Blog Archives

Vice Kurdistan rule out the success of any initiative to end the political crisis

5-25-13 BAGHDAD / electronic integrity

MP ruled Kurdistan Alliance Mahma Khalil, the success of any possible subtraction initiative to end the political crisis between the two blocs.

Khalil said, “All the initiatives that have been put forward now by the Vice President or the President of the House of Representatives or the President of the Islamic Supreme Council Ammar al-Hakim would not reach the required level as a result of loss of confidence between the political parties.”

He added, “Who wants to resolve the political crisis must be for him to return to previous initiatives that emerged from the government such as the Convention of Arbil.”

He explained, “in case refer to the paper of Arbil and the implementation of all its provisions, will help to build a new confidence among the blocs and help on the parties sitting down again around the table one dialogue.”

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Biden to discuss by telephone the political crisis and increasing violence in Iraq

5-24-13 All Iraq News:   Search House speaker Osama Al-nujaifi, with us Vice President Joseph Biden’s political crisis in Iraq and the region.

The security tension is Iraq bombings targeting civilians by car bombs and explosive devices, as well as the operations of assassination and abduction of security forces as occurred in Anbar, and the abduction of civilians by fake tight in some areas of Baghdad, and was made Commander in Chief of the armed forces Nuri al-Maliki, on the background of explosions, several changes among the leaders and security officers.

According to a statement by the Office of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, each agency received in Iraq, “Al-nujaifi said Thursday received a phone call from u.s. Vice President, discussed the political situation and the crisis in Iraq”, adding that “Biden expressed concern about the increasing incidence of violence and extremism, especially in Iraq and Syria, noting the need to find solutions for Iraqi calm.”

According to the statement, “Al-nujaifi said the partnership must respect and refrain from the use of the army in the Suppression of peaceful demonstrations, and militias that have emerged in the recent period, prompted the Government to open a dialogue with the protesters and to accept peace initiatives on the demonstrations, in particular King Abd Al-Saadi initiative and withdraw troops from cities and replace them with local police.”

“Iraq also demanded off arrest warrants against leaders of the Iraqi list and the awakening leaders, including role in defusing the crisis.”

The political situation has intensified in Baghdad and several provinces in the past few days, a series of car bombings and IEDs are the deadliest months ago killing hundreds of dead and wounded, mostly civilians.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Introduce the new currency in order to put a stop on the crisis with the dinar

Wednesday, 22 May, 2013 | Tlar

5-22-2013 Newshound Guru Tlar Article: “Visual proposes mechanisms quick to raise the value of the Iraqi dinar” Finally the voice of reason. Dr. Basri ought to be in charge of monetary policy in Iraq. He see’s the need to introduce the new currency in order to put a stop on the crisis with the dinar. He see’s the need for Taxes and Tariffs. He sees these thing as being needed now, not next year. Unfortunately his voice will most likely be lost in the chorus of “economic experts” that continue to sing stupidity, or Maliki’s quassi experts spouting mindless support for Maliki’s hidden personal agenda.

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Introduce the new currency in order to put a stop on the crisis with the dinar

Wednesday, 22 May, 2013 | Tlar

5-22-2013 Newshound Guru Tlar Article: “Visual proposes mechanisms quick to raise the value of the Iraqi dinar” Finally the voice of reason. Dr. Basri ought to be in charge of monetary policy in Iraq. He see’s the need to introduce the new currency in order to put a stop on the crisis with the dinar. He see’s the need for Taxes and Tariffs. He sees these thing as being needed now, not next year. Unfortunately his voice will most likely be lost in the chorus of “economic experts” that continue to sing stupidity, or Maliki’s quassi experts spouting mindless support for Maliki’s hidden personal agenda.

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Urgent….Maliki to reveal names involved in creating current crisis in Iraq

5-20-13 Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Premier, Nouri al-Maliki announced on Monday that he will reveal on tomorrow, Tuesday, the names of those involved in creating the current crisis in Iraq.

Maliki said during a press conference he held at the Cabinet building on Monday “We will reveal tomorrow during the Council of Ministers’ meeting, the names of the figures responsible for the current crisis, calling the political blocs not to attend the parliament emergency session scheduled on next Tuesday to discuss the security situation because it will be sectarian and will give rise to the existing tensions.”

The General Commander of the Armed Forces unveiled “major changes conducted to the top security leaders on background of the recent security breaches witnessed by Baghdad and the rest of provinces.”

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

US dollar crisis in Iraq “temporary” and will be resolved soon

dinar 2012 pic2

5-19-13 Baghdad – Iraq News Network:    Financial expert Samir nasiri US dollar crisis in Iraq “temporary” and will be resolved soon. Nasiri said in an interview that the Iraqi market crisis on the high dollar exchange rate for the dinar is temporary and that the Central Bank said the reserves rose to 74 billion dollars, noting that this is a cover for the dollar. Nasiri said: the dollar’s rise at the moment because the dollar speculators in the market, this temporary condition can be controlled. He noted that Iraq has gone through a very difficult situation for high and low exchange rate dinar and the dollar so that monetary policy if dealt with properly and correct mechanisms can control the financial market and this not only in cooperation with private banks through consultation with them on economic policy that is virtually non-existent at present. And the dollar is bought for private banks and Government meetings daily to buy and sell foreign currencies held by the Central Bank of Iraq, which is supposed to finance private traders or for tourism and study abroad but this money gets when those banks that register a clear violation is calculated on the instructions of the Central Bank.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Kubler warns Iraq sliding into Anonymous serious unresolved political crisis

610x

5-17-13 alrayy.com / The Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq, Martin Kobler, Iraqi leaders to take immediate measures to stop the ‘bleeding’ in Iraq, warning that the country is sliding backwards and to the anonymous seriously, what did not solve the political crisis and put an end to it now.
Kobler said in a statement received news agency public opinion (and babysit) a copy of it: it is the responsibility of all the leaders responsibility to act to stop the bloodshed in this country and protect its citizens.

The statement added: that young children burned alive in car bombings and worshipers are exposed to cutting they are inside Joamahm, returned this: beyond unacceptable.

The UN envoy called on Iraqi leaders to: take action to stop the bloodshed and to make every possible effort to protect civilians, adding: It is the responsibility of politicians and the duty to act immediately and to engage in dialogue to resolve the political crisis and put an end to this,

He continued: The Iraqi people have suffered enough and we will continue to remind the leaders of Iraq that the country will slide back into the unknown if serious measures are not taken, he said, adding: must be no peace in this country now.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

UN chief in Russia as Syria crisis deepens

UN chief Ban Ki-moon is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin as global pressure grows on Moscow to end arms supplies to the Syrian regime and drop its support for President Bashar al-Assad.

On Friday, Ban also met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

At a press conference with Lavrov, Ban said: ”We should not lose the momentum,” generated by a US-Russian proposal to bring the Syrian government and opposition representatives to a peace conference. 

Ban’s mission and a recent visit to Sochi by British Prime Minister David Cameron follow Putin’s early May talks in Moscow with US Secretary of State John Kerry, during which the sides agreed to set up a new round of Syria negotiations within a matter of weeks.

Ban said that the conference should be held as soon as possible, but added that no date had yet been agreed.

Lavrov said: “The sooner this conference is held, the better … the key thing now is who is ready to take part on the Syrian side.”

Peace conference

Ban also used the visit to renew a call on Damascus to allow UN experts in to assess claims over alleged chemical weapons use.

Lavrov called alleged chemical weapons use “a serious problem” and supported the call for an investigation. 

Ban’s meetings come after French President Francois Hollande upped the pressure on the Kremlin on Thursday by saying more efforts were needed to convince Moscow to “finish with Bashar al-Assad”.

That meeting – now expected to take place in Geneva in early June – hopes to build on a failed June 2012 peace initiative that called for the quick creation of a transitional government but defined no clear role for Assad.

Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker, reporting from Moscow, said: “More than anything, Ban is going to make sure potential Geneva talks happen when they have been promised to happen.

“Ban will want to make sure of the cooperation between the US and Russia at this crucial time.”

Moscow is also calling for the inclusion on this occasion of its trading partner Iran and US ally Saudi Arabia as a counterweight. 

Weapons supply

Russia continues to deliver arms to Syria – the regime’s most powerful remaining ally – but claims that it has no real interest in seeing Assad remain in power.

But many continue to express alarm at Russia’s decision to supply Syria with various powerful missiles and question how this fits in with Russia’s commitment to a negotiated end to the crisis.

“I do not understand why the media is trying to create a sensation out of this,” said Lavrov, during Friday’s press conference. “We have not hidden that we supply weapons to Syria under signed contracts, without violating any international agreements, or our own legislation.”

Spotlight

In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria

The New York Times reported on Friday that Russia has also sent the regime a new batch of upgraded Yakhont anti-ship missile systems that make a shipping embargo of Syria much more difficult to enforce.

Al Jazeera’s David Chater, reporting from Moscow, says Putin “will not sacrifice such a vital strategic partnership, no matter what weight of international pressure is applied”.

Russia is opposed to any armed intervention by the West in Syria.

605

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Syrian Crisis Part of Western Geopolitical Strategy, Says Patriarch

BEIRUT — The Syriac Catholic patriarch said events in Syria were the result of Western nations carrying out a geopolitical strategy “to split Syria and other countries” in the Middle East.

“It’s not a question of promoting democracy or pluralism as the West wants us to understand of its policies. This is a lie, this is hypocrisy,” Syriac Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan told Catholic News Service.

Western nations did not heed warnings and so “bear responsibility for what is happening in Syria.”

“We were warning all those involved, the countries in the region and in the West — that means the United States and some of the European Union countries, like the United Kingdom and France — that this kind of violence would lead to chaos and the chaos to a civil war,” Patriarch Younan said. “And at that time, two years ago, they chose not to believe that.”

The patriarch spoke to Catholic News Service May 10, as Western nations gave contradictory reactions to the war between the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and rebel forces.

The United States and Russia were calling for an international conference on Syria in Geneva at the end of May, but U.S. President Barack Obama was said to be considering arming rebel groups as war intensified in certain parts of Syria.

“Since the beginning, they (Western nations) just stood against the regime, calling it a dictatorship, saying the dictatorship must fall. Now it’s over 25 months, the conflict is getting worse, and the ones who are paying the price are the innocent people,” said Patriarch Younan, leader of nearly 40,000 Syriac Catholics in Syria.

He said the morale of Christians in Syria is “very, very low.”

Patriarch Younan, who served for 14 years as bishop of the New Jersey-based Diocese of Our Lady of Deliverance for Syriac Catholics in the United States and Canada, was elected patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church in January 2009. He and other Eastern Catholic patriarchs in Lebanon have repeatedly warned against toppling Assad, calling instead for dialogue to solve the crisis in the country.

The patriarch emphasized that “we are not siding either with Assad or with his regime. We are with the Syrian people, and our concern is how can we get this country (Syria) back on its feet for the sake of the population.

“We are accused of siding with the (Syrian) regime. This is not the truth,” he said. “Sure, we did say from the beginning, this regime has to make reforms, true reforms, both political and in the area of civil liberties.”

But the patriarch said that does not mean ousting the regime is the solution, because it could then be replaced with fundamentalist groups, as church leaders had warned, citing Libya and Egypt and other countries of the Arab Spring.

“We are not politicians,” the patriarch said. “We just want our people to be able to stay in their own country and to live peacefully with others, and we want true civil rights and religious liberty.”

He said Western nations must look at what happened in Iraq, which still suffers from confessional conflicts, killings, bombings and kidnappings and has already experienced the exodus of more than 50 percent of its Christians.

The patriarch described the situation in his native province of Hassake as “very critical” and said Christians were being pressured to leave the area.

“People live in fear. They fear kidnapping and killing, and many of the Christians just want to get out in whatever way they can,” he said.

“It’s very sad to say that there is no hope for the future for the young generations, all because of the lasting conflict, and the West bears the responsibility of this conflict.”

He said Western nations encouraged conflict in the Mideast “in the name of the so-called awakening of people, of democracy,” adding that “the so-called Western democracy” cannot be exported to countries that still look at religion as a base for ruling their regimes or political life.

Those attempts over the past 20 years to bring so-called democracy in the region, he said, instead were not for the good welfare of the Christians in the Middle East and “were very much harming our very existence.”

“And for us Middle Eastern Christians, the faith means a lot. For us, religious liberties come first, otherwise we would not have been surviving for centuries in this area. Western leaders don’t want to understand this,” Patriarch Younan said.

“Christians in the Middle East have been not only abandoned, but we have been lied to and betrayed by Western nations, like the United States and the European Union,” he said.

“And I believe there will be a time coming when the Christians of the Middle East will no longer look to the West for support and perhaps to better strengthen their roots with the Eastern culture and civilization. They are better to look to the East, to … Russia, to India, to China,” he said.

The patriarch said he had no news of two Orthodox bishops kidnapped April 22, but said the United States was “very able to get the news if they want to.”

When asked if he considered the bishops’ kidnapping a message to Christians, the patriarch replied, “How can it be otherwise?” The incident, he said, makes Christians in Syria more fearful and desperate to flee.

“We keep praying for peace and the liberation of all kidnapped,” he added.

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon already is more than 1 million, equal to one quarter of Lebanon’s population. Every day, Patriarch Younan said, Christian families from Syria who have left everything behind, come to the patriarchate in Beirut seeking refuge.

