Zig’s Place Chatroom News Monday AM 1-31-22

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Butterfly   Zebari to win the presidential race, KDP leading figures assert 2022-01-31 09:00

Shafaq News/ Leading figures in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) cast question marks on the demonstrations protesting the nomination of Hoshyar Zebari for the presidency a few days ahead of the election session.

In a statement to Shafaq News Agency, Showan Mohammad Taha, a KDP leading figure, said, "those demonstrations are not popular. They are organized by political parties. Some of the Demonstrators serve in the presidential guards' brigades. We are aware that they received money to do what they are doing, and we know who paid them as well."

"The Tahrir square is the October martyrs square. Political parties shall keep their political disputes outside this square that played a vital role in changing the political situation."

A group of demonstrators gathered near the heavily fortified Green Zone, downtown the Iraqi capital Baghdad, to express their discontent with Zebari's candidature to the position.

For his part, Bengen Rekani, a representative of the KDP in the Kurdish delegation negotiating for the government formation, said, "more than 200 MPs will vote for Zebari according to the agreements with the KDP allies, the Sadrist movement, and the Sunni leading forces."

"Except for the political aspect, many of the Coordination Framework forces believe that Zebari has the political expertise and tolerance of different political parties to hold the position."

butterfly   Iraqi parliament will hold a vote to determine who will succeed the incumbent President of the Republic, Barham Salih, on February 7th.

Endorsed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Salih will be running for a second term in office.

However, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), who secured 31 seats in the recent parliamentary election-well ahead of the PUK's 18, has put forth the name of Hoshyar Zebari, a member of the KDP's Politburo and Iraq's former Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Talks between the PUK and KDP collapsed with the two leading Kurdish parties engaged in a strained war of words heated with reciprocal recriminations.

A few days after lifting their suspension following an order by Iraq's supreme court, the Parliament Speaker, Mohammad al-Halboosi, and his deputies convened last week to deliberate the procedures related to nominating and electing the next president. https://www.shafaq.com/en/Iraq-News/Zebari-to-win-the-presidential-race-KDP-leading-figures-assert

butterfly   Iraqi Parliament publishes the list of candidates for the Presidency 2022-01-31 07:16

Shafaq News/ On Monday, The Iraqi Parliament issued the final list of candidates for the Presidency of the Republic.

The Parliament’s General Secretariat said that based on the Law, the legitimate candidates for the Iraqi Presidency are:

1-Khaled Siddiq Aziz Muhammad

2- Faisal Mohsen Abboud Al-Kalabi

3- Shehab Ahmed Abdullah Al-Nuaimi

4- Hussein Ahmed Hashem Al-Safi

5- Ahmed Moh Imran Al-Rubaie

6- Ahmed Yahya Jassim Juweed Al-Saadi

7- Sabah Saleh Saeed

8- Kazem Khudair Abbas Daughneh

9- Rizgar Muhammad Amin Hama Saeed

10- Galawezh Ali Amin Pire

11- Louai Abdel-Saheb Abdel-Wahhab Al-Mohsen

12- Rebwar Arif

13- Hamza Al Maamouri

14- Hoshyar Mahmoud Muhammad Mustafa Zebari

15- Hussein Mohsen Alwan Al-Hasani

16- Abdul Latif Muhammad Jamal Rashid Sheikh Muhammad

17- Omar Sadiq Mustafa Majid Al Abdali

18- Barham Ahmed Al-Hajj Saleh Ahmed

19- Thaer Ghanem Muhammad Ali Baksh Al-Othman

20- Iqbal Abdullah Amin Al-Fatlawi

21- Khadija Qalaws

22- Jabbar Hassan Jassim

23- Hadi Abdul-Hussein Saddam Al-Fraiji

24- Raad Khudair Sayel

25- Omid Abdel Salam Qader Taha Balani

butterfly   It is worth noting that on February 7, the Iraqi representatives will vote in the Parliament for the next President.

