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Economist: Mechanism proposals to quickly raise the value of the Iraqi dinar

5-23-13 alrafedain.net:

Exchange rate fluctuations accounted for expert attention

Select an economist many reasons behind the fluctuations in the value of the Iraqi currency and economic imbalances structural considering that the exchange rate holds an pivotal role in monetary policy in terms of its use as a target or a tool and as an indicator of the competitiveness of the state through its effect on the components of economic growth, such as investment and the degree of openness to international trade and capital flows and the evolution of the financial sector.

The parallel market

He d. Kamal Al-Basri’s “morning” that the increased demand for foreign currencies and the weakness of the business environment of economic and fiscal policy and weak productive capacities of local and growing presence remittance companies and financial brokerage firms (parallel market) and the emergence of areas of trade at border crossing points all of which led to volatility in the Iraqi currency. noted that the Iraqi currency optical recovering derived from the content of the economy and it can not be to stabilize the value of the currency away from economic reality.

GDP

And Asharalbbar to that the reality of the Iraqi economy suffers from a weakness in the effervescence basic Through meditate in the components of GDP for the year 2011 we will see that different sectors are for GDP oil, 54.74 percent and agriculture 4.15 percent and the industry is about 1.83 percent, noting that the Iraqi economy depends on the oil sector, saying that the problem when oil revenues are much bigger than the financial returns obtained from taxes reasoned that finding a state asset financially significant disposal easy gain (not achieved at the expense of the financial resources of citizens), noting that all of this will result in economic policies sterile represented an increase of salaries and wages away from labor productivity accounts and the creation of employment for non-productive purposes useful that all this will result in inflation Balasarklah on policy support is an updated economic distortion in the structure of the economy.

Uneconomic spending

He also will result in policies spend uneconomical represented activities have no economic justification كالمنح aid and open circles foreign diplomatic, cultural do not add real value to the economy and to the citizens and be at the expense of the areas of economic urgency relate to the lives of citizens. attributed visual reasons behind the fact that the private sector in the States developing marginal and weak he is to ايتمتع support as is the case in the public sector, but rather concentrated support in the areas of economic commercial and service noting that the absence of the real role of the private sector means the absence of creativity and speed adjustment with market needs and provide employment outside the public sector, pointing out that the uniqueness of the public sector production and the absence of rival to the private sector will inevitably lead to the continued deterioration of the efficiency of the production of the public sector, he said.

Government intervention

He pointed out that this matter requires government intervention and protection of the public sector through financial support and customs protection policy (currently support the annual $ 3 billion). Thus, the government is working to protect the institutions of productivity inert at the expense of the citizen who finds unchanged compelled to buy goods or services at a higher price and the quality is poor useful that this sacrifice is usually also emphasizes global experiences to not lead in the short term and not run into improved performance and efficiency of the production of the public sector.

Central action

He optic that exchange rate Atatheraola measures the central bank, which represents management major in the state to identify and manage monetary policy so as to contribute to the achievement of economic goals that are looking her state, and secondly commercial banks and remittance companies financial terms intervene in the market to execute the orders of their clients or for its own account, where you These centers collect orders customers and they Palmqasat banking, and thirdly brokerage firms are intermediaries militants who collects orders purchase or sale of hard currency for the benefit of several banks or dealers others away from transparency. drew visual to it, and over the past few months, decreased the value of the Iraqi dinar against foreign currencies until he was sometimes the market parallel 1300 dinars per dollar, after it was stable on the rate of 1185 dinars per dollar, despite the stability of the selling price of the Central Bank’s 1166 dinars with a commission of 13 dinars of remittances any 1179 dinars and 1171 dinars to the sale of cash and this indicates to the high demand for dollar in the domestic market.