By Doreen Abi Raad
Catholic News Service

Assyrian International News Agency

Obama and Cameron discuss Syria crisis

US President Barack Obama says he and British Prime Minister David Cameron have agreed to “increase the pressure” on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with his departure the goal.

Obama and Cameron addressed the media after a meeting between the two leaders in Washington on Monday.

“We’re going to continue our efforts to increase pressure on the Assad regime, to provide humanitarian aid … to strengthen the moderate opposition and to prepare for a democratic Syria without Bashar al-Assad,” Obama said.

Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington DC, said that while there was a lot of talk in local media about the possibility of arming the rebels, there were concerns about which country was arming which Syrian rebel group.

She said it would be a tough battle if the Obama administration decides to arm the rebels.

Cameron said he ruled out tougher action in Syria but pledged to double non-lethal aid to Syria.

Under pressure

Our correspondent said there was no real change in position from the statements made by the two leaders.

She said the Obama administration is under a lot of pressure as some rebels groups are believed to be linked to al-Qaeda.

Obama has also said publicly that the use of chemical weapons would be the “red line” that would have to be crossed for the US to reconsider its position.

Spotlight

In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria

Cameron, fresh from a trip to Moscow, one of Assad’s few remaining backers, said the US efforts that had convinced Russia to join a conference on a political transition in Syria were a significant step forward.

He told National Public Radio that John Kerry, US secretary of state, made a “real breakthrough” in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin “when they agreed to an American-Russia peace conference”.

Cameron also said that Putin was “keen now to move from the generalities of having a peace conference to talking through the specifics of how we can make [this] work.

“There are still big hurdles to overcome … but I sense there is an understanding now that the current trajectory of Syria … this is not in anybody’s interest”.

Amid the diplomatic developments, reverberations mounted from a string of deadly bombings in the Turkish town of Reyhanli, which the Turkish government blamed on Syria.

Protests in Turkey

Thousands of Turks took to the streets on Sunday to urge their government to rethink its outspoken support for rebels battling Assad, warning that the decision had provoked reprisals against Turkey, including the bombings, which killed 48 people.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish prime minister, is due to meet Obama at the White House on Thursday, with Syria also topping their agenda.

In another sign of accelerating diplomacy on Syria, the Kremlin said Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, will hold talks on Tuesday with Putin amid concerns Russia plans to deliver advanced missiles to the Assad government.

Arrangements for the peace talks sponsored by Russia and the US, which could take place later this month, meanwhile remain unclear.

Opposition response

Syrian opposition forces said they will consult Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey before deciding whether to take part in the talks.

“It is too early to decide whether or not we will take part, because the circumstances of this conference are not yet clear,” George Sabra, acting head of the opposition National Coalition, said in Istanbul.

Tim Carstairs, the Head of Communications at Geneva Call, has published several videos on rules of war.

“There is no agenda or calendar yet. The list of participating states and their representatives has not yet been announced.”

Sabra’s statements came as the organisation Geneva Call said it had produced several videos on the rules of war, aimed at encouraging rebel fighters on the ground to follow international criminal laws.

The European Union gave warning on Sunday that the humanitarian aid community was at “breaking point” because of the scale of needs created by the conflict.

Kristalina Georgieva, EU’s humanitarian aid commissioner, issued the warning as she visited Syrian refugees in Jordan and unveiled $ 84m in additional aid.

“Unless all those involved in the fighting, as well as the international community, find a political solution to the violence very soon, the humanitarian community will simply be unable to cope with the unprecedented scale of the needs – we are already at breaking point,” Georgieva said.

767

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

SLC MP calls demonstrators to follow Kurds’ negotiations to settle crisis

5-12-13 Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) MP, Abbas al-Bayati, of the State of Law Coalition called the demonstrators to follow the Kurds’ negotiations to settle the crisis.

Speaking to Iraqi News (IraqiNews.com), he said “The demonstrators have to follow the Kurds’ negotiations by adhering to the dialogue and constitution in order to settle the crisis and achieve their demands.”

“They also have to purify their yards from the sectarians and extremists who started to mislead them and make use of the terrorism to face the government where we will strictly respond to the terrorist actions,” he added.

“Regarding the demonstrations, the demonstrators have the choice to settle the crisis where the government will only protect them and chase the wanted individuals in all over Iraq,” he concluded.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraq’s Invisible Refugee Crisis

As violence in Iraq reaches levels not seen in years, untold numbers of Iraqis are once again seeking refuge elsewhere.

With April the bloodiest month in Iraq for nearly five years, more Iraqis are seeking safety in Jordan (Reuters)

Amman, Jordan – Maki al-Nazzal, a 57-year-old Iraqi from Fallujah, returned to Amman a week ago from a visit to his home city in Iraq. Having lived in Jordan since 2007, Nazzal, like most refugees, wants nothing more than to return to his home country.

He had returned to test the waters, after having to flee in 2007 under threat to his life from having been first an outspoken critic of the US occupation of Iraq, and more recently having been critical of the regime of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

“When you tell the truth about what is happening in Iraq, this puts you in danger,” Nazzal, a political analyst who has frequently appeared on television, told Al Jazeera. “After two of my sons were arrested in Fallujah, I left Iraq. I had no choice but to leave.”

Nazzal, like so many Iraqis in Amman today, struggles financially. Having no home in Amman, and little if any work, he struggles to get by.

According to UNHCR figures, there are currently 450,000 Iraqis in Jordan.

But what there aren’t figures for, is a growing influx of Iraqis fleeing the increasing violence wracking Iraq.

Fleeing government ‘repression’

“Most everyone in my city in Iraq are now hoping to leave,” a man from Iraq’s western al-Anbar province, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera.

He arrived in Jordan three weeks ago in order to try to make arrangements to bring his family here.

Protests across predominantly Sunni areas of Iraq, which have been ongoing for several months now, have turned violent when security forces of the Maliki government began killing protesters. Ongoing violent crackdowns by the government have led to retaliatory attacks, and violence in Iraq today is worse than it has been in years.

The UN mission in Iraq recently announced that more people were killed in violent attacks across the country in April than in any other month since June 2008, making it the single deadliest month in nearly five years.

The UN figures released this week underscore concerns that security is quickly deteriorating in Iraq, where violence spiked as April drew to a close.

The UN says it recorded 712 people killed last month, including 117 members of the Iraqi security forces. The last time Iraq witnessed this level of violence was between 2006 and 2007, when the country was on the brink of civil war.

“The situation in Iraq is so tense, all of us are on edge,” the man, who asked to be referred to as Ahmed, continued. “There are random arrests, no freedom of speech or opinion, and the security forces are completely politicised. We can’t sleep there because we are so worried all the time. Who can live in a country like Iraq is today?”

The demands of the ongoing protests in Iraq are focused on the tactics being used by the Maliki government against predominantly Sunni areas in Baghdad, and across al-Anbar. It is now well documented that the Maliki government has been engaged in arbitrary detentions, assassinations, and widespread torture and raping of prisoners.

Not only are these demands not being met, but security forces continue to target Sunnis, according to people Al Jazeera has interviewed in Iraq, as well as Jordan.

“Everybody who has a chance to leave are trying to leave,” Ahmed added.

He said that in his city, if anyone has a guest stay the night in their home, they are now required to register this person with the police.

“This is now the government policy in all of Iraq’s western cities, that just happen to be predominantly Sunni,” he said. “Who can live under this kind of repression? This is worse now than even under Saddam Hussein.”

Ahmed said his situation is desperate enough that he is willing to quit his job with the government in Iraq and sell his house there in order to leave, despite knowing that eventually his money will run out in Jordan, and he will be in the same situation as Nazzal.

“Me and my family have been living in such a bad situation these last ten years,” Ahmed, who was visibly exhausted from lack of sleep and stress, said. “We’ve been hoping things would get better, but now they are only getting worse.”

‘Prisoner in my own house’

Al Jazeera spoke with another Iraqi man who had recently arrived in Amman, also on condition of anonymity because he fears government reprisals for speaking to the media.

“I am leaving because I feel like a prisoner in my own house,” the man, who asked to be referred to as Rashid, told Al Jazeera. “Life isn’t life anymore. When arrests and assassinations began and were based on your sectarian identity, I knew it was time to leave. When the gorillas of the Ministry of Interior’s forces came and cursed me for being Sunni, and cursed our women, we knew it was time to leave.”

Last week, three of Rashid’s friends from his home city of Baghdad sold their homes and are moving to Jordan.

“I know so many Iraqis who are now trying to leave,” he added.

An Iraqi man from Ramadi who arrived in Jordan ten days ago came to find housing and work possibilities, because he too fears things will only worsen in Iraq.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he asked to be referred to as Mohammed.

“I’m confused about what to do, because it’s not easy to consider leaving your home country,” he told Al Jazeera. “We used to live comfortably there, but now we are struggling to survive because of our horrible economic situation, but also because the government forces are attacking us. We used to live with dignity, but year after year it is worse, and now we fear the absolute worst.”

Like Ahmed, Mohammed said that everyone he knows in Iraq who has enough money to leave are leaving for Jordan.

Another huge displacement

At the height of the 2006-2007 bloodshed across Iraq, official UNHCR figures showed 750,000 Iraqis in Jordan, and more than one million in Syria.

While what is happening now is nowhere near that level, Iraqis Al Jazeera has spoken with fear the current trend of displacement will continue to worsen.

“This is another huge displacement of Sunnis,” Mohammed said. “In Baghdad, Anbar, people are coming either to Jordan, or becoming IDPs [Internally Displaced Persons] now.”

Ahmed agreed: “As long as the Maliki regime stays in power, we will be repressed. No human rights, no safety, no respect. Now the border with Jordan is closed, and Syria is obviously not an option, and this scares us even more because we fear a collective punishment and an inability to flee.”

Violence has forced Iraqi political analyst Maki al-Nazzai to remain in Jordan (Dahr Jamail / Al Jazeera)

Ahmed, who continued to hold his head in his hands, and stare out the window often said while lighting another cigarette, continued. “The stress is constant. It’s a stress generated by a constant worsening of the situation, and fuelled by dread of what may come next. A dread of the unknown.”

Nazzal said his fate was no longer in his hands. “I’m asked hundreds of times daily by Iraqis in person, on the phone, and on the internet, what do I think is coming next,” he told Al Jazeera.

“I tell them it’s unknown. It’s in the hands of the international community. But we believe, sooner or later, there will be a major internal war in Iraq that will affect the entire area, and shred the Iraqi social tissue. I can say that at least 85 per cent of all the younger Iraqis I talk to think the situation cannot get better without fighting.”

Mohammed said he too is concerned that “we watch all the Iraqi leaders sending their families out of Iraq, and building their homes in other countries, so what message does this send us? Not a good one. How are we supposed to have any hope?”

‘Better in Baghdad’

Saleh al-Kilani is the refugee affairs coordinator at Jordan’s Ministry of Interior.

Saleh al-Kilani, of the Jordanian interior ministry, advises Iraqis to ‘seek assistance in Baghdad’ (Dahr Jamail / Al Jazeera

“The Iraqi refugee crisis has never ended,” Kilani told Al Jazeera in his office. “Most Iraqis living here are seeking asylum and have no intention of returning to their homes.”

Yet, with the Jordanian government dealing with the monumental task of coping with a massive influx of refugees from Syria, it has little capacity to deal with a fresh wave of Iraqi refugees.

Kilani, when asked what his government is doing about newly arriving Iraqis, did not sound hopeful.

“It’s better for them to seek assistance in Baghdad,” he said.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO that is working to assist refugees and IDPs both in Iraq and Jordan, is dealing with the huge number of IDPs in Iraq.

The IRC’s Ned Colt told Al Jazeera that he too is aware of an increasing number of Iraqis again looking to come to Jordan, although was unaware of any official numbers available, given that it is such a new situation, along with being greatly overshadowed by the Syrian crisis.

“We know there are what we call ‘invisible refugees’ who are not registered with UNHCR, so are not receiving any support,” Colt said. “Nevertheless, the refugees coming both from Syria, and those in Iraq coming to Jordan or who are IDPs in their home country, are coming from a traumatising experience into a new experience, and this is obviously extremely difficult for them.”

Dr Mohammed al-Haddad is an Iraqi who fled to Amman in 2006 during the height of the sectarian bloodshed. He now volunteers with the International Relief Development NGO where he works to assist other Iraqi refugees.

“I think it’s safe to say that in the last six months, at least 10,000 Iraqis have come to Jordan from both Iraq and Syria,” Haddad told Al Jazeera. “I didn’t think the sectarianism, that never existed in Iraq before 2003, could get worse than it was in 2006, but now it seems to be doing just that.”

Haddad’s own brother has been missing since 2008, and he fears he is either dead or “in one of Maliki’s prisons”, as he said.

“In Iraq right now I personally know too many Iraqis who are trying to come to Jordan,” Haddad added. “So many of the Sunni there are trying to flee because they fear being killed by Maliki’s forces. It’s a war, and it’s starting to explode, and Maliki is behind this.”

Nazzal is not hopeful about the future of Iraqis who have had to leave their country.

“All of us Iraqis have very limited choices,” he said. “It’s a matter of survival with very limited choices. Our passport is harmful to us because it is nearly impossible for us to get visas anywhere. We stay in Iraq and risk death, or leave and suffer elsewhere. We feel we are being wasted, and for no purpose.”

Dahr Jamail

Moldovan Parliament Sacks Speaker Amid Political Crisis

Moldova’s parliamentary speaker, Marian Lupu, has been dismissed from the post.