The two main Kurdish parties are neck to neck as the elections approaches.

Earlier, KDP said that the Presidency position is entitlement of the Kurdish component, not a party itself.

While the PUK insists upon naming Barham Salih for a second mandate, its rival (Kurdistan Democratic Party-KDP) does not agree that it has "adequately discharged" the role of President and named Hoshyar Zebari as its candidate for the position.

Per the power-sharing formula between the two leading Kurdish parties, the President of the Republic was usually named by the PUK. However, this might change in light of the parliamentary election results that showed the KDP winning 31 seats, compared to the PUK's 17. https://www.shafaq.com/en/Iraq-News/Iraqi-Parliament-publishes-the-list-of-candidates-for-the-Presidency

butterfly   USD/IQD exchange rates stabilize in Baghdad and drop in Erbil 2022-01-31 03:27

Shafaq News/ The U.S. dollar (USD) exchange rates against the Iraqi dinar (IQD) stabilized in Baghdad and dropped Erbil today.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent said that the Central al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya exchanges are trading the USD at a rate of 147950 IQD to 100.

Our correspondent said that the buying and selling rates of 100 USD in the local markets of the Iraqi capital stood at 148500 and 147500 IQD, respectively.

In the capital of the Kurdistan Region, the USD exchange dropped; the buying and selling rates of 148000 and 147900 IQD for every 100 USD, respectively. https://www.shafaq.com/en/Economy/USD-IQD-exchange-rates-stabilize-in-Baghdad-and-drop-in-Erbil-8

butterfly   Accountability And Justice Complete The Scrutiny Of The Names Of The Presidential Candidates

POLITICIAN  01/31/2022 | 1:06 PM   Today, Monday, the Accountability and Justice Commission completed checking the names of the candidates for the presidency.

And the official Iraqi News Agency quoted the media department of the commission as saying, "The commission has completed checking the names of candidates for the presidency in accordance with its law No. 10 of 2008, especially Article 6 and its details."

He pointed out that "the number of candidates for the presidency of the Republic reached 26, one of whom is covered by the accountability and justice procedures," stressing that "the results have been officially handed over to the Presidency of Parliament."

The Speaker of Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, announced, earlier, the opening of the nomination for the post of President of the Republic for 15 days, where the voting session for the candidates will take place on the last day. https://almaalomah.me/2022/01/31/579691/

butterfly   The Central Bank of Kuwait opens the door to receive applications to establish fully digital banks

An official in the Central Bank of Kuwait announced today, Monday, the opening of the door to receive applications for the establishment of new banks that provide their services completely digitally through a public banking license.

Director of the Office of Supervision Department at the Central Bank of Kuwait, Muhammad Al-Khamis, said that the deadline for receiving applications for establishing digital banks continues until June 30, indicating that the announcement of applications that meet the conditions will be by the end of 2022.

Al-Khamis confirmed, in a video broadcast by the Central Bank of Kuwait on YouTube, that the bank has finished setting up a framework for digital banking “with the aim of stimulating innovation.”

He pointed out that this framework allows the provision of digital banking services according to 3 models of digital banking:

The first is digital services provided by existing banks through a banking unit within the bank.

The second model is “Banking as a Service”, which is a model based on a partnership between an existing bank and a digital institution that forms the front end in terms of customer relationship management and marketing activities, while the responsibilities of operations fall on the bank itself.

The third model is the fully independent digital banking model.   Source: Reuters

butterfly   Pro-Iranian forces protest against Zebari's candidacy for the presidency of Iraq

BAGHDAD - Hundreds of supporters of the coordinating framework forces loyal to Iran demonstrated on Monday in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to reject the candidacy of the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Hoshyar Zebari, for the position of President of the Republic.

Supporters of the coordination framework (which includes Shiite political forces) went out to demonstrate in "Nour Square" west of Baghdad, rejecting Zebari's candidacy for the post of president.