External factors

He attributed this to several factors in the forefront of external factors which formed the political and economic crises in neighboring countries (Syria and Iran) and embodied in need of these countries to the dollar coin and foreign currency, which he got a drop of the local currency in those countries and reflected down the price of exports to Iraq, and the creation of windows to attract the dollar from Iraq to those countries during trading attractive to the Iraqis and the same time a source of hard currency to the Iranians and the Syrians. On the other hand there is a thread social and family with these countries may also be an outlet for the exit of the dollar but it is difficult to predict Bmekdarh. decline investors The other factor is the business environment, economic, represented by the factors that cause the result to the escape of domestic capital and the decline of foreign investors, including political instability and the absence of the rule of law in economic transactions. There is no doubt that the time period that followed the 2008 has seen an improvement in the security situation and then in the rate of inflation and the exchange rate. However, the economic environment is still repulsive acts do not encourage project planning medium-or long-term. Which led to limited activities on some business and commercial projects yielding profit fast, but I doubt that the percentage of it turning to other countries suffering from scarcity of liquidity arising from the impact of the financial crisis that began in late 2008. fiscal policy in addition to other factors, including politics public finances witnessed in previous years high rates of government spending at rates greater than any other country in the world (increased public spending of 34.6 trillion dinars in 2004 to 117.1 trillion dinars in 2012) and most images spending is consumer lead to a rise in spending outside world as well as the led to a rise in the net of the Iraqi currency traded amounting to 36 trillion dinars in 2013, bringing the demand for foreign currency, where the value of imports of Iraqi 37.3027 billion dollars in 2010 to 40.6325 billion dollars in 2011 at a rate of change stood at 8.9 percent., as well as double taxation policies and instability and political and economic weakness of the local productive capacities.

Cancel Profit

For the purpose of finding a solution to the fluctuation in the value of the Iraqi currency sees visual need to reduce pumping hard currency (cash sales) in the central bank auction and the adoption of increased foreign remittances and increase the price of cash sales at the central bank auction for the equivalent selling price in the auction of foreign remittances in order to cancel the profit realized because of the difference between the two rates .. and proposes a mechanism buying and selling foreign currency for remittance companies and financial companies to mediate done by banks licensed in Iraq in order to reduce transaction is eligible and procedures adopted and compel traders and dealers in the areas of trade exchange between Iraq and neighboring countries to deal transfer financial and letters of guarantee, rather than buying cash. in addition to the commitment to a transparent auction information and cash transfers and development of an electronic information system.

Reduce inflation

He called visual in his speech to the need to adopt radical solutions to long-term by reviewing the financial policy of the state and reduce inflation in spending, operational and need to speed up plans for banking reform in order to facilitate the procedures for exchange the cash and improve the tax code and work to expand horizontally while reducing tax evasion.

Deletion of zeros

He also called for activating the law of customs tariff because of its important role in providing incentives for producers with feature economic, leading to a reduction in the volume of imports as well as improved revenue workforce and improve the business environment, the economic order to raise the efficiency of production for companies and institutions of local productive that will reduce imports and increase intake of foreign exchange through export, as well as attract foreign investment and use the mechanisms of modern electronic distribution of salaries and the use of instruments, banking and encourage saving. pointed to the possibility that be to issue a new currency or deletion of zeros from the current currency positive effects psychic dealers in local currency.

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Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

The Iraqi Marriage is Failing–so who gets custody of the kids?

5-23-13 Rudaw News:   If the Maliki government in Baghdad truly wants to keep Kurdistan a part of Iraq, it is doing a great job of hiding it. Baghdad’s first and foremost blunder comes with the failure to sign a hydrocarbons law for the country. Refusing to take responsibility for paying the peshmergas’ salaries and pensions also stands out as a lost opportunity for the central government. In a more general sense, Prime Minister Maliki’s unwillingness to share power and run the country in a constitutional manner worsens centrifugal tendencies.

Regarding the “oil law,” or lack thereof, politicians in Baghdad are well known for their Byzantine approach to signing oil contracts and their refusal to allow governorates or regions any significant role in managing Iraq’s oil resources. Everyone in Iraq including the Kurds agreed with the principle that oil revenues be divided proportionally according to population, but leaving all decisions regarding management and contracts in the central government’s hands would be foolish for anyone but those running the show in Baghdad. Already we have seen that after agreeing to a limited oil exploration and export regime with Kurdistan, politicians in Baghdad refused to use the revenues from the process to pay the responsible oil companies their share.

The result is predictable: Kurdistan is going its own way with oil. Erbil has nearly finished its first independent pipeline to Turkey and just signed an agreement with Turkey to build a second one. The Kurds have signed their own agreements with Exxon, Chevron and Gazprom, among many others, which gives the United States, Russia and Turkey big reasons to protect Kurdistan from Baghdad. What’s more, the Kurds apparently offer foreign oil partners much more enticing and straightforward oil deals than Baghdad, where the ever-shifting rules, commitments and complexities of the oil game try the patience of even the most stalwart oil companies.

