TNT:

Saturday UPDATE for February 15, 2020

Allawi has completed all 22 cabinet names and the blocs are giving him a difficult time because he didn't give any of them a chance to voice their opinion, not to mention that 5 of his selectees are women.

With this totally new government, one that the citizens want, Allawi is meeting stiff opposition and receiving threats on his life from the Iranian-backed militias.

The blocs are mad at Allawi and threaten to not show up Sunday preventing a quorum for the requested vote. This may push the vote to Tuesday.

Time Will Tell

Eccle519:  If Allawi is doing this right he has all the bases covered...CBI and banks etc all that it takes to do this thing. Probably getting US/UN help as well

RVAlready:  If parliament fails to meet, the UN may step in and install allawi’s government….If the UN steps in, it will be a setback for Iraq and Iran. But, they have kicked the can too many times.

Eccle519:  The UN is already there and NATO has agreed to help...yes to fight Isis but getting the country going has to be a prority or it never ends

Yada:  Despite the opposition that is stated in the update, I believe the vote will go all the way through to the releasing of the budget. The heart of the Government and the people know that the US is behind them and knowing the UN can put them back into chapter 7 and take away their ability to rule themselves.

*******

Harambe:  CNBC: Oil snaps 5-week losing streak with best week of the year https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/oil-markets-crude-output-in-focus.html​?

********

Cutebwoy:  The names of candidates for the upcoming ministries of Allawi’s government have been revealed

February 15, 2020

Baghdad / .. An informed political source revealed, today, Saturday, the names of candidates to assume ministerial portfolios in the government he was appointed to form Mohamed Tawfiq Allawi.

The source said, “Eye of Iraq News”, that “Lieutenant General Abdel-Wahab Al-Saadi was nominated to take over the Ministry of Interior, and General Staff Juma Anad was nominated to take over the Ministry of Defense.”

And Ali Ali Al-Dahwi was nominated for the position of Minister of Communications and Salam Smeism nominated for the position of Minister of World Education and Scientific Research.

The political source added that “the dialogues regarding the Foreign Ministry candidate revolve between Safiya al-Suhail and Salah al-Tamimi.

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

Tishwash:  Allawi's Ministerial Cabinet Fulfills The Demands Of The Demonstrators

Al-Ahed News- Baghdad- special

Expected Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi is expected to submit the names of his cabinet, to the Iraqi parliament on Sunday, for a vote.

A parliamentary source announced that the Prime Minister-designate, Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, will present his cabinet in the parliament tomorrow, Sunday.

The source said to "Al-Ahed News", today, Saturday, that "the political blocs will vote affirmatively on the cab."

Politically .. If this matter were to take place and Allawi would present his cabinet cabinet to Parliament, as the reports say, it would express Allawi's commitment to the ceiling and the constitutional deadline, and express his desire to expedite the formation of the new government, and end the work of Adel Abdul Mahdi’s resigned government.

This step has many positives, which could be reflected on the future of Iraq and the political process, including: It came in coordination with representatives of the demonstrations, where Allawi met with each other on more than one occasion, in addition to that he asked them to nominate some personalities from them to represent them in his government.

But .. representation alone is not sufficient in this case, given that the minister must be a productive employee in his ministry, and the need to attend competence to carry out his work in line with the affairs of his ministry, and otherwise, it will be contrary to the Secretariat, and contrary to the demands of the demonstrators themselves who seek reform.

And on mentioning the reform .. The resignation of the Abdul-Mahdi government, and assigning Allawi instead of him, is the goal of reform until now, and according to the conditions the country is going through, and this matter is worth looking at and it is worth taking into consideration by the demonstrators, they have become influential and their voices are heard, and their demands are fulfilled, and one One of the credits of achieving their demands is: toppling a government and choosing others, and this matter could not have happened except through the pressure that they brought on those in charge of the political process.

As a result, he must say that the demands of the demonstrators were not fulfilled, which is completely unfair and detailed.

Yes .. not all demands can be fulfilled, because most of them are linked to legal and constitutional mechanisms, and need legislation, and a long time to achieve them, but in any case that whoever pays a government to resign, and assigning others, he has achieved the greatest possible goal at the present time.

What's next?

This question .. could be posed to the Prime Minister Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi, and to the political blocs, as well as to the protesters stationed in the protests.

As for Allawi: his mission will be much more difficult than that of any former prime minister, because the former were only under the attention of the House of Representatives, and Allawi will be under the eyes of the House of Representatives on the one hand, and under the eyes of the Iraqi people and demonstrators on the other hand, and he will have to work hard to achieve All that is required for the Iraqi people, and otherwise, the process of its fall, God forbid, will be more severe than the fall of Mr. Adel Abdul Mahdi.

As for the House of Representatives and political blocs: It is necessary to leave the previous approach of quotas, work sincerely in the process of legislating laws, fight corruption seriously, and report it wherever it is, and leave freedom to Allawi even in the process of nomination for special degrees, as staying on the previous approach, It would be a justification for the protesters to step up their protests and bring them to a point that no one would like.

As for the demonstrators: they are not without responsibility, because this change that took place was not a coincidence or a political luxury, but they changed this change, and they became responsible for it, which requires a real awareness of the success of this change, with the support of Mr. Allawi's government, and otherwise. Any failure will be part of it and will bear part of its burden.

So it is logical that, whoever seeks change must support it while demanding it, and while it is being accomplished, and this change has occurred and everyone is satisfied with it, and it is not logic and wisdom to subject him to the projection, so Allawi was commissioned even though his source is the demonstrators, but he brought legal and constitutional mechanisms that must Respected.

And if we leave the question of assigning Allawi and his cabinet, and we move to the rest of the other demands, then this matter has become very simple, and that all the results that can be achieved will be in the interest of these demands, with good reason: that any government that fulfills its tasks with popular will, then it will certainly stand And it will be aligned with this will, not with the will of any bloc or party.

Conclusion

The success of the Allawi government is everyone's responsibility, and this success can only happen with the support of everyone, at the level of political blocs and parties, and at the level of the Iraqi people, who will be the winning card in all this equation.  link

Mot:  Bookstore employee writes this on Facebook after “little old lady” shocks everyone at the register ..................

 A bookstore worker recently wrote this Facebook post describing an encounter with a “little old lady” who shocked everyone at the register. The post has since gone viral, and for good reason. Read it below.

Posted by Christine Turel

I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s a great job 99% of the time and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people. Anywho, middle of the day this little old lady comes up. She’s lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it but her husband is waiting in the car ‘OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!’

 She piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean (‘Wooooosh’ she says, making a wave gesture with her hand.
Ok. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favourite kind of customer. They’re thrilled about everything and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and it’s nice.

Then this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re connected to a major university in the city so we have a lot of harried students pass through). She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. He’s confused but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.

He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like, $400 worth of textbooks. She, this tiny old woman, boldly takes them out of his hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with an intense stare and tells me to put them on her bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says ‘you need chocolate.’ She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile.

He keeps asking her ‘why are you doing this?’ She responds ‘Do you like Harry Potter?’ and throws a copy of the new Cursed Child on the pile too.

Finally she’s done and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say:
‘It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.’

The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. She’s staring out the door after him and says to me: ‘My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t know what I did. I see that boy and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.’

I’ve bagged up all her stuff and at this point am super awkward and feel like I should say something but I don’t know what. Then she turns to me and says: ‘I wish I could have bangs like that but my darn hair is just too curly.’ And leaves. And that is the story of the best customer I’ve ever had. Be kind to somebody today.

You never know how your actions may affect others around you, so you might as well be kind to all.