Seventy-six out of 101 lawmakers backed the motion in a vote on April 25.

Deputies from the party of former Prime Minister Vlad Filat sided with the opposition communists in voting against Lupu, Filat’s former ally in the now-defunct pro-European coalition.

The dismissal came after the Constitutional Court earlier this week ruled that Filat, President Nicolae Timofti’s nominee for the post, cannot serve as prime minister because his government lost a no-confidence vote in parliament in March.

Timofti has since nominated Foreign Minister Iurie Leanca as caretaker prime minister.

The motion to dismiss Lupu was supported on April 25 by lawmakers from the opposition Communist Party, Filat’s Liberal Democratic Party, and indepenent deputies.

Based on reporting by Interfax, Reuters, and RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Report: Afghanistan Headed For Crisis

A new report is warning that Afghanistan is moving toward a potentially devastating political crisis as NATO-led combat forces withdraw and the Afghan government prepares to take control of security responsibilities in 2014.

The report – entitled “Afghanistan: The Long, Hard Road to the 2014 Transition” — was prepared by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), which describes itself as an independent nongovernmental organization committed to preventing deadly conflicts.

Candace Rondeaux, senior Afghanistan analyst for the organization, is quoted as saying there is “a real risk” that the U.S.-backed Afghan government “could collapse upon NATO’s withdrawal in 2014.”

Rondeaux added: “The Afghan army and police are overwhelmed and underprepared for the transition.”

The report says Afghan stability is further threatened by the government’s failure so far to prepare for fair elections in the future.

The report was released on the 11th anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime.

The Taliban on Sunday marked the anniversary by ridiculing U.S. and NATO-led forces and vowing that foreign troops will leave Afghanistan in defeat.

In a statement, the militia said foreign forces “are fleeing Afghanistan with such humiliation and disgrace that they are struggling to provide an explanation.”

The United States started its campaign in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, ousting the Taliban from power as it hunted for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks in America that killed nearly 3,000 people.

U.S.-led coalition officials say that while Taliban insurgents remain capable of mounting suicide bombings and other attacks, the militants will not have the strength to defeat Western-trained Afghan forces once foreign troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

Coalition officials argue that continued international funding and support for Afghan forces and the Afghan government will eventually compel the Taliban to enter negotiations on a settlement of the conflict.

It its report, the International Crisis Group says that in addition to Afghan security shortcomings, the Afghan government’s credibility has not recovered since what it described as the “fraudulent and chaotic” presidential and parliamentary polls of 2009 and 2010.

The report contains harsh criticism of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Analyst Rondeaux is quoted: “Karzai seems more interested in perpetuating his own power by any means rather than ensuring credibility of the political system and long-term stability in the country.”

The report warns that if Afghanistan’s next elections are marred by fraud allegations, the credibility of the authorities will be cast into even deeper doubt, and more Afghans will look for alternatives.

The report urges Afghan officials to set a date for the next presidential elections as soon as possible and to resolve questions on which commissions and courts have authority over the polls.

It warns that unless a clear map for political transition is put forward, there is a risk that Karzai and other leading members of the elite could enter a political competition that could turn increasingly violent after NATO troops withdraw.

ICG statement, with reporting from AP and dpa

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Talabani not able to settle crisis alone, says Khudhari

Baghdad (AIN) –MP, Hamid al-Khudari, of the Citizen bloc confirmed that “The President, Jalal Talabani, is not able to settle the political crisis alone.”

He stated to All Iraq News Agency (AIN) “No doubts that Talabani has his effect on the progress of the political process due to his post as a President and protector for the constitution.”

“Talabani was in the country two months ago while the crisis was there and now we must not depend extremely on his return from the medical treatment abroad because the settlement of the crisis needs real will from the political blocs especially the major blocs,” he added.

“Talabani must be supported by the blocs to hold the meeting of the round table which the head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, Ammar al-Hakim, called for previously,” he stressed.

“We still emphasize the necessity of holding the national dialogue but all sides should have genuine intentions to solve the disputes to accomplish the national interests,” he concluded.

Iraq witnesses political crisis lasted for several months due to the disputes among the political sides related to the partnership and other issues which led some blocs to call for withdrawing confidence from the Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, after holding meetings in Najaf and Erbil provinces. /End/

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Despite The Economic Crisis, There’s Still Room For Jokes In Iran

Anxiety, fear, and hopelessness are becoming part of the daily lives of many Iranians as the country confronts a deepening economic crisis. The value of the national currency, the rial, has lost some 40 percent of its value.

But despite the difficult times, Iranians have apparently not lost their sense of humor, finding fodder for jokes in the sliding currency and their own misery. 

As one Tehran-based businessman told RFE/RL, “We share jokes [and] we try to laugh at these dark days. What else are we supposed to do?”

We’ve compiled several of the jokes that are making the rounds on the streets of the capital and other cities.

Here’s one that refers to comments made by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on the eve of his 2005 election victory, when he said the country’s real problems are unemployment and housing shortages — not young people’s appearances.

That comment has now become infamous, as Ahmadinejad is blamed for the economic free-fall:

The day when Ahmadinejad said, “Are the hairstyles of the youth our problem? Let’s instead fix the economy,” we were really lucky that he didn’t want to fix our hair — because by now, we would all be bald!

Some jokes, like this one, make fun of the fluctuation of the rial, which seems to be losing value against the U.S. dollar from one second to the next:

How many rials are in a dollar?
Now, or… now?

The economic crisis is making it increasingly difficult for middle-class Iranians, including many of the country’s educated youth, to make ends meet. In this joke, a man whose profession would normally promise a high standard of living for his wife-to-be feels the need to pretend he has a job that has suddenly become quite lucrative:

A man goes to ask for the hand of a young woman. The woman’s family asks about the suitor’s job. To impress them, he says that he is a currency dealer on Manuchehri Street [in Tehran]. Only later does the family realize that he’s just an engineer.

Here are some others:

An Iranian, an American, and a German die and go to hell. They each get permission to call home. The American is charged $ 1000 for his call, the German is charged $ 2000 for his call, but it only costs the Iranian $ 1 dollar to reach home. The American and the German ask why the Iranian was charged so little. There are told, “He made a local call.”

If two people can’t make ends meet anymore, can five or six people all marry each other to make it work financially?

A man takes his son to the zoo. He says, “Son, what you see is a chicken. We used to eat them when we were rich.”

– Golnaz Esfandiari
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Talabani and his eight-point response blocks, enough to override current crisis

“Portal Iraq” BAGHDAD – A deputy state law, Abbas al-Bayati said in a statement Friday that “everyone must adhere to the project reformist and support because the interests of all Iraqis and blocks and for the country”, adding that “the continuation of the current situation is not in everyone’s interest that either we go early elections or go reformist direction. ”

“We believe that the chances of success of the reform project very big but needs to be the will and the confidence of even the minimum between the blocks.”

And efforts by President Jalal Talabani in resolving the differences between al-Bayati said “the success of the efforts of President Jalal Talabani to resolve crises depends on three points first of his personality wise upon which all parties, secondly his eight-points and must accommodate all agendas and files that were contentious Third response blocs. ”

He called on all political blocs to “support this initiative and make observations on the reform project during the National Conference and not before the meeting.”

The political scene since the return of President Jalal Talabani of his treatment in Germany intense political dynamics between the political blocs and party leaders with President Talabani to get out of the big crises occurring among them. ”

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Talabani, Maliki emphasize flexibility in settling political crisis

Baghdad (AIN) –The Iraqi President Jalal Talabani assured today that “The supreme interests of the country require that all parties have to show a type of flexibility, thinking about the need to work hard to address the issues articulated, preserve the national gains and activate the young democratic path.”

A statement by the Presidency of the Republic received by All Iraq News Agency (AIN) Thursday said that “Talabani received Thursday afternoon in Baghdad the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and discussed the overall political and security situation and ways to address the problems that hinder the progress of the political process in the country.”

He added that “Talabani stressed during the meeting that the country’s supreme interests require all parties to show some kind of flexibility and thinking about the need to work hard to address the issues articulated and preserve the gains of national, development of State institutions, activate the path of democracy, especially that changes and big challenges in the region require everyone to show national responsibility.”

The statement noted “Both sides exchanged views on the need to develop a road map to relief Iraq from the current crisis through national dialogues and explicit based on respect for the principles of the Constitution and the observance of agreements in order to reach accepted national understandings.”

The Prime Minister, according to the statement, reiterated “support for the pivotal role played by President Talabani to work for the convergence of views and create a shared space for understanding through intensified contacts and his meetings with the concerned parties in order to solve problems and promote the political process.” /End/

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

UN Security Council Discusses Syrian Crisis

The UN Security Council has held a high-level meeting on the Syria crisis, now into its 18th month with no end in sight. 

The uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad has escalated into an armed conflict that has killed some 27,000 people, according to Syrian activists. 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the Security Council, which met on the on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting, that if a solution is not found, the crisis could spill over into a wider conflict that could drag in regional powers. 

“In Syria, the conflict has become a threat to international peace and security. A human tragedy is unfolding in full view but also in the darkness of prisons, under the rubble of entire neighborhoods and in the traumatized minds of children. I appeal to all with influence to persuade the parties that there is no military solution to this crisis,” Ban said

Arab league chief Nabil Elaraby — whose regional body was praised for its efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis — faulted the Assad regime for seeking a “security solution” to the conflict.

“The Syrian crisis is deteriorating and escalating day after day. The fact that the Syrian government persists in the security solution, including the use of heavy weapons and military aircraft against its own people and the fact that it refuses to respond to all initiatives including the initiatives of the Arab League. This has now confronted us with serious and tragic consequences,” Elaraby explained.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted the United States has contributed $ 100 million to help the Syrian people.

“Unfortunately in Syria, Bashar al-Assad clings to power and his campaign of brutality has sparked a humanitarian crisis. The United States has committed more than 100 million dollars to help the Syrian people and we continue to insist that the violence must end and a political transition without Assad must move forward,” Clinton said.

Russia and China have vetoed three United Nations Security Council resolutions backed by Western and Arab states that would have increased pressure on Assad to stop the bloodshed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said insisting Assad first step down was an “unrealistic” approach to resolving the Syrian crisis.

“Today the strife that overflows in the Arab world is concentrated in the situation in Syria. We condemn any violent acts, any violation of human rights and international humanitarian law, whoever the perpetrator, the government of Syria, or the armed opposition. However a significant share of responsibility for the continuing bloodshed rests upon the states that instigate the opponents of Bashar al-Assad to reject the cease-fire and dialogue and at the same time to demand unconditional capitulation of the regime. Such an approach is unrealistic and, in fact, it encourages terrorist methods that the armed opposition is using more and more often,” Lavrov explained.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said inaction by the Security Council was “shocking.”

Based on AFP, AP and Reuters reporting

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Jubouri: Talabani reveals a new map to resolve the crisis away from the national meeting

Tuesday, 25 September, 2012

BAGHDAD / Baghdadiya News / .. Revealed a coalition of state law, Tuesday, for a new road map for President Jalal Talabani to resolve the political crisis away from the national meeting.

A member of the coalition Haitham al-Jubouri told / Baghdadiya News / “President Jalal Talabani revealed this afternoon for a serious plan and a road map to end the political crisis far from meeting the national”

“The map includes a number of meetings with political leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Massoud Barzani, Iyad Allawi, Osama al-Nujaifi in a unified end meeting in which all differences and Sabak the number of اللقاءت meeting to improve the atmosphere between them.”

“The political arena is witnessing strained for months ago during which a number of initiatives to resolve the crisis and illusion was paper reform put forward by the National Alliance of the latest national meeting which adopted President Jalal Talabani to resolve the crisis, which was Tantdharh all the political blocs and the Iraqi people are impatiently

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraq: Iraqi list and I are ready to give support to President Talabani’s efforts to resolve the political crisis

The President of the House of representatives in a meeting in Tehran on Osama with President Jalal Talabani and the Iraqi list to assign and support President Talabani’s efforts to resolve the political crisis.

According to a statement by the Presidency of the Republic that President Talabani met Monday in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq’s speaker of the House of Osama and his Deputy Iraqi list which is one of the most prominent leaders in Tehran.

At the beginning of the meeting here the President’s successful surgery and his return saved the country..

According to the statement, President of the House of representatives to Sulaymaniyah Tuesday arrived, accompanied by a large delegation of deputies from the Iraqi list, he stressed the importance of the political role of the President to overcome obstacles and reach a comprehensive national understanding would promote political process and upgrade them and serve the actual needs to all Iraqis in all areas.

The statement quoted Tehran addressing President as saying: “you are important at this stage of the country need you and your effort is important and continuing convergence of views and reach practical solutions to outstanding issues and problems”. He also expressed his willingness and the Iraqi list to assign and support the efforts of President Talabani.

And during the meeting they reviewed the political situation and ways to activate national dialogues on the basis of fraternal who put into account the interest of the country and the people at that critical and abiding by the Constitution and guaranteed work agreements.

The statement said the President thanked the President of the Chamber of Deputies and deputies accompanying him on the visit and fraternal feelings and wishes, noting the importance of work and cooperation between all standardization efforts and concerted efforts to overcome the differences between various parties and purification of the atmosphere and help everyone to reach best performance and service levels of the political and legislative/ended

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Morsi: Iran ‘vital’ to ending Syrian crisis

Iran’s support is crucial for finding a resolution to the civil war in Syria, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said in his first interview with state television since taking office.