When it comes to the peshmerga, Maliki’s people seem to have forgotten a key strategy for ruling a country and keeping it together: patronage. If he would take on the burden of paying the salaries of Kurdistan’s security forces, which are in principle Iraqi security forces, Mr. Maliki would increase their dependence on his government in Baghdad. Instead, everyday that he begrudges the peshemerga a salary from Baghdad, and with every year penny of oil money he refuses to share with the Kurds, Mr. Maliki reminds the Kurds how easily they can get by without Baghdad.

When Mr. Maliki and his people also refuse to share power with Kurds, Sunnis or competing Shiites, they gnaw away at the already worn fabric holding the Iraqi marriage together. There can be no willing union of communities in Iraq without compromise, the rule of law and power sharing (love can come later). Yet Mr. Maliki personally controls all of Iraq’s security portfolios, he ignores laws about military appointments, he forbids legal and legitimate efforts to form other recognized regions in Iraq, he increasingly stacks the courts and “independent” committees with his sycophants, and he sets his hounds after Arab sunnis. No wonder the security situation in Iraq is deteriorating. Even with foreign jihadis off to their latest party in Syria, government policy from Baghdad is enough to breed violent disaffection. If things continue like this, the international community will be hard pressed to fault the Kurds for wanting to secede.

All of which makes me wonder: Perhaps Mr. Maliki wants the Kurds to leave–he just can’t say so too loudly given Iraqi nationalist sensitivities about territorial integrity and such. When someone lacks the courage to ask for a divorce, they may push their partner to ask. Without Kurdistan, Arab Shiites would make up more than seventy per cent of Iraq. The Sunnis would be hopelessly overshadowed and Mr. Maliki would have even less annoyances impeding his consolidation of power.

If that’s the case, the only thing left still keeping the Kurds in the Iraqi marriage may be the children–whom we’ll call Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah al-Din and Nineveh. Kurdish leaders don’t want to leave without them, especially if that means abandoning their Kurdish communities to Baghdad. Mr. Maliki and his people, on the other hand, probably can’t accept a Kurdish divorce that leaves custody to Erbil. So for the sake of the kids, the dysfunctional marriage continues.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Baghdad Struggles to Halt Devaluation of Iraqi Dinar

5-21-13 Iraq Business News:    Over the last few days, the government in Baghdad has been preoccupied with attempting to control the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar. The rate has been dropping since April, reaching its lowest at the beginning of this week.

During the preceding week on the local market, the dinar dropped against the dollar from 1,200 to 1,300, widening the gap against the official exchange rate by 121 dinars.

The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) sells one dollar for every 1,179 dinars to authorized banks, which then sell it for 1,189 dinars to citizens traveling for medical treatment. Otherwise, traders and others looking to buy dollars must enter a public auction for hard currency sales managed by the CBI. This is one of a series of measures overseen by the Interior Ministry.

The CBI, the country’s monetary policy authority, recently held a series of meetings with members of the country’s Parliamentary Presidential Board — which consists of Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, First Deputy Speaker Qusai al-Suhail and Second Deputy Speaker Aref Tayfur — to explain how to deal with the decline in the local exchange rate.

In a statement issued on May 12 and obtained by Al-Monitor, the Iraqi legislature announced that the parliamentary presidential board had met that day with Abdul Basit Turki, governor of the CBI by proxy and head of the Supreme Audit Board. It also proclaimed:

“The Parliamentary Presidential Board expressed its full support for the CBI scrutinizing the private banks’ activity, archiving information and taking reform measures, which include controlling the exchange rate of the dollar, reducing money laundering and strengthening the CBI’s capacity in economic development.”

In a separate statement, issued May 13, the parliament announced that Suhail had “chaired the Finance Committee’s meeting in the presence of CBI governor Abdul Basit Turki.” Suhail stressed “the need to determine procedures taken by the CBI’s administration to address the fluctuation in the dinar’s exchange rate against the dollar.” The parliament also emphasized, “It is important to know the true causes of this fluctuation, which will negatively affect the [quality of] life of the Iraqi citizen.”

The CBI’s governor, according to the statement, “gave a presentation of the CBI’s policy and recent activity, particularly the CBI’s auctions and its administration’s procedures to combat the fluctuation of the exchange rate for the dollar.” In addition, members of the parliamentary finance committee reviewed “their suggestions and recommendations on the developments in the auction and dollar-exchange methods.” They also stressed “the need to take measures to prevent some of those who trade with the money of the Iraqi people from exploiting the CBI’s auction.”

