from corruption and the Iranian presence precludes it
15th February, 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today, Saturday, that the Iraqis only want a safe and corruption-free country, pointing out that the Iranian presence and continuous interference prevents this.
Pompeo said in his speech at the Munich International Conference and its "news" follower, "The Iraqis are demanding their legitimate rights and we support that. They want a country that lives safely and is free from corruption and corrupt."
Pompeo also expressed his condemnation of Iran's interference in Lebanon, saying ... that its interference suffocates the Lebanese and the Iraqis alike." LINK
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Samson: A jump in oil prices coupled with hopes of reducing supplies
15th February, 2020
Oil prices have stabilized, but they are heading towards achieving their first weekly gain in six weeks due to the assumption that large producers will implement greater production cuts to mitigate the impact of the slowdown in demand from China caused by the Corona virus.
Brent crude futures rose 95 cents to $ 57.29 a barrel, after winning one percent in the previous session. And Brent is up more than 4.5 per cent a week, the first rise since the week ending January 10.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 74 cents to $ 52.16 a barrel. And benchmark crude increased 0.5 percent on Thursday, which is about 3.5 percent currently higher in the week.
And the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reduced its forecast for demand for its crude in 2020 by 200 thousand barrels per day, which raised expectations that the organization and its allies, in what is known as the OPEC + group, may reduce production further.
"It seems that oil prices are stabilizing this week thanks to optimism that OPEC + will do everything necessary to reduce production and thanks to the hope that the peak of the Corona virus is approaching," said Edward Moya, market analyst at Oanda in New York.
"The Russians have hinted very much that everyone in OPEC + agrees to implement deeper production cuts ... the price movement of crude may indicate a stable bottom. As long as the Corona virus does not show strong indications that the spread of the virus is getting more severe, then West crude Intermediate Texas may go to a higher level. "
Crude prices plunged about 20 percent of their peaks in 2020 on January 8, as concerns about oversupply joined concerns about massive fuel demand declines in China as the country's quarantine measures to combat the spread of the Corona virus disrupted economic activity. .
In response to declining demand, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, in what is known as the OPEC + group, are considering cutting production by up to 2.3 million barrels per day.
The International Energy Agency said on Thursday that demand for oil in the first quarter of 2020 is declining compared to what it was a year ago, for the first time since the financial crisis in 2009 due to the outbreak of the Corona virus in China. LINK
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Samson: Including Iraq .. These are the countries that spend the most on arms in 2019
14th February, 2020
The annual report of the International Institute for Strategic Studies revealed on Friday that global military expenditures rose by 4 percent in 2019, the largest increase recorded in nearly a decade, amid increasing competition between the major powers and their race for new technologies
"These expenditures have increased as economies emerged from the 2008 financial crisis," said John Shipman, director of the institute, when presenting the report on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference
The United States topped 685 billion dollars, and China with 181 billion dollars
Together, the two countries increased 6.6 percent in 2019, compared to 2018
In the Arab world, Saudi Arabia ranked third with 78.4 billion dollars, while Iraq ranked 15th with 20.5 billion dollars
The rest of the countries ranked
4- Russia at 61.6 billion dollars
5- India at $ 60.5 billion
6- Britain with 54.8 billion dollars
7 - France with 52.3 billion dollars
8- Japan with 48.6 billion dollars
9 - Germany with 48.5 billion dollars
10 - South Korea has 39.8 billion dollars
11-Brazil with 27.5 billion dollars
12 - Italy with $ 27.1 billion
13 - Australia with $ 25.5 billion
14-Israel with 22.6 billion dollars
The report pointed out that the death of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Weapons Treaty (between 500 and 5500 km) in 2019, and the possibility of the end of the new START Treaty on Transcontinental Nuclear Weapons in 2021, overturning the international system that prevailed after the end of the Cold War
The report also points to other factors that shake this system, including the rise of China and a series of regional crises from Ukraine to Libya
New weapons developed by China and Russia, most of them supersonic missiles and unmanned submarine mechanisms, described as "impenetrable", fueled the race to armament
Although China lags behind the United States in terms of its total spending on defense investment, it dominates the Asia region
China alone accounted for about 60% of defense investment in Asia in 2019 LINK