Morsi, who spoke bluntly in support of the Syrian revolution in Tehran three weeks ago, said on Saturday that Iran was “a main player in the region that could have an active and supportive role in solving the Syrian problem”.

Despite Morsi’s remarks at the Non-Aligned Movement summit last month, which were viewed as a stark challenge to Iran’s policy of support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Egypt then invited Iran to join its Middle Eastern “quartet” of nations aiming to negotiate a solution to the Syrian crisis.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which both like Egypt support the Syrian rebels, are the two other members of the quartet.

“I don’t see the presence of Iran in this quartet as a problem, but is a part of solving the problem,” Morsi said, explaining that Iran’s close proximity to Syria and its strong ties with the government make it “vital” in resolving the crisis. ”And we do not have a significant problem with Iran, it is normal like with the rest of the world’s states.”

The Syrian revolt erupted in March of last year, one month after the Egyptian uprising ended, over similar demands for
democracy and freedom. But unlike Mubarak, who quit after only 18 days of protest, Assad sent his military to crush the revolt, leading the rebels to take arms against him and prompting violent battles that have been going on for 18 months.

The United Nations says nearly 20,000 people have been killed in the conflict and more than 235,000 Syrian refugees
have registered in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, while about 1.2 million people have been displaced within Syria.

Turkey deploys heavy weapons

Rebels and non-government groups of various stripes control much of the Syrian countryside, especially along the porous Turkish border in the north.

Though they have failed to wrest control of Damascus from Assad’s forces and are locked in a tough battle for Aleppo, the country’s largest city, they move freely outside urban areas.

The rebels have grown confident enough in their autonomy that Riad al-Asad, the self-proclaimed commander of the Free Syrian Army – a loose term for various rebel groups – announced on Saturday that he had moved the FSA headquarters into Syria.

Aerial superiority is the only force keeping Assad’s government afloat, a rebel colonel claimed to the AFP news agency.

“With or without outside help, the fall of the regime is a question of months, not years,” said Colonel Ahmed Abdel Wahab, who said that he commanded a brigade of 850 fighters.

“If we had anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, we could quickly gain the advantage,” he said, speaking in the village of Atma near the Syrian border with Turkey.

“But if foreign countries don’t give us these, we will still win. It will take longer, that’s all. We control most of the country. In most regions, the soldiers are prisoners of their barracks. They go out very little and we can move freely everywhere, except Damascus.”

But small-arms battles and government shelling continue in pockets of fighting in the north, and Turkey’s military deployed armoured vehicles and heavy weaponary to the border on Saturday, near a crossing that has seen intense clahses, local media said.

The deployment is reportedly in an area where earlier this week Turkish civilians were wounded when stray bullets and
shelling crossed the border from the Syrian province of al-Raqqa.

CNN Turk television said artillery fire had landed close to the Turkish border overnight, causing panic among local residents.

The Turkish army moved three Howitzers and one anti-aircraft weapon to the border, the channel said. 

Nearly 80 per cent of towns and villages along the Turkish border are outside the control of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

‘Securing liberated areas’

Asad announced the FSA’s headquarters move in a video message from Syria, the first since the group founded its command centre in Turkey at the beginning of the conflict.

“To the Syrian people, its freedom fighters and all the armed factions, we are glad to let you know that the leadership of the FSA has moved into Syria following arrangements made with other brigades that included securing liberated areas with the hope of launching the offensive on Damascus,” Asad said.

He said the FSA has felt pressure by the international community to take a leading role in post-war Syria. Asad said the FSA rejected those offers, reiterating that the people of Syria should decide the future of the country.

“Since we left our country we suffered all sorts of regional and international interference and political pressure, we were isolated. Their goal was to have the FSA replace Assad once he is gone, but we categorically made it clear that we would never betray our people reiterating that only the Syrians should decide their future institutions.”

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from Akcakale on the Turkey-Syria border, said the rebels had been cautiously edging forward, taking territory 5km inside Syria.

“The move of the command centre is not necessarily a massive breakthrough because the FSA is still very much dependent on Turkey for its supply lines,” he said.

939

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Talabani, Jaafary optimistic towards settling political crisis

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) -During a press conference held on Friday in Sulaimaniya province, the Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, and the Head of the Iraqi National Alliance, Ibrahim al-Jaafary, expressed their optimism towards reaching a resolution for the current political crisis.

Talabani and Jaafary held the press conference after the latter’s visit to Talabani at his residence in Sulaimaniya on top of a delegation from the INA to reassure on the President’s health condition after the period of medical rehabilitation he spent in Germany.

A statement by the INA cited that “The two sides stressed the political atmosphere now is more positive after all the political blocs realized the necessity of adopting the fruitful dialogue as a last resort for settling the pending issues.”

Jaafary pointed out that “The political process needs genuine steps based on the results of the previous meetings conducted earlier among the political blocs to put the final touches on the planned political reforms in order to implement them on the ground.”

For his part, Talabani praised the efforts exerted to bring the different views closer among the political sides, referring that the coming few days will witness intensive meetings with the leaders of the blocs so as to find a comprehensive solution for all problems.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Brahimi Says Syrian Crisis Worsening

The UN-Arab League mediator for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, says the Syrian crisis is worsening and threatening to stabilize the wider region. 

“The situation is getting worse and it is a huge threat for the region. These kind of conflicts can not be bottled up within one country, they will invariably spill over, they already have with these hundreds of thousands of refugees that are destabilizing or threatening to destabilize neighboring countries,” Brahimi said.

He once again called on all sides in the conflict to work together to find a solution to the crisis. 

“The point I am making as seriously, strongly as I can is that the situation is very bad and worsening, it’s not improving. Syrians on both sides say from time to time, we are going to win very soon or in three months, two months or…I don’t think it’s true. I don’t think any side is winning now or any time in the future.”

His remarks to Al Jazeera come after Brahimi visited refugees who have fled to Jordan and been housed at the Zaatari camp in Mafraq. 

As Brahimi’s motorcade left the camp, currently home to 32,000 Syrians, a group of refugees pelted his car with stones.

According to UN figures, the ongoing conflict has prompted 250,000 people to flee to neighboring countries.

His visit to the camp came one day after Brahimi met privately with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby in Elaraby’s home in Cairo.  

Brahimi had also met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on September 15 for the first time since he replaced Kofi Annan as the UN-Arab League representative.

Inside Syria, rebels are reported to have battled government forces near a Turkish border crossing.

A Turkish official said stray bullets had hit some houses in the town of Akcakale, with at least one person reported wounded inside Turkey. 

Rebels hold two other crossings on the northern border with Turkey.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International accused Syrian government forces of waging “relentless, indiscriminate” attacks against civilians, with many children among the victims of the violence.

Based on dpa, AP and Reuters reporting

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Rarely Has an International Crisis Been More Predictable

Posted GMT 9-17-2012 15:9:49

Rarely has an international crisis and potential for a regional conflict been more predicable than what the world is witnessing in the Middle East and North Africa. The naiveté, ignorance and narcissism of Barack Obama coupled with his and other world leaders’ despicable deference to radical Islam has eventuated in creating the Balkans of the 21st Century, whose counterpart in 1914 became the tinderbox that enflamed the globe as World War I; a war whose consequences are still felt to this day.

Barack Obama, determined to become the Muslim world’s best friend, has instead unleashed the dogs of war in the Middle East. He has actively backed the overthrow of various governments in the vain and naïve hope that the extreme radical element of Islam would not step into the resultant leadership vacuum. He has essentially told Iran, that they are free to develop nuclear weapons and to meddle in the affairs of Lebanon, Syria and whatever country they choose with no consequences. He has given Hamas and the Palestinian Authority a green light to confront Israel, as U.S. policy is now to browbeat and intimidate the Israelis to accept any agreement while demanding their acquiescence to Iranian nuclear capability. He has willfully created a power and influence void into which Russia has now stepped.

Barack Obama has signaled, by his numerous apologies and adolescent groveling, that the United States is no longer engaged and is willing to be deferential to all the nations of the region regardless of their potential threat to America or the West, including Israel now essentially isolated and alone.

In his Cairo speech in 2009, Obama shamelessly blamed the West for all the problems with Islam and never once used the words; terrorism, terrorist, war on terror or radical Islam. Earlier in the same year he met secretly with the Muslim Brotherhood, the progenitor of Hamas and Al Qaeda, thus legitimizing them with a wink and a nod.

Once the riots in 2011 began in Egypt and other North African countries, regardless of what may have triggered them, the Islamists knew they had nothing to fear from the United States as the American president and his administration had made no meaningful overtures to the true democratic elements in those countries that were governed by dictatorial rulers friendly to the interests of the United States. Obama chose instead to appeal to the radical element believing that by the sheer force of his personality and persuasion the Islamists would change their spots.

While playing the game with Washington, the radicals knew if they could get the population into the streets they could exacerbate the situation to their advantage. Today in Egypt what began as student and middle class demonstrations in the spring of 2011 has evolved into a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

With Obama’s determination to rid Libya of Muammar Gaddafi, without any potential moderate leadership waiting in the wings, he has provided a potential sanctuary for Al Qaeda and unleashed ancient tribal animosity.

Not only have the most radical elements of Islam now found homes other than in the mountains and caves of Afghanistan, Israel is surrounded by: Lebanon and Hezb’allah, Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood, and Syria dominated by the Iranian Islamists. All whose sole mission in life is to destroy Israel, impose sharia law throughout the region, and re-institute the old Muslim Caliphate. Their motivation is based on religious fanaticism, the most dangerous driver of human behavior.

To anyone who paid attention to this region and the virulent spread of radical Islam, their infiltration into Europe and the attacks on the United States, this potential outcome was self-evident. Barack Obama and other leaders in the West refused to believe the worst could happen, a belief that still motivates the American president. This was the same mindset which permeated the psyche of Neville Chamberlain and other politicians in Western Europe in the 1930′s, as they refused to believe the Nazis were who they said they were.

Had Obama bothered to study history, he would have also realized that the overthrow of governments in nations without a long-term tradition of democracy has resulted a prolonged periods of upheaval and violence. That scenario has been repeated throughout the twentieth century from the initial Russian Revolution in 1917, which eventuated in the communist takeover and the death of untold millions throughout the world, to the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which opened the door to the current despotic theocracy in Iran, the modern day wellhead of today’s radical Islamic movement.

Far more than those European leaders in the 1930′s who were guilty only of naiveté, the ego and narcissism of a national leader imbued with a messianic mindset determined to change his country and the world is a threat in a dangerous and unstable world. In Barack Obama the people of the United States elected as president, and by default the leader of the free world, such a person.

He has revealed this mindset by his inability to accept any responsibility during the entire term of his presidency for the outcome of his policies and actions either domestic or foreign. This chronic character flaw has eventuated in Obama’s latest obeisance to the radical Islamists. He has unleashed the police power of the state on the producer of a film conveniently and falsely blamed for the violence in the Muslim world, as if this obscure person had committed a crime for exercising his free speech rights. All this in an attempt to place blame elsewhere and placate a mob who will be further emboldened by this contemptible sign of weakness. That this is reminiscent of those actions expected in a nation controlled by despots is immaterial, as Barack Obama has, in his mind, a destiny to fulfill.

There will be a violent conflict in the Middle East. It is only a matter of time. The only question that remains is whether it will spread beyond the confines of the region. When the history of these times is written, Barack Obama will have heaped upon his shoulders a lion’s share of the responsibility for the death and destruction certain to occur.

By Steve McCann
American Thinker

Assyrian International News Agency

* Washington has fear of the outbreak of political crisis in Iraq after the verdict on Hashemi

Twilight News / The United States expressed concern over the outbreak of a political crisis in Iraq after being sentenced to death in absentia on Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a refugee in Turkey.

The spokeswoman said the U.S. State Victoria Nuland said in press statements “We are concerned about the strong escalation of violence from all sides and call on the leaders of Iraq to continue to try to resolve their differences any framework of state law.”

In response to a question, did not want Noland with intervention “in the judicial process” under way, note that the front-Hashemi possibility of appeal.

Nuland confirmed that “the United States supports the judicial process fair and transparent manner in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Iraq and its international obligations.”

The Presidency of the Kurdistan Region has expressed, on Monday, in a statement received “Twilight News” copy fears of the outbreak of “sectarian conflict” against the backdrop of the death verdict against Hashemi.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is located in Germany for treatment expressed, on Monday, expressed regret for the death verdict against Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi at the time he says he should efforts to succeed in efforts to hold reconciliation conference, which has been postponed several times.

The Iraqi criminal court issued, the first on Sunday, sentenced in absentia to death by hanging Hashemi after being convicted of three counts of “terrorist.”

LINK

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

* Washington has fear of the outbreak of political crisis in Iraq after the verdict on Hashemi

Twilight News / The United States expressed concern over the outbreak of a political crisis in Iraq after being sentenced to death in absentia on Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a refugee in Turkey.

The spokeswoman said the U.S. State Victoria Nuland said in press statements “We are concerned about the strong escalation of violence from all sides and call on the leaders of Iraq to continue to try to resolve their differences any framework of state law.”

In response to a question, did not want Noland with intervention “in the judicial process” under way, note that the front-Hashemi possibility of appeal.

Nuland confirmed that “the United States supports the judicial process fair and transparent manner in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Iraq and its international obligations.”