Witnesses explained that the demonstrators raised banners that read, “We do not want advocates of secession,” and another that read, “Khan al-Amanah does not suit him luxury,” in reference to Zebari’s support for the referendum on the secession of the Kurdistan region from Iraq in 2017.

The forces support the coordination framework that includes coalitions of the rule of law Al-Fateh, Al-Nasr and other Shiite political forces, Barham Salih assumed the position of President of the Republic for a second term.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Masoud Barzani, announced the candidacy of Zebari for the post of president, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan announced last week its nomination of Barham Salih for the post.

The two candidates are the most prominent candidates to win the position, especially since the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has maintained the position of president since 2006, while the share of the Kurdistan Democratic Party during the last period was one of the sovereign ministries, either finance or foreign affairs.

butterfly   Last week, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan criticized the KDP's abandonment of an agreement concluded between the two parties years ago, which stipulated that a candidate from the PUK would assume the presidency, with the Kurdistan Democratic Party taking one of the sovereign ministerial positions in the federal government.

Since 2006, the political custom in Iraq has been for the Kurds to hold the presidency, the Shiites to be the prime minister, and the Sunnis to head the parliament.

During its first session, on January 9, the parliament elected Muhammad al-Halbousi to head the council for a second term after obtaining the confidence of 200 deputies, compared to 14 votes for his rival, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.

Shiite political forces are holding continuous dialogues for the purpose of agreeing on a personal nomination for the post of prime minister.

Al-Halbousi confirmed that a Kurdish-Sunni-Shiite movement began to form a purely national government, considering that "the time of foreign interventions in forming governments is over."

Al-Halbousi, who leads the "Progress" coalition (37 seats out of 329 in Parliament), wrote a tweet in which he stated that "the time of foreign interventions in the formation of Iraqi governments is over."

butterfly   He added, "Today, the mountains of Iraq (majority Kurdish areas) and deserts (majority Sunni areas) are moving to Najaf al-Ashraf for the talks of a purely national Iraqi government, neither eastern nor western.

The term neither eastern is used to refer to Iran, nor western is used to refer to the United States of America.

And last week, the commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Ismail Qaani, visited Iraq and met with Shiite political leaders, in an effort to bridge the views between the leader of the Sadrist movement and the leaders of the coordination framework.

But the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, renewed, on Monday, his adherence to the formation of a national government in Iraq, welcoming dialogue with opponents of that.

Al-Sadr said in a tweet via “Twitter” after his meeting with Al-Halbousi and the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, in the Najaf Governorate (south). "Stop terrorism and violence against the people and partners, so we are still with the formation of a national majority government."

"We welcome dialogue with the national opposition (Shiite political forces that refuse to form a national majority government)," he added.

Al-Sadr met with Al-Halbousi and Barzani, as part of an initiative by the leader of the "Kurdistan Democratic Party" Massoud Barzani, with the aim of ending the political crisis in the country.

The Sadrist bloc topped the elections that took place on October 10, with 73 seats (out of 329 in Parliament), followed by Progress coalition 37, State of Law coalition 33, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party 31. https://rawabetcenter.com/archives/141723

butterfly   The 91st minute agreement “...handing over nuclear weapons in exchange for removing military enclaves  ---  Upon entering the White House about a year ago, President Joe Biden made renewing the nuclear agreement with Iran a top priority for his administration. His spokesmen made it clear that he needed an agreement that would remove the Iranian issue from the agenda, at least for the time being, so that he and his administration could devote themselves to addressing issues important to Washington, foremost of which is the rivalry with China in the Far East.

The Iranian regime also appears enthusiastic, albeit much less than Biden, as it should be admitted, to reach a renewed and improved nuclear agreement that would lead to the lifting of economic sanctions, and allow for stability and the strengthening of its position at home.

