"Tidbits From TNT" Thursday Morning 1-27-2022
TNT:
Ivantulafitov: Shafaq News/ On Thursday, the Al-Fateh Alliance revealed that the leader of the Sadrist Movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, offered the portfolio of the Ministry of Interior to Hadi Al-Ameri in exchange for disengaging the alliance with the Head of the State of Law coalition, Nouri Al-Maliki.
Ivantulafitov: "The State of Law Coalition will also participate in the new government along with the Al-Fateh Alliance and the Sadrist, but its head, Nouri al-Maliki, will not assume any executive position in the next government, according to al-Sadr's condition." Earlier, Muqtada al-Sadr, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Takadum, and Azm alliances tried to include the Shiite Framework into the next government to no avail.
Ivantulafitov: Sadr really rally doesn't want Mal icky….. This weekend looking good if they get Saleh in he is uncontested
1ladybirdnc: Thanks. Ivan . . .this could be really good news... Will the USA finally give Maliki the hot boot..?
Ivantulafitov: More from Maliki about Sadr excluding him https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq-News/Al-Maliki-comments-on-Al-Sadr-s-condition-to-exclude-him-I-m-open-handed-for-the-interests-of-Iraq
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Tishwash: The Silk Road on the {morning} table penetrates 70 countries and revives Iraq's role in international trade (1/27)
Global and regional interest and a continuous local discussion regarding the Silk Road and the benefit it brings to the countries it passes through, as it carries within it major changes in the reality of the global market, especially that food and transport prices during the past months have risen to levels that have raised international communities.
In order to shed light on this important topic that occupies all the countries of the world that are under its umbrella and outside it, {Al-Sabah} met the expert on economic affairs and member of the Baghdad Economic Forum, Afif Al-Rais, and studied with him the reality of this project, which is being implemented in nearly 70 countries in the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, and it is repeating Reviving Iraq's pivotal role in trade exchanges, as it represents the heart of the land and sea Silk Road.
Al-Rayes said: "At the end of 2014, China initiated the establishment of the Silk Road Fund, a state-owned investment fund with a capital of 40 billion dollars, aimed at financing infrastructure projects, numbering about a thousand, which will be implemented gradually to link the countries of the three continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe through A complex transportation network of bridges, roadways, railways, ships and aircraft, including the construction of ports, airports, free zones, electric power lines, internet networks and other infrastructure along the length and breadth of the seventy Belt and Road countries on three continents.”
Trade promotion
He added, "This extensive transportation network will be built with modern tools and high-tech equipment that will provide high-speed trains, develop durable and safe land roads, and ports with large and fast loading and unloading capacities, all of which will enhance the growth of land and sea trade at the same time through this large project, which will provide a global option." For a more inclusive, open and balanced globalization that supports the free world trade system and an open global economy led by open regional cooperation to enhance the orderly and free flow of economic factors and the employment of resources with high efficiency to achieve full integration between markets, as well as joint coordination between the various economic policies of the countries benefiting from this project.
Asian Bank
Al-Rais continued, "To bring this initiative out of its theoretical framework into practical implementation, China, in addition to the Silk Road Fund, established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a multilateral financial institution that brought together the 57 countries concerned to meet the needs of extensive infrastructure, with a capital of $100 billion. The investment needs in these projects are estimated at $73 billion during the period 2015-2020.
It should be noted that despite the magnitude of these needs, there is no difficult problem in providing these amounts if we know that China has a global foreign exchange reserve of $3.37 trillion during 2020, and this will be a catalyst and complementary factor in providing the financial needs for infrastructure projects, as well as About that this would be an opportunity to operate these reserves in the global financial market, and 7 Arab countries joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, as these developments deepened Sino-Arab cooperation through documents that added a new concept of cooperation that made China the second largest trading partner of the Arab countries as a whole.
The standard of living
Al Rayes pointed out that during the seventh ministerial meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum in May 2017 in Doha, the meeting agreed to continue developing friendly relations by jointly building the Belt and Road project, with the Silk Road Fund taking over the task of financing projects in the countries through which the Belt and Road passes, including countries In the Arab world, the Fund is expected to provide a large volume of loans to Arab countries in order to enable them to improve infrastructure and create a successful investment climate, as well as the continuation of the role of the Asian Investment Bank as one of the existing financing institutions in providing aid and soft loans to finance development projects aimed at alleviating poverty and raising the standard of living in the countries benefiting from the project.