The Presidency of the Kurdistan Region has expressed, on Monday, in a statement received “Twilight News” copy fears of the outbreak of “sectarian conflict” against the backdrop of the death verdict against Hashemi.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is located in Germany for treatment expressed, on Monday, expressed regret for the death verdict against Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi at the time he says he should efforts to succeed in efforts to hold reconciliation conference, which has been postponed several times.

The Iraqi criminal court issued, the first on Sunday, sentenced in absentia to death by hanging Hashemi after being convicted of three counts of “terrorist.”

LINK

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

The United States, Russia, and The Syrian Crisis

Posted GMT 9-8-2012 5:9:25

The most important international factor that influences the Syrian crisis is the politics of the United States and Russia. In the eyes of the majority of the American observers, the primary factor for the continuing bloodshed in Syria is the diplomatic and military support rendered to Assad’s regime by Russia.

Let’s take a closer look at the main arguments of the powerful group of observers and experts who tend to blame exclusively Moscow for the endless bloodbath in Syria. Some of those arguments are absolutely correct. It is true that one of the main reasons for the Russian attitude is the traditional close relationship between Moscow and Damascus that has lasted for decades. It is also true that the loss of this connection will deprive Russia of its only remaining ally in the area. In case of a regime change, Russia is about to lose Tartus, which is the only base of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean.

Undoubtedly, given that in the eyes of President Putin the United States is the main geopolitical enemy of his country, he is determined not to allow an American victory in the Syrian confrontation. All this is true, and it fits the “blame Russia for Syria’s calamity” school of interpretation. At the same time, however, there are some additional elements of the picture that as a rule are absent from Western analyses but which happen to be absolutely correct.

The most important among them is Moscow’s stake in the future of bilateral relations with Syria and the Russian interest in finding a solution to the crisis that will preserve the secular system of government. This dimension of the Russian approach to the Syrian crisis has never been properly understood by Sec. Clinton. As far as the State Department bureaucracy is concerned, they also don’t understand, or rather pretend not to understand, that a victory of the opposition will be nothing short of the establishment of an Islamic dictatorship over Syria.

At the same time, regardless of the hostile attitude of President Putin, portraying the United States as enemy number one, he realizes to an extent the nature of the Islamic danger hanging over Russia. That is why at least part of the Russian policy regarding Iran is based on the fear of the Shia-related Iranian influence. Any confrontation with Teheran will increase the magnitude of the Islamic threat to Moscow.

The main threat for Russia is the Saudi-originated Wahhabist branch of extreme Islam. Wahhabism is the ideological fuel to the fundamentalist guerrilla warfare in the area of the Northern Caucasus. The most disturbing recent development was the attempt on the lives of two leading Muslim clerics who were attacked in the center of Kazan (the capital of Tatarstan, the largest Muslim-populated province of the Russian Federation, located 400 kilometers east of Moscow). One of them died, and the other was wounded. The reason for the attack was their hostility towards Wahhabism. In short, Moscow doesn’t want to see the Assad regime replaced by a fanatical Islamic state ruled by Wahhabists.

There are two possible exits from the seemingly endless conflict that ravages Syria. One of them is highly desirable but also highly unlikely. It would require an American-Russian understanding based on the agreement of both countries not to accept the establishment of an Islamic-dominated dictatorship over Syria after the end of the Assad regime.

The second option would express itself in the breakup of Syria by the emergence of a mini-Alawite state along the coastline, where most of the Alawites live. Such a state will be protected by the Syrian army in its present composition. There are talks also between some Kurdish activists and their compatriots from Northern Iraq for the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region on Syrian soil. Under such a scenario, most of Syria, including the capital of Damascus, will be a part of an Islamic, theocratic state.

There is much more contradiction than unity within the ranks of the Syrian opposition. Heavy-duty mutual accusations are flying back and forth among the representatives of the different organizations and leaders. The ideological pendulum of the enemies of the Assad regime varies from the hardcore jihadists all the way to the relatively limited group that includes pro-Western democrats.

Every outside attempt to help the unification of the anti-Assad opposition has failed. As a matter of fact, the most recent event along those lines that took place in Cairo in early July, instead of bringing about much-sought-after togetherness and solidarity, made things worse. The Kurdish delegation, for instance. virtually stormed out of the last session of the conference because of the unwillingness of the potential Arab allies to recognize their national identity.

There is more to this picture, though. The most numerous and the best-organized component of the opposition is represented by the notorious Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

One of the many tragic features of the civil war that devastates Syria expresses itself in the fact that the Brotherhood is not fighting for democracy. The goal of the Brothers is to replace the authoritarian and secular dictatorship of Bashir Assad with an Islamic tyranny based on the ideology of the Sunni-based extreme variety of Islam.

In the aftermath of the repressions that followed the crackdown of the Hama-based Islamic insurrection of 1982, many participants have left the country. The majority of them settled in Germany and Spain, where they were immediately granted the status of political refugees. With the growth of Jihadism that followed 9/11 and the outbreak of the Iraqi war, the Syrian Islamists were amongst the most active fighters for global jihad. They fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya — in short, everywhere. Evidently oblivious to the hospitality of the people of Spain, their Syrian guests established a connection of their own to the infamous Madrid bombing of 2004.

A Syrian jihadist by the name of Abu Musab al Suri played a key role in the popularization of the ideas of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Muslim world. It was al Suri who published on Pakistani soil a book entitled The Islamic Jihadi Revolution in Syria, which established him as one of the main theoreticians of jihad.

As it has been pointed out, the most tragic aspect of the American-Russian confrontation over Syria is the fact that it is the clash between Washington and Moscow that feeds the continuation of the Syrian civil war and, consequently, the huge loss of innocent life. Unless the policymakers of both countries accept the reality that it is Islamic fundamentalism which represents the biggest threat hanging over them, the Syrian tragedy will continue under different shapes and forms that finally will impact the ability of the country to survive.

By Georgy Gounev
American Thinker

Georgy Gounev, Ph.D. teaches the ideology & strategy of radical Islam in Southern California and is the author of the book The Dark Side of the Crescent Moon. The Islamization of Europe and its Impact on the American-Russian Relations, Foreign Policy Challenges LLC, Laguna Hills, 2011.

Assyrian International News Agency

Iraq Wary Over Sectarian Pull of Syria Crisis

Posted GMT 9-5-2012 2:52:22

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Wary of its own fragile security and sectarian make-up, Iraq wants to avoid getting dragged deeper into Syria’s crisis, seeking a tricky balance in the regional power struggle evolving over its neighbor, Iraq’s foreign minister said.

Iraq’s Shi’ite leaders fear a collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government could splinter Syria along sectarian lines, and eventually lead to the rise of a hardline Sunni regime hostile to Baghdad.

Growing violence from the 17-month Sunni-led rebel revolt against Assad’s rule also risks unsettling Baghdad’s own fragile balance among Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish parties and drawing Islamist fighters back across the border into Iraq.

“We are concerned about spillover of militias, armed groups, of fundamentalism, undermining our political system,” Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters. “There is a Sunni Shi’ite fault in the whole region. We don’t want to be dragged there.”

Where other Arab and Gulf nations have called for Assad to step down, actively backing Syrian rebels, Iraq has taken a more muted approach. It resists calls for Assad to go, and instead urges reform to end to the country’s one-party Baathist rule.

With Shi’ite Iran backing Assad, who is from the Alawite minority – an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, and rival Sunni power Saudi Arabia supporting the fighters opposing him, Syria risks a civil war that will destabilize its neighbors.

Caught up in its own crisis among Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish parties paralyzing its power-sharing government, Iraq finds itself in a delicate position, even more so after the withdrawal of the last American troops in December.

Though close to Iran, Iraq’s government dismisses claims it supports the Syrian leader because of Tehran and says it seeks an independent foreign policy. Yet, Baghdad abstained in an Arab League vote to suspend Syria and has resisted calls for Arab sanctions on its neighbor.

“The Arab League should have a role to play and if it is part of the problem, it will have no role,” said Zebari, a Kurd, explaining Iraq’s position. “If we take sides, we either have to go to war or to arm something we don’t support.”

BAATHIST BACKGROUND

Syria’s crisis has already complicated Baghdad’s tense ties with the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, which is helping Syrian Kurdish opposition groups across the border to aid their push for more self-rule from the Assad regime.

Iraq says Sunni Islamist fighters are also crossing from Iraq into Syria, and security experts say Iraqi insurgents are gaining a boost in funds and morale as Islamists enter neighboring country’s conflict.

Baghdad has had a complex relationship with Damascus even before the U.S. invasion ousted Saddam Hussein.

Assad’s and Saddam’s Baath parties had some common, secular roots though Syria backed Iran during the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s. After Saddam fell, many Iraqi Baathists and ordinary Iraqi refugees crossed over into Syria to take shelter.

When U.S. forces fought al-Qaeda and Sunni Islamists after the 2003 invasion, Iraqi leaders criticized Damascus for sheltering insurgents who often slipped across the porous border to bomb American troops.

But Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a member of the Shi’ite Islamist Dawa party who took refuge in Iran and Syria during Saddam’s era, has since developed a more pragmatic relationship with the Assad regime.

He won support not only from Tehran, but also Damascus for his coalition government after an indecisive 2010 Iraqi election. Even as late as August last year he hosted Syrian ministers and called Iraq and Syria “brother” nations.

But at the end of last year, Maliki called for an end to Assad’s one-party rule and urged reforms.

Shi’ite leaders in Iraq acknowledge in private that while not supporting Assad, they fear more what might come next. They also fret over a return of former Baathists, who may join Sunni Islamist groups to destabilise the country.

“Iraq has stated from the beginning it stands by the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people to gain their freedom, democracy, a political process,” Zebari said.

“But Iraq has its own concerns about developments in Syria, security concerns, sectarian concerns, terrorism concerns. We don’t know the outcome, what will happen.”

By Patrick Markey

Editing by Louise Ireland

Assyrian International News Agency

* Faraj hopes political blocs to support Talabani to settle crisis

Baghdad (AIN) –The member of the Kurdistani Alliance, Burhan Mohamed Faraj, pointed out “The solution of the political crisis is dependent on the cooperation of the political blocs with the President, Jalal Talabani, and their response to his initiatives.”

He stated to All Iraq News Agency (AIN) “All sides are waiting for Talabani to activate the political movement.”

“We hope all blocs to support Talabani to achieve success for his mission to settle the crisis,” he added.

“Talabani will meet with the leaders of Kurdistan Region and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan then he will head to Baghdad to start his meetings,” he stressed.

“Talabani is serious concerning holding the national meeting to solve the disputes and he will do his best to succeed in his task but this depends on the responses of the other sides,” he concluded. /End

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

* Oil police regiment command in Karbala: gas crisis ended and ensure access for citizens

Karbala (newsletter) … Oil police Karbala, a plan to secure access to citizens gas and prevent the exploitation of I said before article dealers on the black market.

Police said a regiment named Colonel oil Karbala mozaffar (News Agency news) on Tuesday: police Karbala oil plan developed in cooperation with the relevant authorities to ensure the access of citizens for liquid gas well testing security distribution vehicles.

He added: the distinct effort made by all to overcome obstacles all to citizens in obtaining (gas bottles) at the price of Government in cooperation with the Government of Karbala gas plant.

He noted: there was cooperation by some Mokhtari areas for citizens gas material with ease and distribute them to their areas as was supervision by ADP with defaulting has been accounting village.

Confirmed: the distribution took place amid tight security with a thorough examination of all vehicles with sonar, saying the crisis was contrived and completely eliminated after accounting vendors for imposing fictional prices on the product./finished/11 Prof. o/

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

* Sadoun: Adoption of the law of (HCL) oil and gas law alone will solve the crisis

A member of the Kurdistan Alliance Muhsin al-Sadoun, Sunday, that the crisis between the center and the region will not be solved unless the approval of the oil and gas law, which is still under consultation in the House of Representatives expected passing of the bill during the current year.

Sadoun said told / Baghdadiya News / “The settlement between the center and the region is out of the question in the case was approved oil and gas law, which now is a mass requirement is not to the Kurds alone, but for all the people of Iraq.

And between Sadoun he “no political movement on more Menen level to accelerate in finding a final version of the law that satisfies all parties,” probable “is the law was passed before the end of this year.”

He added that “political solutions proved its failure in resolving the crises being aimed at finding a compromise and only temporarily postpone the crises without being solved once and for all, but we are counting on the next stage of the legislative solutions to end crisis once and for all.”
LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

* Iraq Kurds ready for talks over crisis, oil

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Kurdistan is ready to restart negotiations with Baghdad to end their crisis, focusing on a long-delayed oil law to hand regions more say in managing energy resources, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Rosh Nuri al-Shawish, a Kurd, said.

The positive tone from Shawish signaled the Shi’ite-led central government and self-governed Kurdistan may be edging towards resolving their dispute over oil, territory and power-sharing that is straining Iraq’s uneasy federal union.

Shawish told Reuters Kurdistan believes part of the dispute can be ended by passing an amended 2007 draft of an oil and gas law, which all parties had agreed to as part of broader power-sharing among Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocks.

“Approving this draft and adding some amendments which are agreed on by all parties … is the proper way to resolve this,” the deputy prime minister, one of the go-betweens for talks between Baghdad and Kurdistan, said in an interview.

Shawish said Kurdish officials had met with the head of the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite National Alliance, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, for preliminary talks, and the atmosphere had improved enough for them to see room for progress.