However, despite these starting conditions, during the last year, no breakthrough was achieved on the road, and negotiations dragged on and extended and witnessed crises that were thought to have kept Washington away from Tehran. In fact, it was the Iranians who created one crisis after another, and even halted the talks as if they had no interest or desire to achieve a renewed agreement. As for Washington, for its part, it found itself being drawn into and hesitantly responding to Iran's steps and provocations.

butterfly   At one point, a month or two ago, it was thought that the Americans had given up, and that the possibility of reaching an agreement had been eliminated. Indeed, statements heard in Washington state that all options are open and on the table, a particularly emphatic and implausible hint of the possibility of a military attack.

However, with a magic wand, and in light of the escalating tension between Washington and Beijing, and Moscow as well, which opened a new front in Ukraine against the United States - talks have resumed, and Iranian and American spokesmen are predicting an imminent breakthrough that will lead the two sides to the desired agreement. Even Iran's leader, Ali Khamenei, gave the green light to the agreement when he declared that "talks, and also the agreement, with the enemy do not mean Iran's surrender."

The negotiators seem to deserve a Nobel Prize, but not for peace but for a distinguished play. After all, the Iranians need to come to terms with their need for air to breathe, far more than they are willing to admit. However, they succeed in proving indifference, as if the whole matter did not concern them. As for the Americans, on the other hand, they broadcast hesitation, weakness, and basically enthusiasm for achieving an agreement at all costs.

The Iranians are artists in negotiations, and they work according to the principle that the agreement should be signed in the 91st minute and not a single moment before that, and this is what most likely will happen.

There is no need to be overly excited by the two sides' threats and the atmosphere of the crisis, which they sometimes bother to broadcast. The parameters of the agreement were decided on the day Biden entered the White House, and since then the Iranians have improved them, and they are in a more advanced position than they were a year ago in everything related to their nuclear project.

butterfly   It seems that it is an agreement that will not be possible to prevent or improve its terms, and thus Iran will remain a touch away from a nuclear bomb under the auspices of the agreement. But what can be done is to intensify the fight against it throughout the Middle East, in Syria and Iraq, and now also in Yemen. This is a struggle that is succeeding, especially in Syria, that enjoys regional and international support, and that can be won.   https://rawabetcenter.com/archives/141716

butterfly   Iraq: Disagreements reach representatives of the civil movement... The names of the presidential candidates will be announced today

Political differences began to deepen after the first parliamentary session, which took place on January 9, and led to the election of a new Presidency for Parliament. While the Shiite forces are fighting to resolve the “largest bloc” and choose a prime minister and a new government cabinet, and in light of the Kurds’ controversy over the eligibility of the position of the President of the Republic, a new dispute emerged within the “independent” political forces, most notably the “Extension” movement that emerged from the October protest movement.

The story began after the movement’s leader, Ghassan Al-Shabib, head of “Extension” accused the prominent activist Alaa Al-Rikabi, along with 6 of the bloc’s deputies, of voting in favor of Muhammad Al-Halbousi, in the session to choose the parliament speaker, which prompted Al-Shabib to resign so as not to be part of an alliance “It includes the killers of the Tishreen revolutionaries,” he said.

Al-Shabib said in a press statement: "I end my organizational career with the extension movement (9 parliamentary seats), and I resign from all my positions in it, and I no longer represent it, nor does it represent me."

He added, "It is not an honor or fitting for me as a protester and one of the sons of the great October Revolution to be a leader or a member of a movement whose Secretary-General and six other members voted with him to elect al-Halbousi as Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament." As a result, the head of the “Extension” parliamentary bloc, Muhammad Nouri, responded yesterday to the accusations leveled against them regarding their support for Al-Halbousi, who won the position of Speaker of Parliament, describing it as a “malicious campaign” that wants to undermine the confidence of voters in the movement.

butterfly   He said in a press statement, "We promised the people and our martyrs that we will not waste their blood, and we will remain on the covenant."

In addition, the House of Representatives is scheduled to announce, today, Monday, the names of the candidates for the post of President of the Republic.   https://rawabetcenter.com/archives/141713

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