"Tidbits From TNT" Friday Morning 3-26-2021

Mar 26

TNT:

Tishwash: Baghdad wakes up to a show of force for a pro-Iranian militia

It threatened "retribution" from Al-Kazemi and the United States pledged ... and demanded a decrease in the dollar's price

Residents of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, woke up yesterday (Thursday) to a massive show of force carried out by armed militias calling themselves "Rubu Allah". (The quarter in the Iraqi dialect means the group). It is believed that it is part of the pro-Iranian "Kataib Hezbollah" militia.

Al-Baghdadi watched dozens of civilian and military vehicles (vehicles) riding in masked gunmen carrying various types of launchers and light and medium machine guns, as they roamed the capital's streets, without being intercepted by government security forces.

Amidst the striking official silence about the armed militia parade, which was met with widespread condemnation and criticism, the spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, said in statements: “We were surprised by the clips (about the military parade) on social media, and the intelligence and security effort began to find out the reasons." . Al-Khafaji announced the end of the armed demonstrations.

The Iraqi government has not issued any official statement about what happened (until the moment of preparing this report).

In turn; The "Popular Mobilization Authority" categorically denied the existence of any military movement of its units inside the capital, Baghdad, and said in a statement: “(The Commission) confirms that the movements of (the crowd) come within the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and in coordination with (the Joint Operations Command), and that the brigades ( The crowd) are called by numbers, not by other names, and its directorates carry the well-known official designations.

Interpretations varied about the goals behind the "Rubu Allah" parade in central Baghdad. In a statement, the militia warned that the government had not responded to four points; Among them was a "threatening message" to the United States of America. And threatened Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi with "retribution."

It also called on the Iraqi Council of Representatives to "reduce the price of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar." And she warned the politicians that she singled out the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Massoud Barzani, from "deliberately delaying and delaying the approval of the budget in order to obtain their own gains."

Last December, the Iraqi government reduced the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar against the dollar by about 15 percent, in order to meet the deficit of the financial budget and to deprive banks, some of which are linked to Iranian banking networks, from the large profits from the differences in dollar prices in the daily currency auction conducted by The Central Bank of Iraq, and between its prices in the local market.

The leader of the "Sadrist movement", Muqtada al-Sadr, in a tweet on Twitter yesterday, implicitly referred to the issue of some parties benefiting from the previous dollar price, from which some banks were making huge profits, when he said: “One of the militias resorted to the military parade. The armed forces and the massive deployment in the beloved capital, Baghdad, for a demand such as the exchange of the dollar ».

He stated that "the decision to raise the dollar exchange has benefits and harms, and therefore we left its decision in the hands of specialists who are knowledgeable about economic matters, but the people should not be harmed much, especially with the presence of greed and high prices in the markets." Al-Sadr and his bloc in parliament support the government's actions by lowering the exchange rate of the dinar against the dollar.

Al-Sadr added that "resorting to weapons to fulfill the demands is unacceptable, and the government must prevent it from occurring again." These militias think that they will gain the people's sympathy for them. Both; Violence is beyond the sympathy of the people. ” Al-Sadr demanded the "Popular Mobilization Authority" to punish the party that conducted the show in the event that it belonged to the "crowd" or "declared innocent."

The "Peace Brigades" militia affiliated with Sadr, last February, conducted a military parade in Baghdad under the pretext of coordination with the government due to the presence of security threats, which insulted Al-Sadr's credibility and exposed him and his movement to wide criticism.

Away from the exchange rate issue; Some Iraqi trends believe that the parade of the "Rubu Allah" militia affiliated with "Kataib Hezbollah" aims to "disturb the atmosphere of the summit that brings Al-Kazemi together with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II next Saturday, and create a feeling of insecurity." The capital, Baghdad ». Some sources close to the Iraqi government say that "Tehran is very disturbed by the Iraqi - Egyptian and Jordanian rapprochement, so it moved its militias in Baghdad to destabilize it with the aim of influencing any potential rapprochement between Iraq and its Arab surroundings."

A source close to Al-Kazemi's government affirms that the latter is "aware of all the dimensions and movements of the militias that are trying to draw him into the bloodshed zone for which innocent people are paying." link

************

Shybaby: The foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt are in Baghdad on Friday

25th March, 2021

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shukry, will arrive tomorrow, Friday, in the capital, Baghdad.

An informed source told Shafaq News: The attendance of the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers in Baghdad, to arrange the atmosphere for the tripartite summit, which will be held next Saturday, in the presence of the King of Jordan and the Egyptian President.

Next Saturday, the capital, Baghdad, will host a tripartite summit that brings together Iraq, Egypt and Jordan, to complete the efforts of these countries seeking to develop relations between them.

A source informed Shafaq News; Earlier in the day; "The tripartite summit will only take one day," without giving further details.

The three countries' dialogues will include joint political, economic and cultural files, as well as the energy, investment and security files for these dialogues, and then move towards implementing what was agreed upon in two previous summits held in Jordan. LINK

Tishwash: Text of the joint statement issued by the hypothetical meeting between Al-Kazemi and the King of Saudi Arabia

The Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, and the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz, held a virtual meeting via video technology today, Thursday.

A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office stated that the Euphrates News Agency received a copy of it “based on the solid and historical fraternal ties and ties between the Republic of Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and their brotherly peoples, and to strengthen the bonds of relations between them, and their sincere desire to develop them in various fields, on solid foundations and principles in Presented by Arab and Islamic brotherhood, good neighborliness and common interests, and based on the generous invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a virtual meeting was held today from a distance between Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi and King Salman.

The two sides noted “the well-established historical fraternal relations between the two brotherly countries and peoples, and praised the level reached by these relations and contacts between them.”

They also emphasized “the role of the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council in a way that serves the interests of the two countries and the two brotherly peoples and the importance of expanding and strengthening the horizons of bilateral cooperation in various fields, especially political, security, trade, investment and tourism, in order to complement the efforts made and the positive results achieved from the mutual visits of officials between the two countries during the past period.” .

Saudi Arabia appreciated the efforts of the Iraqi government to achieve security, stability and development in the Republic of Iraq, while the Republic of Iraq appreciated the initiatives provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Republic of Iraq in the field of confronting the Corona pandemic (Covid-19).

With regard to regional issues, the two sides agreed to “intensify cooperation, coordination, and exchange of views on issues and issues of concern to the two countries on the regional and international arenas, in a way that contributes to supporting and strengthening security and stability in the region, and the need to keep them away from tensions and their causes and the joint endeavor to establish security and stability pillars, and in this context.” Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi affirmed his support for the Saudi initiative to end the crisis in Yemen.

According to the statement, King Salman invited the Prime Minister to visit Saudi Arabia to meet Prince Muhammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, to discuss ways to strengthen relations between the two countries and the two brotherly peoples and discuss all issues of common interest, and for his part the Prime Minister expressed his appreciation And accept the invitation.

King Suleiman asked Al-Kazemi to “convey his greetings to his brother, the President of the Republic of Iraq, wishing him and the Prime Minister good health and happiness, and for Iraq more progress and prosperity.”

The Prime Minister also expressed his thanks and appreciation to King Salman and the Crown Prince, and his best wishes for good health and the Saudi people for further prosperity and progress. ” link

************

Mot: A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother,

"Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today."

The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool.

"That's interesting." she said. "How do you make babies?"

"It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'.

Mot: ~~~ oooooh lordy!!! ~~~~