Kurdistan has tested Baghdad’s resolve for months by signing deals with foreign oil majors, such as Exxon and Chevron, contracts the central government rejects as illegal and part of a Kurdish push for more autonomy.

Their dispute is complicating a crisis in Iraq’s fragile power-sharing central government, which was hobbled by infighting among Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish parties even before the last U.S. troops left in December.

Kurdish leaders and the Sunni-backed Iraqiya party often accuse Maliki of sidelining them and say the Shi’ite leader is amassing power at their expense. His backers say the premier’s partners in power-sharing are trying to unseat him.

THREATS AND TALKS

Baghdad and the Kurdish capital Arbil are currently fighting over exports. Kurdistan has threatened to stop its share of national oil exports at the start of September, claiming Baghdad is not fulfilling payments to companies working there.

Iraq says Kurdish authorities have not supplied the correct paperwork and receipts for an audit of payments.

Adoption of a new oil and gas law has long been considered critical to the success of Iraq’s rapidly developing oil sector, although Baghdad has signed multibillion-dollar contracts with global oil majors despite antiquated legal safeguards.

Last year, Maliki and Kurdistan agreed by December 2011 they would either amend the 2007 hydrocarbons law as agreed by all political factions or adopt the 2007 law as is. But that deadline past without agreement.

The 2007 draft gives regional powers partial authority over their reserves, and Maliki advisors have said in the past they would prefer that version because time was running short.

Autonomous since 1991, Iraq’s Kurdistan runs its own government and armed forces, but relies on the central government for a percentage of the country’s oil revenues from the national budget.

Shawish said Kurdish officials believe signing exploration contracts with oil majors without Baghdad’s permission is a constitutional right. Disputes flared because Baghdad relied on old oil laws from Saddam Hussein’s era centralizing control, he said.

“The controversy comes from this point, relying on old laws while looking for a new law in line with the constitution,” the Kurdish politician said.

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

* Osman: Indicators breakthrough in the crisis better than ever

BAGHDAD / Bri Center for the Iraqi Media Network – The independent member of the Kurdistan Alliance, Mahmoud Othman said the indicators breakthrough in the political crisis is now better than ever.

Said Othman (Center Brief for the Iraqi Media Network), “The meetings that were held during the last period, whether bilateral or trilateral various leaders and representatives of the political blocs confirmed the need for the importance of finding solutions to having generated convinced everyone has the need to resolve outstanding issues.”

Othman added that “indicators breakthrough in the political crisis is now better than ever, and that the return of President Jalal Talabani early next month will boost the chances of success, especially he would call upon his arrival to a national conference, provided that attend this conference leaders first line who own hands decision in Crisis. “

The prime minister Nuri al-Maliki and the House of Representatives Osama Najafi had agreed this morning in a bilateral meeting on the calm and the adoption of a unified foreign policy speech.

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Q&A: Water ‘Crisis’ Is Serious But Solutions Are At Hand

Policymakers and experts from around the world are meeting this week in Stockholm to discuss ways out of what they call the growing global water crisis, with emphasis this year on the relation between water and food security.

Ahead of the August 26-31 World Water Week conference, RFE/RL correspondent Eugen Tomiuc discussed some of the world’s pressing water-related issues with American journalist Charles Fishman, author of the best-selling book “The Big Thirst.”

RFE/RL: Is the world really facing a water crisis, similar to the energy crisis or the financial crisis?

Charles Fishman: I don’t think it is a good idea to call it a world water crisis because it is different than the energy crisis or the financial crisis. And the way it is different is that water problems are local or regional. They are happening to people in a specific place. And in almost every instance, the people who are having that problem — whether that problem is in India or in China or in Eastern Europe — those people can, in fact, fix their water problem.

None of us can fix the financial crisis in our own community. Even if we do everything right, we can still be victimized by big decisions, and none of us can fix the energy crisis in the same way. Even if we do everything right, there are much larger forces at play.

But water is an issue where local and regional communities in every part of the world can step back and say, “It’s our water. It’s our community. Let’s grab hold of the problem and fix it.” So while there are places that are enduring scarcity — and I am not minimizing their problems — those places can take responsibility for the problem and fix it.

RFE/RL: Droughts in Europe, with Barcelona in 2008 resorting to the bizarre solution of bringing water by ship from nearby cities. China dispatching soldiers to deliver water to the southwest of the country in 2010. The same year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez imposed electricity blackouts because of the drought. Now, as we speak, parts of eastern and southeastern Europe are experiencing their worst drought in six decades after one of the harshest winters in memory. So, is the world really running out of water?

​​Fishman: It’s really important to understand that the world is not running out of water. The amount of water on the planet is not changing. But we have built our communities in places where we expect there to be water. And so, if climate change moves the water, then the rivers get much more shallow, reservoirs that cities depend on and the rainfall and irrigation that farmers depend on isn’t where they expect it to be.

And so I do think there is a crisis, but I think calling it a global crisis is a way of relieving people of responsibility. The proper response is to say, “What if we have to live with less water permanently?”

RFE/RL: There has been a growing trend to privatize water utilities, both in developed and developing countries. While privatization could theoretically mean better quality and services, the higher prices could turn water from a right into a luxury for the poor. It could also become a political means of control. So is privatization good or bad?

Fishman: Privatization of water systems is controversial because sometimes when a company is given responsibility for providing water, they raise the rates, they don’t provide good service. It looks like they are profiting off the need of people for the most basic element of life, which is water.

I don’t think that either a publicly run water system or a privately run one is the “right way” to run the water supply. If you look around the world, there are lots of government-run systems that are run very badly. Delhi, India only provides water to 21 million people [for] 90 minutes a day. So the reason we’re in trouble is that governments haven’t taken their responsibilities to provide basic water service around the world seriously, and I think that is true also in the developed world, where water systems are deteriorating.

RFE/RL: Furthermore, in the developing world, the corruption factor might have to be taken into account when water resources are being offered for privatization.

Fishman: Exactly. So privatization is not a magic solution. I don’t think it’s an evil. I think there’s a reason good water service isn’t available everywhere at this moment. To me, the places that aren’t getting basic water services to their communities, those areas are a perfect arena for help and support from other countries and from NGOs that operate in the world of water.

There are no hard water problems. Every water engineering problem has been solved somewhere in the world going back 3,000 years.

RFE/RL: You say in your book that India helped discover water on the moon, with its Chandraayan-1 space probe, but its creators don’t have water at home in Bangalore, where there are only 4.5 hours of water a day. You also have written about your experience with fetching water in India with a little girl. Can you describe it for us?  

Fishman: So, when I was in India, I did the water walk with a group of women and girls in a village called Jargali. I walked out with a 12-year-old girl and I carried about 10 liters of water. She carried about 30 liters of water. Her mother carried twice that — 60 or 70 liters of water — and I still carried only enough water to flush a Western toilet once. And it took me an hour.

So, it is a very sobering experience to go out as a Westerner who just turns on the tap. Our toilets in the U.S. and Western Europe are supplied with cleaner water than the water that many people in the developing world rely on every day.

RFE/RL: But at the same time, the area you were in had mobile-phone coverage?

Fishman: Exactly. So we walked out to get the water and we walked back and it took us an hour to do that walk. And I had an Indian cell phone and the adult Indian woman had one and we had cell-phone service the entire time.

So there are two thoughts you have at that time. One is the cell phone, of course, is not provided by the government. It is provided by a private company, and the women who were quite poor even in terms of India had enough rupees to have a cell phone. And they would happily have paid a little bit of money for good water.

And the second thing you understand is, if you can walk to get the water and walk back with it, then a pipeline could be laid along that path so that the water comes to the village rather than you having to go fetch it.

So that’s what I mean when I say there are people literally wasting their lives fetching water, when the solution to those problems are at hand. You shouldn’t have a working cell phone but no water. That’s ridiculous.

RFE/RL: Much has been said or written about potential water wars in the 21st century as the population keeps growing and new economic giants such as India or China emerge. Do you agree with such an assessment?

Fishman: There has been and there will be conflict and real human suffering associated with inadequate water. What is interesting is that, historically, if you go back 1,000 years, there’s never been an actual war fought over water. In fact, what tends to happen is that countries and regions are able to resolve their disputes about water, and water is often a tool for helping people learn to talk to each other about other kinds of conflicts.

I think we’re going to see tremendous political impact from water issues. I don’t think we’re going to see a shooting war, in which people have tanks and soldiers and armies and planes mobilized to go seize someone else’s water resources because that’s generally not the way we resolve water conflicts.

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

* Mass Correction: emergency meeting of political forces only way out of the current crisis

BAGHDAD / Center Brief for the Iraqi Media Network – confirmed bloc “correct” internalized in the Iraqi List to invite President Jalal Talabani to convene emergency meeting of political forces is the only way out of the current crisis, indicating that the political parties, according to the conflicts Alakulaimahlabd to find a way out politically resolve the problems outstanding.

The head of the bloc full-Dulaimi’s (Center Brief for the Iraqi Media Network) that “invite Talabani to convene emergency meeting of political forces is the only way out of the current crisis and political forces. Dulaimi said that “the current stage need to line up a national real as possible to come out agreement imposes safety and stability,” asserting that “the controversies media over and direction of everyone towards reform paper.” predicted Dulaimi said, “is to sit at the negotiating table very soon.” He was President Jalal Talabani has called for the weekend political forces to an emergency meeting after the holiday to resolve political differences. conclude president block the National Alliance Ibrahim al-Jaafari last week a series of meetings compiled by political leaders in the country as part of informing them of the reform paper described the Qath a success. was Barham Saleh arrived in the 12 of this month to Baghdad at the head of a high level delegation from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani within the framework of a visit during which he met Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Iraqi political leaders.

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

* Parliamentary Finance warns of economic crisis may be exposed to the country

 Baghdad / term The Committee expressed their concern over the parliamentary financial vulnerability of the country to an economic crisis due to the fluctuation of oil prices in world markets as revealed from the recommendations include issuing new currency next year. Said committee member, according to Najib Najeeba / Baghdadiya News /, that “due to the adoption of state revenues on oil By more than 93% means that the economy of the country yield, any adverse change occurs to the oil prices in the world either decline or rise will affect the economy of Iraq directly. “Said Najib, that” oil prices saw a decline during the past months due to lower prices in world markets “.

Pointing out that the passage of the supplementary budget in the House of Representatives and the $ 9 trillion two hundred and fifty billion, demanding that the government keep the surplus in case of any emergency is the economy is facing the future. She explained that “the recommendations issued by the Finance Committee to the Central Bank include issuance of new Iraqi currency over the next year, and other recommendations relating to indebtedness upon completion of the new currency.”

On the subject of the distribution of petrodollars on the citizens pointed out Najib that “there is a provision in the budget gives authority to the government grant of surplus oil profits to the citizens after the issuance of instructions from the ministries of finance and planning”, pointing out that the delay distribution is due to return the supplementary budget by the government to Parliament.

To that suggested by the Committee Magda al-Tamimi, for many economic crises in the country during the next phase, due to continued volatility in oil prices will affect the public budget and a lot of projects are interspersed. Tamimi said that oil is now in a dangerous situation and the state at a sensitive stage, because of the effects of the Syrian situation and the situation in Iran and its threat to the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the political crisis in Iraq, and all these factors affect the Iraqi currency.

She added that the export and the price of oil had been unwavering during the last stage, and Iraq is not up to now to the volume of production, which was adopted in the budget, calling the policy decision to be conservative side of safety. She explained: it is not with the expenditure of any imports coming into the state treasury, as there must be balance to the crises facing Iraq could in the future. Appeared to influence the Syrian situation in Iraq and clearly economically and politically, where a rise of prices of fruits and vegetables, food and various goods deployed in markets where they come from Syria, as well as Iran’s threat to the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a military strike, which leads to obtain significant economic losses in Iraq and the countries that benefit from this strait.

And in respect of smuggling currency and its impact on the economic crisis, said the decision of the Finance Committee Ahmad electrodes that the continuation of the phenomenon of smuggling hard currency will affect and directly on the national economy and the local currency, calling to adjust the Iraqi border to prevent smuggling of currency to Iran and Syria being the going through an economic crisis made them in dire need of hard currency. Electrodes and said that the sale of hard currency in the country in ways that take place regularly and is not under the control of the parties concerned, both the Government or the House of Representatives.

He added that the process of selling the dollar at an auction the central bank must be done transparently, without manipulation and high bias in favor of hand at the expense of the other. He pointed out that some banks to help the smuggling of currency abroad and illegally due to lack of control of real sales process in Iraqi banks, calling on the Central Bank to impose full control on the banks to prevent the smuggling of foreign currency and avoid harm to the national economy and the local currency.

A: You must adjust the Iraqi border by the security authorities, especially with the states of Iran and Syria to curb illegal operations that cause the economic problems of the country, pointing out that Iran and Syria are undergoing major political crisis made them desperate need for dollars to cover their local currencies.

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Syria Refugee Crisis Getting Worse, Turkey and UN Says

Posted GMT 8-11-2012 15:56:57

The U.N.’s refugee agency has said the current figure of nearly 150,000 people fleeing Syria’s civil war is expected to rise significantly, while a Turkish official expressed concern that a refugee crisis might be waiting at Turkey’s door if the flow of Syrian refugees continues as it has been in the last two days.