CBI officials refused to make comments to the media, but on May 13 local media circulated a statement by a banking source described as “high-level.” According to the statement, “The CBI’s foreign currency reserves amount to $ 74 billion” and that “this amount is the highest Iraqi foreign currency reserve ever.”

Economist Jawad al-Shammari said in an interview with Al-Monitor:

“The CBI follows a vigilant policy when dealing with the media. It is probably the party that leaked information on the increasing Iraqi foreign currency reserves in order to calm mounting fears as a result of the sharp decline in the value of the dinar against the dollar.”

“The CBI holds daily sessions to sell foreign currency with both governmental and private participation. The sales can be either in cash or in the form of overseas transfers in exchange for commission.”

Shammari believes that “this measure — which aims to control the dinar exchange rate against the dollar — is no longer effective due to the daily, increasing gap between what the CBI offers in the auction and the actual market need.”

Haider al-Abadi, head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, confirmed having “received reassuring messages from CBI officials on controlling the exchange rate fluctuation.” Abadi said that the CBI took measures enabling citizens to obtain foreign currency from public and private banks, including transfers for travel or treatment. He reiterated, “The problem is limited to the gap between supply and demand for US dollars in the Iraqi market.”

The CBI holds daily sessions to buy and sell foreign currency with the participation of Iraqi banks, except for public holidays, during which the CBI suspends these auctions. The sales can be either in cash or in the form of overseas transfers for a commissioning fee.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Chaldean Patriarch Warns Surge in Iraqi Violence Will Divide Country

BEIRUT (CNS) — The patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad denounced a recent series of car bombings and shootings in Iraqi cities that left at least 54 people dead and dozens more injured.

Patriarch Louis Sako, told Catholic News Service in an email May 20 that the current violence is between minority Sunni and majority Shiite Muslims, who also run the Iraqi government. Christians are not being directly targeted, he said.

“But they are afraid and their exodus continues nevertheless,” Patriarch Sako said of Iraq’s Christian population.

“The morale of Christians in the area is down,” the patriarch said.

Iraq has witnessed the emigration of more than half of its native Christians since the American-led invasion of the country in 2003.

Attacks have escalated in recent months, with some of the worst violence occurring May 20 in Baghdad, where nine explosions rocked bus stations and markets in mainly Shiite areas. Police said nearly 200 people were injured. Eight Iranian pilgrims were identified among the dead, the BBC reported.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Car bombings also rocked Basra May 20, leaving nine dead and at least 37 injured, police said.

In Haditha, about 155 miles west of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed two police checkpoints May 20, killing eight officers.

Ten police officers kidnapped May 18 in western Anbar province were found dead.

“It is terrible,” Patriarch Sako said of the latest violence. “It seems a step aimed at the division of Iraq.”

People across the country feel that the situation is deteriorating “and they are afraid especially when it takes a sectarian line — for the moment it is (between) Sunni and Shiites,” the patriarch said.

“People are worried about the future,” he said.

The patriarch questioned “the motive and the reasoning behind changing regimes (of countries) with wars,” citing rising violence in Egypt and Libya, where newly installed government leaders have been challenged by opposing groups, as well as the deteriorating situation in Syria, where a civil war has raged for more than two years.

Instilling democracy and a culture of freedom, he said, requires education and a sound strategy for the long term. But toppling a totalitarian regime with one that is fundamentalist (Islam) “is even worse,” Patriarch Sako cautioned.

Instead of being equal citizens, he warned that Christians “will be considered second class because of their religion in a country in which Islam is the only standard.”

“I think moderate Muslims should be aware and assure Christians that they, indeed, will be respected as equal citizens,” the patriarch said.

By Doreen Abi Raad
Catholic News Service

Assyrian International News Agency

Talks between Baghdad and Washington to extend the protection of Iraqi funds abroad

5-20-13 alforattv.net / Government began talks several weeks ago with their U.S. counterparts to discuss the extension of the protection of Iraqi funds abroad and which will expire early next month of June.

Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament MP for the coalition of state law, Abdul Hussein al-Yasiri said that “the non-renewal of U.S. protection means that the funds in the Development Fund for Iraq will be vulnerable to lawsuits filed by creditors, which is valued at about $ 140 billion.” Finished

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

increase the central bank balance of foreign currency will support the Iraqi dinar.

5-20-13 Gamaray: Economic Analyst: increase the central bank balance of foreign currency will support the Iraqi dinar.

Economic analyst warned gentle Abdul Salem Okkaily, lend part of the monetary reserves of the Central Bank in the investment projects of the country, because it would hurt the economy and the national currency.

Ugaili said the increase in the central bank balance of hard currency to more than 74 billion dollars, will support the value of the Iraqi dinar and enhances the strength of the national economy.

I do not can use Bahtiat the central bank to finance any investment project in the country because it will affect the bank balance and thus hurt the economy and reduce the exchange rate of the dinar against international currencies.

This has been said a source in the central bank for central bank reserves increase to 74 billion dollars. The central bank had announced middle of last year that the size of the monetary reserves has an estimated 68 billion dollars.

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Chaldean Patriarch Warns Surge in Iraqi Violence Will Divide Country

BEIRUT — The patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad denounced a recent series of car bombings and shootings in Iraqi cities that left at least 54 people dead and dozens more injured.

Patriarch Louis Sako, told Catholic News Service in an email May 20 that the current violence is between minority Sunni and majority Shiite Muslims, who also run the Iraqi government. Christians are not being directly targeted, he said.

“But they are afraid and their exodus continues nevertheless,” Patriarch Sako said of Iraq’s Christian population.

“The morale of Christians in the area is down,” the patriarch said.

Iraq has witnessed the emigration of more than half of its native Christians since the American-led invasion of the country in 2003.

Attacks have escalated in recent months, with some of the worst violence occurring May 20 in Baghdad, where nine explosions rocked bus stations and markets in mainly Shiite areas. Police said nearly 200 people were injured. Eight Iranian pilgrims were identified among the dead, the BBC reported.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Car bombings also rocked Basra May 20, leaving nine dead and at least 37 injured, police said.

In Haditha, about 155 miles west of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed two police checkpoints May 20, killing eight officers.

Ten police officers kidnapped May 18 in western Anbar province were found dead.

“It is terrible,” Patriarch Sako said of the latest violence. “It seems a step aimed at the division of Iraq.”

People across the country feel that the situation is deteriorating “and they are afraid especially when it takes a sectarian line — for the moment it is (between) Sunni and Shiites,” the patriarch said.

“People are worried about the future,” he said.

The patriarch questioned “the motive and the reasoning behind changing regimes (of countries) with wars,” citing rising violence in Egypt and Libya, where newly installed government leaders have been challenged by opposing groups, as well as the deteriorating situation in Syria, where a civil war has raged for more than two years.

Instilling democracy and a culture of freedom, he said, requires education and a sound strategy for the long term. But toppling a totalitarian regime with one that is fundamentalist (Islam) “is even worse,” Patriarch Sako cautioned.

Instead of being equal citizens, he warned that Christians “will be considered second class because of their religion in a country in which Islam is the only standard.”

“I think moderate Muslims should be aware and assure Christians that they, indeed, will be respected as equal citizens,” the patriarch said.

By Doreen Abi Raad
Catholic News Service

Assyrian International News Agency

Iraqi Tribal Leaders Demand Federation

Tribal leaders in Iraq are warning of war unless the country splits into a federation amid a deadly new wave of apparently sectarian violence.

Monday’s attacks across Iraqi cities left at least 77 people dead and more than 248 others injured, officials say, pushing the death toll over the past week to well above 200.

On the same day, the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reported that Sunni protest leaders had called for “armed confrontation or the declaration of an [autonomous] region”.

In response, Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said he was willing to contemplate the establishment of an autonomous region in the Sunni-dominated western provinces, provided it came about through the correct legal procedures, according to the independent Al Sumaria television.

Maliki also said he would overhaul Iraq’s security strategy. “We are about to make changes in the high and middle positions of those responsible for security, and the security strategy,” he said at a news conference in Baghdad on Monday.

“We will discuss this matter in the cabinet session tomorrow [Tuesday] to take decisions,” he said, without providing further details.

“I assure the Iraqi people that they [attackers] will not be able to return us to the sectarian conflict” that killed tens of thousands of people in Iraq in past years.

Sectarian violence

Weeks of sectarian violence have stirred fears of a return to all-out civil war, and Monday’s bloodshed is likely to heighten them further.

In Hilla, south of Baghdad, bombings during evening prayers at two Shia Muslim mosques killed 13 people and wounded another 71, police and a doctor said.

One bomb exploded inside Al-Wardiyah mosque, while a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged belt at Al-Graita mosque nearby.

A car bomb exploded in Shaab, a mainly Shia area in north Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding at least 20, officials said.

Two car bombs went off in the main southern port city of Basra, killing 13 people and wounding 48, while a wave of other bombings hit Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 102.

In Balad, north of the capital, a car bomb exploded near a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing eight people and wounding another 15.

North of Baghdad, six Sahwa (Awakening) anti-al-Qaeda fighters were killed and 27 wounded in three separate attacks on Monday.

The Sahwa are made up of Sunni Arab tribesmen who joined forces with the US military against al-Qaeda from late 2006, helping to turn the tide against the insurgency.

And a car bomb killed one person and wounded four in Rutba, a town in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, while a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul wounded three people.

Police officers killed

Monday’s violence across Iraq came after 24 police were killed overnight, again in Anbar.

Police Lieutenant-Colonel Majid al-Jlaybawi said police and soldiers carried out a joint raid to free kidnapped police officers, but clashes ensued.

Twelve kidnapped policemen were killed and four wounded, although it was not immediately clear if they were caught in crossfire, killed by their abductors, or a combination of the two.

Mohammed Hadi, one of the wounded policemen, told AFP news agency they had been abducted on the highway between Baghdad and Jordan on Saturday.

In Haditha, a town in Anbar, armed men attacked a police station, killing eight police, among them two officers, officials said.

And assailants killed four police and wounded three in an attack on another police station in the town of Rawa, also in Anbar.

A shop owner was killed in Mosul on Sunday.

Emergency session called

Against this backdrop, Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraq’s Sunni parliamentary speaker, has called an emergency session on Tuesday to discuss the worsening security situation.

Al-Nujaifi, who asked security chiefs on Saturday to attend the session, has also demanded “a clear position from the international community on what is taking place in Iraq”.

His decision drew criticism from Maliki, who urged politicians to stay away from the parliamentary session.

“The politicians bear the responsibility for the sectarian escalation because of their statements, calls for violence and sectarian positions,” Maliki said.

“Ignorant people pick up on that and go out bearing weapons and calling for fighting.”

Furthermore, accusing some politicians of having set up armed groups, Maliki said: “The Chamber of Deputies is one of the main players in the current disturbances in the country.”

http://www.aljazeera.com

Assyrian International News Agency

Living in Hell, Iraqi Christians Dream of Paradise

BASHIQA, Iraq (IPS) — Luis Shabi nostalgically recalls his nine years of novitiate in Rome and a “fantastic road trip through Europe” before returning to Iraq in 1969. “Those were the good times,” sighs the Chaldean Archbishop of Baghdad from a bunker in the heart of the Iraqi capital.

His office, in the basement of the church of Saint Mary of the Rosary, east of the city, is a humble temple. Yet it is protected today by high concrete walls, barbed wire and soldiers on guard next to an armoured vehicle at the entrance.

“We have always been a peaceful and hardworking people, with a reputation for contributing to Iraqi culture with many writers, poets, philosophers,” the priest, wearing an immaculate black cassock and a pink bonnet, says of Iraqi Christians.

“But since the invasion in 2003, the extremists have reinforced the idea of us being ‘newcomers’, something like an ‘extension of the West’ in the Middle East,” laments Shabi, stressing that the fact that there were some Christian ministers during the years of Saddam Hussein “makes things even worse”.

“What has Europe done to help us? What about Rome? Neither civil authorities nor the religious ones in Europe have moved a single finger to assist us in one of the worst moments of our history.”

Targeting Christians

After Iraqi Mandaeans were quite literally decimated – nine out of 10 have either died or fled since 2003 — the local Christian community has suffered significantly over the last decade. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees reports that about half of that population has left the country since 2003.

The Assyrian Council of Europe, an independent non-governmental organisation, goes further, pointing to the Iraqi Constitution as one of the culprits of marginalisation faced by minorities in Iraq.

“Islam is the state religion and a basic foundation for the country’s law,” states Article 2.1 of Iraq’s 2005 Carta Magna.

“We are not Arabs but Semitic,” Shabi proclaims. “We’ve been speaking Aramaic in Mesopotamia since the times of Hammurabi. We are the grandsons of Abraham and of Nebuchadnezzar, but our future in Iraq does not go any further than tomorrow.”[pullquote]3[/pullquote]

From his underground bunker, it’s just a ten-minute walk to the modern and majestic white facade of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The church was renovated last year, but here no one has forgotten what happened here less than two years ago.