Joint cooperation
And he indicated that "many countries in the Middle East have sought to highlight their role in the success of the Chinese initiative and taking an important position on the Belt and Road track, as Kuwait signed a memorandum of understanding with China in June 2014 to develop joint cooperation on the Silk Road, and Qatar and China in November 2014 To sign a memorandum to enhance joint cooperation on the Silk Road, and in the same context, the UAE sought to activate the strategic partnership with China in December 2015, followed by Saudi Arabia, too, to sign a memorandum of understanding in January 2016 for the same purpose, as did Egypt in January 2016. Iran has refrained from seeking to occupy a position in the project as long as China will invest hundreds of billions in constructing new transportation routes, and a joint cooperation agreement has been signed to turn Iran into a transit center for Chinese goods pending the activation of the Silk Road. economicallyTo increase the volume of exports and diversify and expand trade exchange with the countries through which the Silk Road passes, Turkey has engaged in this initiative through a memorandum of understanding signed in November 2015 to link Turkey with China through regional land transport lines.
It is noteworthy that Ankara received at the beginning of this year the first freight train to use the new route from China to reach the farthest point in western Europe (London). Which will bring great benefits to all the countries through which the railways passed.
Iraq site
Al-Rayes stressed that {the importance of the Belt and Road strategy for Iraq comes from the fact that it will revive Iraq’s pivotal role in trade exchanges during the Silk Road throughout history, given its geographical location, which represents the bridge linking the continents of Asia and Europe, and some economists believe that Iraq represents the heart of the land and sea Silk Road project.
Both, the project provides Iraq with a strategic opportunity to achieve its national interests in economic and commercial terms as a transit crossing through its lands towards the continent of Europe and the Levant region and vice versa. He possesses the qualifications of geographical concentration to control the land, sea and air transport lines, but Iraq did not take advantage of this advantage and employ it to serve its interests by the previous governments that neglected the development of railways so that it no longer has any connection with the railways with other countries.Neighboring, while railways in Europe, Asia and Africa intertwined and became productive and effective economic arteries that achieve huge financial resources by collecting service fees for train cars, as well as fees for transporting passengers and goods.
Big benefits
He said: {The Ministry of Transport, in a study prepared by it on behalf of the Asian Belt Project in 2017, estimates that the load of one cargo train is equivalent to the load of 311 trucks, which means that 371,000 trucks operating on the road can be dispensed with, as well as enhancing safety and reducing traffic congestion. This belt will also provide Other great benefits to society by providing a means of transportation that is less expensive, faster and more efficient compared to its counterpart from other means of transportation; Which contributes to the development and development of the transport sector, whether for companies operating in this sector, and achieving economic benefits for the state, and we cannot neglect that this project contributes to creating relations and trade exchanges between Iraq and all countries, whether the countries located towards Europe or the countries located towards China, and this is another advantage that is added What features will it achieve?
Agreements and Memoranda
And he indicated that {Iraq sought to take the initiative and seize the opportunities offered by the Belt and Road, as the Iraqi government signed with its Chinese counterpart five agreements and memoranda of understanding for economic, technological, military, diplomatic and energy cooperation during the visit of Prime Minister Dr. Haider Al-Abadi to China in December 2015.
The first memorandum related to participation The establishment of the economic belt and the maritime and land Silk Road for the twenty-first century, and the two sides had the desire to jointly advance cooperation regarding participation in the above project, and through reaching several understandings, the most important of which are; The two sides work to achieve the common development goal of the two countries by developing and strengthening regional interconnection and communication among the various countries along the Belt and Road line, and supporting cooperation in the fields of transportation, economy, trade and investment.
He explained that the understandings dealt with the cooperation of the two sides on strategic and development policies, ways to activate cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, energy and industry, and practical cooperation in planning and building infrastructure projects, including airports, ports, electricity and communications, and Iraq expressed its intention to establish a new railway line for cooperation with the Chinese side. It links Iraq from east to west, provided that the Iraqi side does not bear any costs for its construction, except for the site and the lands that the railway passes through.