While the construction of new shelter camps continues in Turkey, authorities have had to place several thousand refugees in hotels and student dormitories in Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş due to a lack of space at the shelter camps.

“If the flow of refugees continues like this, we might not be able to allow as many refugees to cross the border right away, because the construction of the other shelter camps will be finished in one month. Another option might be to place them in student dormitories and hotels,” a Turkish official told Hürriyet Daily News on Aug. 10.

Clashes continue in Aleppo and outside Damascus Syrian government forces fought rebels outside the capital Damascus and in the northern city of Aleppo Aug. 10, as more civilians streamed across the border into neighboring Turkey to escape the civil war in their country.

Syrian rebels vowed to fight on in Aleppo, a day after being driven out of a key district under heavy shell fire by the army, which targeted other parts of the strategic city on Aug. 10, Agence France-Presse reported.

Exiled members of the opposition said Aleppo’s historic citadel, part of a UNESCO-listed world heritage site, had suffered damage in the bombardment of rebel-held areas that has accompanied the army’s ground offensive in Syria’s commercial capital, now in its third day.

A rebel commander, Hossam Abu Mohammed, said his men were still fighting in parts of Aleppo’s southwestern district of Salaheddin, after most fled on Thursday in the face of heavy bombing and advancing troops.

“We will not let Salaheddin go,” the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) Abu Mohammed told Agence France-Presse by telephone, as the third day of the government’s offensive to take the city raged. The army again bombed parts of Salaheddin, as well as the Sakhur and Hanano districts in the east of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the latest violence has killed two civilians, among 11 killed nationwide. Just before dawn, a MiG 21 fighter jet dropped four bombs on rebel positions in Hanano.

U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards said the agency’s offices in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq have all reported large increases this week in the number of people who have registered as refugees or are in the process of being registered, according to a report from The Associated Press.

He told reporters on Aug. 10 in Geneva that in several countries, however, “we know there to be substantial refugee populations who have not yet registered.”

More than 6,000 new refugee arrivals have been counted in Turkey this week alone, many from the besieged city of Aleppo, Edwards said. Jordan has 45,869 refugees, Lebanon 36,841, and Iraq 13,587, he said.

Turkish officials, however, said 4,000 Syrian refugees have arrived over the past 48 hours, increasing the number of refugees in Turkey to about 54,000. Of the 4,000 new refugees who have flowed across the Turkish border in the last two days, 2,000 are still waiting at the border area, an official said. “There may be a possibility of crisis in placing refugees if the refugee flow continues after the new shelter camp in Şanlıurfa is filled to capacity,” the Turkish official said.

Syrian refugees pouring into Turkey via the southern cities of Hatay and Kilis have been sent to the new shelter camp in Şanlıurfa, which is still under construction. More than 1,400 refugees have been placed in student dormitories in Kahramanmaraş, a Turkish official said. Previously 3,000 refugees had also been placed in student dormitories in the Islahiye district of Gaziantep, he said.

www.turkishweekly.net

Assyrian International News Agency

US, Turkey Collaborate on Syria Crisis

Posted GMT 8-11-2012 15:59:41

(VOA) — The United States and Turkey are setting up a working group to plan for possible scenarios in Syria, including the possibility of a chemical attack.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced the initiative Saturday during Clinton’s visit to Turkey.

They said the working group would coordinate military, intelligence and political responses as conditions in Syria continue to deteriorate.

The U.S. announced Friday that it would level new sanctions against Syria and its supporters.

Clinton flew to Istanbul early Saturday after an 11-day, nine-nation tour of Africa.

Turkey is hosting tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled violence in their home country.

On Friday, the U.S. Treasury’s top official on terrorism and financial intelligence said the U.S. will be tightening existing sanctions on Syria and adding new ones. David Cohen accused Iran and the Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah of aiding in the suppression of the Syrian people.

Cohen is traveling with Secretary Clinton.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Assyrian International News Agency

Will Syria’s Kurds Benefit From the Crisis?

(BBC) — In any assessment of the potential winners and losers from the political chaos in Syria, the country’s Kurdish minority could be among the winners.

The Kurds make up a little over 10% of the population. Long marginalised by the Alawite-dominated government, they are largely concentrated in north-eastern Syria, up towards the Turkish border.

Aaron David Miller, a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC, believes that the Kurds could be one of the main beneficiaries of the demise of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“Syria is coming apart, and there’s not much chance it will be reassembled with the kind of centralised authority we saw under the Assads.”

For the Syrian Kurds, whom he describes as “part of the largest single ethnic grouping in the region that lacks a state”, there is “an opportunity to create more autonomy and respect for Kurdish rights”.

“They have the motivation, opportunity, and their Kurdish allies in Iraq and Turkey to encourage them. But what will hold them back is Turkey’s determination to prevent a mini-statelet in Syria along with the Kurds own internal divisions,” he says.

“It is unlikely,” he believes, “that Syria’s Kurds will be able to establish a separate entity in Syria. Nor will the United States, nor the international community accept that.”

“At the same time, the several dimensions of the Kurdish problem – the Iraqi Kurds’ growing determination to remain a separate entity; Turkish determination to avoid another mini-Kurdistan along the Syrian-Iraqi border; and the issue of the PKK, the armed Kurdish insurgents fighting the Turkish Army – will create a real flashpoint.”

There in a nutshell is the scale of the problem.

The Kurds’ future in Syria will have an important bearing upon what sort of country it is going to become. Turkish worry

But the fate of the Syrian Kurds also has ramifications well beyond the country’s borders. These processes are already under way.

Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern Politics at the London School of Economics, told me that “the Syrian Kurds have already seized the moment and are laying the foundation for an autonomous region like their counterparts in Iraq”.

“The exit of Assad’s forces from the Kurdish areas has complicated the crisis and deepened Turkey’s fears that its borders with Iraq and Syria will be volatile for years to come,” he says.

“The Kurdish factor in the Syrian crisis will prove to be as significant as the Kurdish question in Iraq.”

Prof Ofra Bengio, head of the Kurdish Studies programme at the Moshe Dayan Centre at Tel Aviv University, agrees.

“The Kurdish dimension is likely to become a potent factor in the near future because of the weakening of each of the states in which they live, because co-operation among the states for curbing the Kurds is non-existent, and because the Kurds have made headway in the United States and in the West, where they proved their loyalty and lack of religious extremism.

“In a word, the West might like to support them.”

If a Kurdish spectre is stalking the region then it is probably Turkey that has most reason to be worried.

Even as Ankara has watched developments in Syria with unease, its own struggle with guerrilla fighters of the Kurdish PKK has flared up again – Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davotoglu insisting that the Syrian government is encouraging the PKK, to get its own back for Turkey’s insistence that President Assad must go.

But it is even more complicated than this. The dominant Kurdish faction inside Syria is a close ally – some say even an off-shoot – of the PKK. It has little love for the mainstream Syrian opposition championed by the Turks. Colonial borders

Whilst fighting the PKK on one front, Turkey is desperately trying to curb the political ambitions of Syria’s Kurds by political means.

Indeed the ramifications of the Kurdish issue go even further. Prof Gerges insists that the Kurdish question “is here to stay”.

“It transcends national borders and has the potential to redraw the Sykes-Pico agreement, which, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, established existing nation-state boundaries.

“Although it is too early to talk about the emergence of a greater Kurdistan, an imagined community of Kurds resonates deeply among Kurds across Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.”

It is in this sense the upheavals associated with the “Arab Spring” take on their full regional significance.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement (named not surprisingly after the two negotiators, Mr Georges Picot and Sir Mark Sykes) was a secret understanding made between France and Britain in 1916 for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire.

The agreement led to the division of Turkish-held areas of the Levant into various French and British administered territories which eventually gave rise to the modern-day states of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and ultimately Israel.

Fawaz Gerges asserts that the events in Syria and their potential repercussions risk over-turning this familiar world; a broader re-ordering of the region in which Kurdish aspirations are just one part of a very complex picture.

“Many of the problems in the contemporary Middle East are traced to that colonial-era Sykes-Picot map, which established the state system in the region. The Palestine and Kurdish questions are cases in point.”

“National borders do not correspond to imagined communities. Although the state system has established deep roots in the Middle East in the last nine decades, the current uprisings have starkly exposed the fragility of the colonial system imposed on the region.

“My take is that the great powers, together with their local partners, will fight tooth and nail to prevent the redrawing of the borders of the state system in the Middle East.

“For once the map is re-drawn, where would the limits be? There would be a real danger of perpetual instability and conflict,” he says.

Sowing chaos?

The Kurds of Syria, of course, are not in quite the same position as their brothers in Iraq and would find it much harder to break away.

Noted Syria expert Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma says that while Syria’s Kurds are a compact minority they are not a majority even in the north eastern border area with Turkey – where they constitute some 30-40% of the population.

They have sometimes tense relations with local Sunni Arab tribes who see this as an integral part of Syrian territory, reinforced by the fact that this is an area rich in oil resources vital to the Syrian economy.

Prof Landis argues that what is going on in the Kurdish north-east offers a useful pointer to President Assad’s “Plan B” should his control over key cities like Damascus and Aleppo crumble.

He says that the “embattled president withdrew government forces from the north-east because he couldn’t control it and wanted to focus on the most important battles in Aleppo and Damascus”.

“But in the back of the president’s mind, there may be the thought that empowering the Kurds is a way of weakening the Sunni Arab majority and underlining the risks of fragmentation should his government fall. It’s a strategy of playing upon divisions to sow chaos,” he said.

This way, says Prof Landis, “the Syrian Army – which is rapidly becoming an Alawite militia, whilst still the strongest military force – may lose control over large swathes of the country, but will remain a vital factor in determining the political outcome in Syria”.

It is a bleak prospect.

Prof Landis asserts that President Assad “may lose Syria, but could still remain a player, and his Alawite minority will not be destroyed”.

“That’s the future of Syria,” he says, with little enthusiasm. “It’s what Lebanon was and what Iraq became.”

By Jonathan Marcus

Assyrian International News Agency

The Afghan Government’s Crisis Of (No) Confidence

Afghanistan’s parliament has moved to address cracks in the main pillars of national security. Now President Hamid Karzai is left to make sure his fragile government is not undermined.

The legislature’s votes of no confidence in Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismullah Mohammadi on August 4 were unexpected, and have the potential to cause far-reaching upheaval.

The two officials, who had assumed responsibility over the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP), have been demoted to “acting” status until replacements are found. Discontent over security lapses and perceived inaction by the two ministers in the face of a spate of cross-border rockets fired from Pakistan was the main reason for the no-confidence measure.

A change in leadership could send shock waves through the prominent ministries, says Jeffrey Dressler, a senior analyst and team leader for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C.

The jobs of hundreds of officials are dependent on patronage networks overseen by the two men, and a major overhaul within the ministries would likely extend to the ANA and ANP — the main forces being groomed to take over security duties as foreign troops draw down.

Dressler says the Afghan president, who has final say on all ministerial appointments and can veto parliament’s no-confidence decision, maintains a precarious balance of power between the country’s rival ethnic, religious, and political groups.

Delicate Balancing Act

The latest action requires Karzai to tread carefully to ensure that his proposed replacements for Wardak and Mohammadi maintain the delicate status quo.

x

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak faced questions over his handling of security.

​​Wardak, who enjoys strong ties with Kabul’s Western allies, has served as defense minister since 2004. An ethnic Pashtun, he holds sway in eastern Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Mohammadi, a powerful ethnic Tajik leader, was appointed interior minister by Karzai in 2010. A leader in the former Northern Alliance, an anti-Taliban coalition, Mohammadi served as chief of staff of the ANA since 2002.

“Parliament forcing, or at least insisting, that Karzai make this change will force him to relook how he has structured his political landscape,” Dressler says. “And that is not always an easy, clean process. It can sometimes be dirty and it can sometimes be corrupt. There is also a lot of risk involved and uncertainty into how that works out.”

Dressler adds that the dismissals of Wardak and Mohammadi would have to be seen in the context of the country’s upcoming presidential elections in 2014, when the scheduled withdrawal of foreign forces is expected to be completed.

Although Karzai is barred from seeking a third term in office under the constitution, the president and his inner circle may be freeing up possible vacancies in the cabinet to feed an entrenched patronage system.

“Part of this could be recalibrating the political arrangements ahead of the elections in 2014 and creating space for more accommodation that either Karzai or other powerful individuals want to rejiggle the system and create some new patronage arrangements with individuals who Karzai and others might need in the system,” Dressler notes.

Tainted By Corruption

The ouster of two prominent ministers could also signal a larger shake-up within the halls of power, says Waliullah Rahmani, director of the Center For Strategic Studies, a Kabul-based think tank.

Karzai’s government is under mounting pressure both domestically and from the international community to tackle rampant corruption.

Donor nations pledged some $ 16 billion in aid to Kabul last month at a Tokyo conference. But that money is tied to a new monitoring process that seeks to ensure aid money is not mismanaged by corrupt officials.

x

Could Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal be next?

​​In response, Karzai last month issued a 23-page decree of proposed anticorruption measures that affects every ministry. Unlike previous pledges, the decree orders every ministry to take specific measures to eliminate corruption and to report back to the president within a fixed deadline.

While the initiative has been labeled by some lawmakers as “ridiculous,” Karzai may be acting on his decree by playing a silent hand in the shake-up at the top of the country’s two most powerful ministries.

