KTFA:

Samson: Former MP: Barzani bought a house in America for $18 million smuggled oil money

8th December, 2021

Former member of the House of Representatives, Sarkot Shamsuddin, revealed that the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, had purchased a property worth $18 million in Miami, in the United States of America.

Shams El-Din said that American media recently wrote that Barzani bought the house for $18 million in Miami, indicating that the purchase was in 2019 in the midst of the financial crisis that Iraq suffered, from smuggled oil money and the Iraqi people in general and Kurdistan in particular.

Shams al-Din demanded the Integrity Commission to audit the disclosure of the financial disclosure of Masrour Barzani, in addition to activating the law "Where did you get this from?" to reveal the source of those funds that were withheld at the time from the people for the enjoyment of officials in Kurdistan. 

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Samson:  An American investigation reveals the value of the Barzanis' real estate in Kurdistan

8th December, 2021

American Prospect magazine published an investigative report on a new financial scandal for the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Masrour Barzani, through the purchase of an entire building in Virginia and pharmacies in Florida, through a fake company registered in the US state of Delaware.

The specialized American journalist and investigative writer Zack Kaplan, who specializes in uncovering hidden transactions, said, “Barzani bought an entire building in Virginia and pharmacies in Florida, through a fictitious company registered in the US state of Delaware, and these discovered investments represent a point in a sea of ​​Barzani family’s investments in all areas around the world, including America, European and other Western countries.”

Kaplan pointed out that “the disclosure of this small part of these properties happened by chance and by mistake by a lawyer or employees of the company specialized in supervising fictitious companies, where the name of Masrour Barzani and his brother Mukhsi Barzani, two sons of Kurdistan Democratic Party Chairman Massoud Barzani, was mentioned, with their signatures.” On the ownership papers,” he stressed, “Through a similar mistake, it was revealed that they own large, luxurious mansions in Virginia and California.”

And he points out that "Masrour Barzani is accused by civil organizations of misuse of power and practices of imprisonment, torture and murder of peaceful political opponents, including the assassination of journalists."

The writer describes the Kurdistan region of Iraq as “a hereditary property in practical terms owned by the Barzani family,” noting that “the Barzanis have collected huge sums of money in illegal ways,” as he mentioned many examples of this in his lengthy investigation, but he focused on their property in the United States.

The American newspaper, including “the inclusion of their names in secret papers that were revealed by chance, including palaces and buildings in California, Virginia and other states.”

 He explains that "the Barzanis used a Dutch company that specializes in building fictitious companies that hide the names of their real owners, called Wolters Kluwer, pointing out that "the laws that this type of company enjoys explain why America has become an attractive destination for dirty money, but Congress is about to activate a law that has been legislated the current year criminalizes obscuring the names of the real owners of all palaces, buildings and properties in the United States of America, which will be enough to reveal all the Barzani family’s property in the United States, which is expected to be enormous.

Kaplan pointed out that “through oil and corruption, the Barzanis have amassed huge amounts of wealth, including a real estate investment in the Kurdistan region, owned by a company secretly connected to one of the brothers of the region’s prime minister, whose value was estimated at $1.27 billion,” warning that “like other tyrants, The Barzanis have turned to secret havens, the kind of places that the Panama Papers and Pandora Papers investigations exposed, to hide their money.”  LINK

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Samson:  Russia, India abandon US dollar in mutual settlements

8th December, 2021

Russia and India have agreed to ditch the dollar as a means of mutual settlements, as Washington continues to impose sanctions on Moscow.

Alexander Mikheev, Director General of Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, announced, on Tuesday, that Russia and India have abandoned the use of the US dollar in mutual settlements, with all payments made in rubles and rupees.

Mikheev told reporters in New Delhi, "By tradition, we name all transactions in dollars for ease of calculation. In real work, Rosoboronexport has moved away almost 100% from settlements in the US currency. As for India, all settlements are carried out in rubles and rupees. In addition, we are actively practicing offset projects, which are also present in the contracts signed today. This is normal modern practice, one of the trends in the world market.”

With such an approach, the sides "do not face the risk of delays in payments when fulfilling our contractual obligations to our partners," he added.

It is worth mentioning that India's Foreign Minister announced Monday that Russia has begun delivering to his country the Russian S-400 ground-to-air missile defense system, against which the US threatened to impose sanctions. 

"Supplies have begun this month and will continue to happen," Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla confirmed after Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi.

Praising India at the beginning of his visit to New Delhi, Putin discussed defense agreements, military relations, and energy cooperation between the two countries.  LINK

Samson:  The European Union Announces A Plan For Trade Sanctions Against Some Countries

8th December, 2021

The European Union has announced a plan for quick trade sanctions that can be imposed on any foreign power, such as China, when it tries to encroach on the 27-nation union for economic or political gain.

The commission is seeking permission to respond without the endorsement of all 27 states when any person, company or country attempts to encroach on the European bloc, and the commission could face opposition from some EU states against giving it too much power.

The Commission says that such sanctions can be used in China's dispute with Lithuania, whose relations with Taiwan have prompted Beijing to downgrade diplomatic relations with the European Union member state, while Lithuania says its commercial shipments are no longer cleared through Chinese customs.

European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said: "China is restricting trade with Lithuania.. It is clear that there may be reason to make an assessment of whether this constitutes economic arbitrariness and, therefore, whether this system will be viable."

He added, "Unity and solidarity within the European Union remain essential factors in upholding our interests and values. The European Union is ready to stand against all kinds of political pressures and coercive measures applied against any member state."

The new plan would give the Commission the power to impose punitive tariffs, quotas or even restrict access to EU markets to deter countries from trying to restrict trade or investment to force a change in EU policy. 

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Samson:  Olaf Scholz .. Who Is The New Leader Of Germany?

8th December, 2021

With Olaf Scholz elected as Germany's new chancellor on Wednesday, the position returned to the Social Democratic Party after 16 years of losing it to the Christian Democrats led by Angela Merkel.

Olaf Scholz was born in Osnabrück on June 14, 1958 in West Germany, his father was a merchant and his mother a homemaker. He joined the Social Democratic Party in 1975 at the age of seventeen, and was known for wearing woolen suits and participating in a large number of peaceful demonstrations.  Schulz served as deputy head of the party's youth organization and led a campaign in the 1980s for "radical socialism to overcome the capitalist economy".

In parallel with his party activity, Schulz was pursuing his studies in law. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Hamburg, in 1985 he established a law firm specializing in labor law in the city. Through his work, Schulz learned the workings of the economy and private companies, which left an impact on his personality.

His career really took off when Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder reached the chancellery in the 1998 elections. In 1998 Schulz was elected to the Bundestag (German parliament) and became party secretary-general in 2002. In 2005, the German left split over the liberalization of the labor market, which accelerated Schröder's defeat in front of Angela Merkel.

Schultz delivers his speeches in a monotonous tone that has earned him the nickname "Shultsumat" (meaning "machine Schultz"), to his dismay. "He laughs more than people think," he said in his defense. He said recently in a press statement, “I am sober, pragmatic and firm. But what prompted me to political work was feelings,” he said, calling for a “just society.”

In 2018, with his assumption of the Finance Ministry, Schulz became Merkel's deputy. According to German media, Schulz was inspired by Merkel's style, and even imitated her in gestures, especially her famous hand gesture, to the extent that the left-wing newspaper "Tageszeitung" described him as a "mutated" version of Merkel!

Schulz, as the Ministry of Finance, followed a strict financial approach, but after the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, he did not hesitate to deviate from the budget items, relying on generosity in spending, and his motto that Germany could face the epidemic from a financial point of view. His successful policies in dealing with the crisis made him one of the most popular and credible politicians, and put him at the center and front of the scene.

Schulz lost his battle for the presidency of the SPD in 2019, because he did not succeed in winning the hearts of the party's supporters, as the party at the time wanted an explicitly left-leaning leadership. Nevertheless, he remained the only horse on which his party could bet to restore the Chancellery.

Foreign and domestic policy and relations with Russia

The agreement, signed by the three parties to Germany's ruling coalition, states that Germany remains committed to cooperation within the framework of the European Union and NATO, and calls for the development of a "new eastern policy" at the EU level and the strengthening of the role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Observers describe Schulz as a supporter of a "moderate policy" toward Russia.

Schulz is known for his criticism of Moscow's policies towards Crimea and events in eastern Ukraine. However, in May 2021 he supported the “Northern Stream 2” project and criticized US sanctions against the companies involved in it, calling it “interference in the internal affairs of Germany and Europe.”

German media indicated that Schulz would not establish a "special relationship" with Moscow, unlike Gerhard Schroeder, who headed the German government between 1998 and 2005.

According to the newspaper "Bild", Schulz said during the German-Russian Petersburg dialogue in 2016, that there is no "reasonable" scenario in which Russia has good relations with Germany and difficult relations with the European Union at the same time.    LINK