Railway
Al-Rayes indicated that the railway project in Iraq includes several tracks, including the railway plan from the Shalamcheh area in Iran and enters Iraq through Basra to Zakho in northern Iraq and from there to Turkey, and the railway tracks from the Kermanshah region in Iran and enters Iraq through the Badra border port Wasit Governorate down to the Jordanian port of Aqaba, and the railway tracks from the Kermanshah region and enters Iraq through the Mehran-Badra region to the port of Latakia in Syria, as well as the route of the railways from the Kermanshah region and enters Iraq through the Khanaqin region down to the port of Latakia, and the railway tracks from the Latakia region Kermanshah through Kut - Karbala - Arar to the port of Dubai Saudi}.
Expert Estimates
Al-Rayes stressed that "China attaches great importance to partnership with Iraq for several reasons, the first of which is; that Iraq is a rich country that owns large oil fields, and this is what prompted China to think about working and investing in Iraq, and to have a foothold in it; Because China is in great need of oil, and according to expert estimates, China will be the largest consumer of oil during the next few years (2025), and there is an agreement between the two countries to extract oil from the Ahdab and Halfaya fields. It was also agreed recently that China will build a thousand schools in various governorates of Iraq. In return for this interest, Iraq must go to work on building strong and solid relations with China in all fields, and mainly to work on concluding an agreement with China for Iraq’s participation in the establishment of the economic belt and the Silk Road for the twenty-first century, which would raise the level of trade exchange between them to high levels. ambitious, as well as other economic fields,” noting that “to support and strengthen this partnership.”
Infrastructure
Al-Rayes pointed out that {many countries preceded us in moving towards starting the practical side to prepare the infrastructure requirements for sea, air and land services, and we should not see you lost opportunities in the shift towards the practical and executive side of the project, despite the fact that all concerned parties, whether ministries and relevant institutions, as well as centers of strategic thought. The private sector has decided its opinion on the need for Iraq to participate in the road and the belt, as it is one of the
The most important steps towards diversifying sources of income the National}. link
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Tishwash: Iraq.. Al-Kazemi calls for accelerating the formation of the new government
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi called on the country's political forces, on Wednesday, to expedite the formation of the new government in order to meet the requirements of civilians.
Al-Kazemi said on the sidelines of his meeting with residents of the border villages with Syria in Nineveh Governorate (northern) during his visit to the region, that "the security situation is stable and firmly held, and what is said here or there is just media intimidation."
He added, according to a statement issued by his office: "From here, I call on the political brothers to expedite the formation of the government in a manner that meets the needs of citizens in all parts of the country and its lands, from the north to the south and from the east to the west."
And the formation of the new Iraqi government requires first the election of a new president of the republic by Parliament, so that the elected president assigns the candidate of the largest parliamentary bloc to form the government within a period of 30 days.
The dispute revolves between the "Coordination Framework" coalition, which includes the State of Law coalition, the Fatah and Victory coalitions, the Movement of Wisdom, and the "Sairoon" coalition led by Muqtada al-Sadr, over the eligibility of any party to nominate a person for the position of prime minister.
The "Coordination Framework" forces hold 88 seats in the Iraqi parliament out of 329 seats, while the "Sairoon" coalition holds 73 seats in parliament.
On Tuesday, the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq (the highest judicial authority) approved the legality of the parliament session, which was held on the 9th of this month, in which Muhammad al-Halbousi was elected Speaker of Parliament for a second term.
On January 13, the Federal Court decided to suspend the work of the Presidency of Parliament until two cases regarding the legality of the first session were resolved by MPs Mahmoud al-Mashhadani (from the "Azm" coalition) and Basem Khashan (independent).
Iraq has been experiencing political tensions since the elections, amid protests by supporters of the losing forces, punctuated by an attempt to assassinate Al-Kazemi in November 2021. link
Ivantulafitov: You know you're a redneck Jedi when..
You hear "Luke, I am your father... and your uncle...
" You ever said the phrase, "May the force be with y'all."
Your Jedi robe is camouflage.
You have ever used your light saber to open a bottle of Bud Light.
At least one wing of your X-Wings is primer colored.
You can easily describe the taste of an Ewok.
You have ever had a land-speeder up on blocks in your yard.
The worst part of spending time on Dagobah is the dadgum skeeters.
Wookiees are offended by your B.O.
You have ever used the force to get yourself another beer so you didn't have to wait for a commercial.
You have ever used the force in conjunction with fishing or bowling.
You have ever had your R-2 unit use its self-defense electro-shock thingy to get the barbecue grill to light up.
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Mot: -- You Can Always Count on me ~~~