“What Karzai might have wanted was that these two politicians should go in order to honor his wide range of [anticorruption] reforms,” Rahmani says. “I think his intention was to give momentum to these reforms, while convincing the public that he wants to bring change.”

The Next Head To Roll?

The Wardak and Mohammadi cases might be just the precursor to a broader government reshuffle, Rahmani adds, with Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal also coming under intense scrutiny amid allegations of corruption.

Corruption allegations against Zakhilwal recently surfaced after bank account statements leaked by the media revealed that he had recently received more than $ 1.5 million.

Zakhilwal, who says the allegations against him are politically motivated, claims that the money comes from his private business ventures and from fundraising he has been doing for the Karzai camp related to the 2014 presidential campaign.

Afghanistan’s anticorruption body, the High Office of Oversight and Anticorruption, has sent a letter to the president urging him to suspend Zakhilwal until an investigation into his alleged wrongdoing is completed. Afghan lawmakers have thrown in their support, with some calling for no-confidence proceedings to be brought against the embattled finance minister.

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

EU Diplomats In Crisis Talks Over Teddy Bear Incident

European Union envoys are holding emergency talks to discuss a response to Belarus’s expulsion of Swedish diplomats over what has become known as the “teddy bear” incident.

The dispute began when a Swedish public relations firm last month dropped more than 800 teddy bears near Minsk carrying freedom-of-speech messages.

In response, Belarus has expelled Sweden’s ambassador and diplomatic personnel.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said diplomats “will study the appropriate response of the European Union.”

The measures could include a recommendation to close all EU embassies in Minsk, although that decision would be left to individual governments.

In a leaked draft statement obtained by RFE/RL, the envoys say that when the EU reviews its sanctions against Belarus in October, “it will take into account” the Swedish ambassador’s expulsion.

With reporting by dpa, AP, and AFP

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

U.S. Gives Pakistan $280 Million To Tackle Energy Crisis

The United States has announced it’s providing $ 280 million to Pakistan in order to address the country’s worsening energy shortfall.

Mark Stroh, the U.S. Embassy spokesman in Islamabad, said the funds would support improvements to the existing Mangla Dam in the eastern Kashmir region and construction of the Kurram Tangi Dam in the western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

The embassy said U.S. support of large-scale Pakistani infrastructure projects was expected to add 900 megawatts to the national power grid by 2013 — enough to power 2 million households and businesses.

Pakistanis are experiencing hours of power outages every day as the country suffers severe energy shortages.

The situation has been intensified by the holy month of Ramadan in the summer, when Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from predawn to sunset.

Based on reporting from dpa

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

* International Crisis Group Report Recommends Compromises to Resolve Iraqi Crisis

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN?
IRAQ’S ESCALATING POLITICAL CRISIS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

At first glance, the current Iraqi political crisis looks like just one more predictable bump in the long road from dictatorship to democracy. Every two years or so, the political class experiences a prolonged stalemate; just as regularly, it is overcome. So, one might think, it will be this time around. But look closer and the picture changes.

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

* Iraqi MP calls on Maliki’s government to construct nuclear reactors to solve electricity crisis

BAGHDAD, July 30 (AKnews) – An Iraqi MP has called on the Iraqi government to build nuclear reactors for peaceful use to end the large deficit in electric power in the country.

The Council of Representatives voted by majority earlier on Monday on a resolution made by the oil and energy committee about the privatization of the electricity sector in the country.

MP Mouhammed al-Khalidi said in an official statement issued today by his press office: “I call on the Iraqi government and the concerned ministries to begin the establishment of nuclear reactors for peaceful use to be an alternative and cover the deficit in electric power in all Iraqi provinces.

“The government must find quick alternatives to generate electricity for the citizens. The projects to build power plants can be referred to investment to save money in the provision of other service projects.

“The government can choose safe places in the country away from the population for the construction of these reactors, similar to other countries in the region, including neighboring countries.”

Iraq is suffering from an acute shortage of electricity supply and this is prompting citizens to demonstrate and demand the provision of electricity.

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

* After the holy month of Ramadan Talabani begins to hold substantive contacts with various parties to develop a road map to resolve the crisis

The head of the Kurdistan Alliance bloc in parliament, Fuad Masum, that in accordance to the reports of doctors, the health status of President Jalal Talabani and a very good response to treatment is excellent and he is continuing his physiotherapy.

Masum said, “He was scheduled the return of President Jalal Talabani to the country, the beginning of the month of August next, but he and coinciding with the month of Ramadan, it was decided to be the return of President back home after Ramadaan.” He pointed out that “will begin immediately after his return to hold political contacts are important with the different parties to develop a road map to resolve the current political crisis. ” He left the President of the Republic by more than a month to Germany for treatment. To the MP for the Kurdistan Alliance Qasim Mohammad Qasim said that “reform is necessary and required in both Anne and paper reforms and its items and the large number of axes will take a long time to hold discussions around it, stressing the need to implement the agreements between the political blocs such as the Convention Erbil will be necessary and best for the country and added that “the implementation of Alagayat concluded would be a quick solution to the current crisis which is the result of worsening political differences between most of the political blocs,” adding that “the current crisis is not confined between the Kurdistan Alliance and a coalition of state law, but common to most political parties. “

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Poland Closes Embassy in Syria As Crisis Worsens

Posted GMT 7-28-2012 3:39:11

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has closed its embassy in Syria and evacuated its diplomats because of the deteriorating security situation in Damascus. The embassy had also representing U.S. interests in the country in recent months.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said he took the decision out of concern for the security of the embassy’s staff, who have already left Syria.

“The decision was taken due to the dramatically worsening crisis in Syria, which has led to the deterioration of security and has made it impossible for Polish diplomats to carry out their duties,” Sikorski told a news conference in Warsaw.

U.S. Ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein expressed thanks to the “government and the people of Poland for their act of friendship and solidarity” in having represented Washington in Damascus since Feb. 6.

“The brave Polish diplomats who served in the U.S. Interests Section helped keep U.S. citizens safe during a dangerous and difficult time,” Feinstein said in a statement. “For this we owe Poland a debt of gratitude.”

Sikorski said the embassy will reopen as soon as security conditions allow it.

Many countries closed their embassies in Damascus months ago, protesting the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on protests and citing security concerns. The United States was among the first, pulling out its ambassador in February. Canada and several European nations followed in March, as did Turkey, once a key ally of Syria. Among Arab nations, Qatar was the first, closing its embassy in July 2011, followed by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain this year.

Assyrian International News Agency

* Deputy of State law: Allawi provoked political crisis and some … Loss of popularity made him talk about electricity and jobs

Baghdad (News) … The State of law coalition member of National Alliance MP//Mansour El-Tamimi, head of the speech Iraqi list, Iyad Allawi, the absence of a political crisis, and that the Iraq crisis has electricity, jobs, a sign of losing his popularity.

In a statement, said Al-Tamimi (News Agency news) on Sunday: that the issue of electricity and the Elimination of unemployment when will solve the political crisis, the crisis continues to exist and persist, and continued: we are surprised of Allawi that there is crisis, which escalated the crisis created by the positions as suspension within the Chamber of Deputies and Ministers meeting in Erbil and Najaf and speak on the no-confidence motion on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his interrogation.

The Deputy President’s speech: national Iraqi list new language concerning the reality of power indication bankruptcy popular, adding: he was supposed to speak earlier on these issues and not now.

He was President of the Iraqi list, Iyad Allawi, has said there is no political crisis in Iraq, saying in a press release: never heard of the existence of a political crisis in Iraq, because there is a Government of national partnership, but there is no crisis in the electricity and jobs only.

LINK

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

US says Assad ‘losing control’ of crisis

The United States has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was losing control of his country and urged Russia and the international community to get behind a political transition plan to avert sectarian civil war.

“The window is closing, we need to take action in a unified way to help bring about the transition that the Syrian people so deserve,” said Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, to reporters in Wednesday.

President Barack Obama called Russian President Vladimir Putin, Assad’s main international supporter, after a
Damascus bomb blast reportedly killed Syria’s defense minister and Assad’s brother-in-law, throwing the 16-month old rebellion onto an unpredictable path.

The White House said Obama discussed the deteriorating Syrian situation with Putin, whose government has repeatedly
blocked efforts to rally the UN Security Council behind tough measures against Damascus.

But while the two leaders agreed on the need to stop the violence, both Russian and US officials said they ended the
call divided over the best way forward.

“They noted the differences our governments have had on Syria, but agreed to have their teams continue to work toward a
solution,” the White House said in a statement.

With Russia opposed to what it sees as a Western-led attempt to dictate the outcome of Syria’s crisis, the UN Security Council delayed until Thursday a proposed vote on a US-backed resolution that threatens Damascus with
sanctions if it does not stop using heavy weapons and withdraw troops from towns and cities.

Russia has indicated it will likely veto the measure.

Losing control

The White House, reiterating the US view that Assad’s days are numbered, said the international community must now come together around a political transition plan to establish a democratic order in Syria after Assad departs.

“The sooner this transition happens, the greater the chance we have of averting a lengthy and bloody sectarian civil war and the better we’ll be able to help Syrians manage a stable transition to democracy,” said Tommy Vietor, another White House spokesman.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking earlier, said Syria was lurching into dangerous territory and emphasised that
Assad’s government would be held responsible if it failed to safeguard its chemical weapons sites.

“This is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control,” Panetta told a Pentagon news conference.

US officials said they did not have any information on Assad’s whereabouts, and declined to speculate on who might have been behind the attack.

US blacklist

Pushing ahead with unilateral sanctions, the US Treasury on Wednesday added 29 Syrian officials including virtually all
of Assad’s cabinet to the official US blacklist.

The US also designated one company controlled by Rami Makhluf, who the Treasury statement called a “crony” of
Assad, as well as five companies linked to the Syrian government agency responsible for non-conventional weapons programs.

Syria’s undeclared chemical weapons stockpile, believed to be the largest of its kind in the Middle East, has been
reported to include a nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide.

Western and Israeli officials have said in recent days that the Assad government appears to be shifting some chemical
weapons from storage sites, but it is not clear whether the operation is merely a security precaution.

The Syrian government denies carrying out the operation.

Officials said they had no indication Syria had lost control of any of its chemical weapons, but Panetta warned that
the US would be watching closely.

“We’ve made very clear to them that they have a responsibility to safeguard their chemical sites and that we will hold them responsible should anything happen with regards to those sites,” Panetta said.

619

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

* Euro crisis cast a shadow on the major economies in Asia

Asian economies began to feel the effects of financial crisis in Europe, where growth has slowed major economies in Asia, but the region still hopes to continue to lead economic growth in the world.

Fears of negative effects of the debt crisis in Europe and the weak growth of the U.S. economy on the economic performance of Asia has appeared evident on Friday when China announced a low rate of growth of its economy during the second quarter of this year to 7.6 ‘of the GDP, the lowest growth rate of quarterly for the second largest economy in the world since 3 years.

At the same time Singapore’s economy shrank during the same period by 1.1 ‘of GDP due to lower industrial output increased by 6′ is essential.  As for India, with China leading the region’s economy, it is expected to suffer a decline in the rate of growth of its economy during the current year, with the Asian Development Bank expects the growth of Indian economy during the current year by 6.5 ‘while the previous estimates of 7′ of the total GDP.

The bank said in a report released last Thursday that the prospects for developing economies in Asia is declining because of the negative global economic developments and slowing economic growth, China and India. The report added that the ‘slower growth in the United States and the euro zone reduces the demand for exports from the region (Asia) .. She also appeared recently on fears the economic strength of the economies of developing Task ‘ Far from suffering from weak Alsardat in the major economies in Asia, it is also facing a decline in retail sales, as happened in Hong Kong, where retail sales rose during the first five months of this year by 13.5 ‘from the same period last year, while the average annual growth Last year, 24.9 ‘.

Said David Ourir economic analyst in the General Chamber of Commerce in Hunjg Kong ”re still struggling in the face of crises, the North Atlantic (United States and Europe) and the decline in world trade, which began five years ago this month ..  Hong Kong is often in a recession now ‘.  The Asian countries play an important role as importer of last resort to the latest figures indicated that Australia is affected by the decline in the Chinese economy as China imports about 25 ‘of Australia’s exports.

These figures have raised concerns about the growth of output of the Australian economy where the growth rate during the 12 months to July the current 2.2 ‘only which is less than the growth rate expected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and a 1.3′ for the current year as a whole. Has begun indicators the economic downturn in Australia already showing where the unemployment rate rose during June last to 5.2 ‘versus 5.1′ in the previous month after it was canceled 27 thousand jobs last month, was also stopped working in a number of projects, new mining, as well as decreased retail sales due to the collapse of consumer confidence in the economy.  The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut interest rates by half a percentage point in May / May, then a quarter percentage point in June / June

For his part, said Coong Chuang, deputy chief economist at the Asian Development Bank, based in the Philippine capital Manila, the Asian region is still the largest shareholder in the global economy despite slowing growth. He told the German Press Agency (DPA) ‘more than half of the total GDP of the world still come from Asia ..  We do not see a global recession, but there are risks and the largest is the crisis of the euro area.  Our assumption is that the euro will not turn crisis into a global crisis’.

And said, ‘We believe that the euro zone countries are still working together and will reach to the mix will avoid a political crisis, the euro conversion into a global crisis’.  He pointed to the need for Asian economies to greater flexibility in the face of external shocks by reducing dependence on external demand and promoting sources of growth of local, regional and update their domestic industries.

Comments

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits