KTFA:

Samson:  Deputy: Iraq's debts amounted to 127 billion dollars

8th February, 2020

Deputy Faik Sheikh Ali revealed, Saturday, the debts owed by Iraq.

Sheikh Ali said in a tweet via "Twitter" that "Iraq owes 127 billion US dollars (according to my information) but in it (except oil) gas, sulfur, phosphates, fortunes and other minerals, if invested, he will pay off his debts, employ his children and rebuild the country."

He added: "But all this will not happen with the rule of the militia, and the people will remain hungry and indebted."   LINK

Samson:  IMF director steps down, paving way for Trump appointee

7th February, 2020

One of the most senior figures at the International Monetary Fund is stepping down in a move that will allow the Trump administration to influence who will take over as second-in-command at the financial watchdog.

David Lipton, 66, will step down as first deputy managing director after a nine-year tenure that made him the longest-serving official to hold what is effectively the number two position. When he leaves at the end of this month he will be joined by Carla Grasso, chief administrative officer and one of three deputy managing directors appointed in 2015.

The moves will allow the IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva to stamp her mark on the organisation four months after she took on the top job. It is understood she wants to raise the profile of the departmental directors who are the key people who will implement her policy on the ground. However, according to precedent, the first deputy managing director of the IMF has traditionally been an American national, offsetting the fact that Europeans have always held the top job of the Washington-based multilateral lender.

Traditionally the White House submits a shortlist of candidates from which the managing director will pick her nomination, who is then approved by the fund’s executive board based on consensus. The process will revive concerns among NGOs and campaign groups that senior roles at the IMF and its sister organisation, the World Bank, are chosen by politicians rather than through a competitive recruitment process.

Luiz Vieira, coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project (BWP), a network of NGOs, said: “We would say it is ridiculous to have a process by which the choice of all the candidates is restricted to one country. We will definitely be calling for an open, transparent and merit-based approach to the recruitment for a very senior post.” Ms Georgieva, a Bulgarian, was appointed as managing director in October after no other candidate was put forward by a member state. The post has gone to a European national since the IMF was established in the 1940s.

A year ago, David Malpass, a senior Treasury official, was appointed as president of the World Bank after being nominated by US president Donald Trump. Last month BWP raised its concerns that, soon after she was appointed, Ms Georgieva had given her support to the reforms instituted by Mr Trump, which include a $1.5 trillion (£1.16tn) tax cut that slashes corporate rates.

Mr Vieira said that contrasted with the more critical stance taken by her predecessor Christine Lagarde, who in 2018 identified Mr Trump’s tax reforms as a hazard that “could destabilise the current economic recovery”. “Georgieva is still getting her feet under the table but if she is more favourable to a US line then having her and the first deputy MD becoming aligned behind those policies could be interesting,” he said. “Lagarde was able to say some pretty critical things about the US.”

Ms Georgieva lauded Mr Lipton for his “intellectual leadership and innovative insights” and said that he commands “wide respect across the IMF’s 189 member countries” as well as among IMF staff. She added: “David has provided an invaluable service to the fund’s membership and the global economy more broadly with his outstanding economic experience and expertise.”   LINK

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Samson:  Deputy: There is no country in the world that kills and wounds more than 3,500 peaceful demonstrators, as happened in Iraq

7th February, 2020

The deputy of the National Approach, Hussein Al-Aqabi, confirmed on Friday that launching the word peaceful dealing with the demonstrators is not in the dictionary of the Adel Abdul-Mahdi government, stating that no country in the world kills and wounds more than 3,500 peaceful demonstrators, as happened in Iraq.
 
Al-Aqabi said in a statement to "Al-Akhbaria" that "about a thousand martyrs and 2500 wounded are the result of the demonstrations from four months until now, and some people in the government still use the term peaceful dealing with the demonstrations."

He added, "The government and the slogans it launches are extremely provocative, especially regarding the formation of committees to know the killers, despite their knowledge of the identity of the killer and their actual inability to hold them accountable." He pointed out that "the current reality of targeting and abusing activists cannot be taken by any country in the world in dealing with a peaceful protester."

Official statistics of human rights organizations indicate that hundreds of martyrs and thousands of wounded people since August 1, 2019, all of them were killed as a result of excessive violence against defenseless protesters.   LINK

Samson:  Iyad Allawi calls for a public trial of murderers and perpetrators of crimes against peaceful demonstrators

8th February, 2020

Leader of the National Coalition, Iyad Allawi, called for a public trial of murderers and perpetrators of peaceful demonstrators.

"A public trial of murderers and perpetrators of peaceful demonstrators," Allawi said in a tweet on Twitter.

He added, "The formation of a special court issued by a republican decree linked to the presidency of the republic, headed by some honest retired judges from inside or outside Iraq."   LINK

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Don961:  :  Iyad Allawi reveals the reason for addressing the United Nations to protect the demonstrators in Iraq

Politics 02/20/2020 14:07 597 Editor: ha   Baghdad today - Baghdad

Iyad Allawi, leader of the National Coalition, revealed on Friday (07 February 2020), the reason for his address to the United Nations to protect peaceful demonstrators in Iraq.

Allawi said in a tweet on the platform "Twitter", followed by (Baghdad today), "It is surprising that most of the world condemned the killing and brutal suppression of peaceful demonstrators and demanded accountability for the killers."

He added, "This was met with the utter suspicious silence of the Iraqi authorities, who failed to bring the perpetrators to justice."

Allawi pointed out that "for this reason I sent a letter to the United Nations calling for the protection of the generous Iraqi people."

Allawi had sent, yesterday, Thursday, 4 messages to international bodies demanding that those involved in the bloodshed of demonstrators be held accountable, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and the Arab League.

Allawi stated, in a tweet on his account on the website "Twitter": "I sent a message to Mr. Antonio Guterres, the Arab League, and the foreign ministers of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, in addition to the Organization of the Islamic Conference."

He explained that the messages were, "To show the reality of what is going on in Iraq and the need to hold those involved to account for the bloodshed of innocent demonstrators and bring them to the International Criminal Court."    LINK

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Samson:  Reuters highlights Sistani's influence among the demonstrators: If he asks them to return to their homes, they will!

10:02 - 02/02/2020

A report by "Reuters", Saturday, shed light on the extent of the influence that the religious authority, Mr. Ali Sistani, has among the protesters and protesters, noting that the demonstrators will return to their homes if asked to do so.

The agency said in its report, which was seen by the "information", that "the attention of some activists turned to the last remaining hope for them to aspire to support and support, which is the supreme Shiite authority Ali al-Sistani", indicating that "Sistani had the final say and the decisive word, which forced Abdul Mahdi To step down and with one fatwa from him in 2014, tens of thousands of fighters mobilized to fight ISIS.”

The agency noted that "Sistani rarely comments on politics, but he spoke in almost every Friday sermon about the popular uprising in Iraq, which sparked among the masses of the Shiite majority in the country in Baghdad and the south last October."

The agency quoted Muhammad al-Kaabi, a 54-year-old activist, as saying that he would wait to see what Sistani said, stressing that "if Sistani says that everyone should return to their homes, they will do so."