“They were five. They jumped over the concrete walls and entered the church yelling ‘God is great’,” remembers Aysur Said, the current pastor of the church. “They said they belonged to the Islamic State of Iraq — a Sunni group linked to al-Qaeda. It was Oct. 31, 2011. We were attending mass.”

Said’s predecessor, Father Waseem, was one of 50 killed in the most severe attack against this community since 2003. “Some died by gunfire and others by suffocation. A number of them were locked in a room that we use to dress up. There are no windows and the air ran out right away,” Said told IPS.

A place in Eden

Immediately after the brutal attack, the Christians of Iraq demanded their own autonomous region in the plains of Nineveh region, in the northwest of the country, bordering the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq.

In those plains, where the Bible places the Garden of Eden, is a compact Christian population. Today the area is disputed by Kurds and Arabs. Its administrative capital is the former Baathist stronghold of Mosul, a place shaken by sectarian clashes since mass protests began taking place last December.

Bashiqa, 30 kilometres from Mosul, is one of the places that many Christians claim as part of their would-be autonomous region. From the Orthodox church of Mart Shmouni, 23-year-old Father Daniel underscores “the importance of unity among Iraqis”, though he admits that unity is not easy.

“This is chaos. The new authorities in Baghdad are unable to protect us, so our people continue to flee in the thousands,” Father Daniel told IPS. “However, in recent months we have also welcomed many Christian families arriving from Syria and knocking the doors of our monasteries and churches. Many of them [come] with virtually nothing.”

Despite its proximity to volatile Mosul, Bashiqa enjoys relative stability, something that Father Daniel attributes to the deployment of Kurdish soldiers in the area. “For many, Bashiqa is just a stop along their way to the Kurdish Autonomous Region, where security is complete,” explains the pastor.

Kirkuk, 230 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, also languishes in a legal limbo between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government.

Imad Yokhana Yago, a member of parliament in Baghdad for the Assyrian Democratic Movement, also denounces “genocide at the hands of Islamists” and the “continuous mass flight” of his people since 2003. At the same time, he advocates for a project tailored to his dwindling community.

“We fear there will be a new war in the country due to the tensions between Kurds and Sunni and Shiite Arabs,” Yago tells IPS from Kirkuk, calling for Christian autonomy in Nineveh region that would “protect our community and also work as a ‘buffer zone’ between the warring sides”.

The project, however, is a controversial one, as many fear that such region could turn into a ghetto into which Christians from all the country would be displaced.

“The repression we are suffering does not come exclusively from the Iraqi Arabs,” asid Yousif Eisho, executive of the Assyrian Christian Movement. “Iran, Saudi Arabia… there are too many foreign agents involved in the ethnic cleansing of our people.”

“The said ghetto will eventually turn real if the constant interference from the outside remains,” Eisho warned.

Assyrian International News Agency

Deadly car bombs rock Iraqi cities

At least 31 people have been killed in a series of car bombs across Iraqi cities, police and medics say.

Eight car bombs in mainly Shia districts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killed 20 people on Monday and 11 others were killed by attacks in the southern city of Basra, police and medics said.

Explosions were also reported in the city of Samarra but there was no immediate word on casualties.

Scores of people have been killed in attacks over the past week as tensions between minority Sunni Muslims and Shia who now lead Iraq have reached their highest level since US troops pulled out in December 2011.

Two car bombs hit Basra, a predominantly Shia southern city 420km southeast of Baghdad.

The first bomb struck the Hananiya neighbourhood, near a busy market and restaurants, and the second was detonated inside a bus terminal in Saad Square, police and medics said.

More than 700 people were killed in April by a UN count, the highest figure in almost five years. Relations are coming under more strain by the day from the increasingly sectarian conflict in neighbouring Syria.

Minority Sunnis, embittered by Shia dominance since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by US-led forces in 2003, have also been staging street protests against Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki since December.

Al Jazeera’s Omar al-Saleh, reporting from the northern city of Erbil and citing police sources, said at least eight car bombs had exploded.

He said the attacks were a continuation of violence that has gripped the country for the past week.

“For the past week more than 150 people [have been] killed and the government [is] basically saying that whoever is behind the attacks wants to re-ignite sectarian strife,” said our correspondent.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts.

The government has been quick to point an accusing finger at groups with links to al-Qaeda, said our correspondent.

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AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Scores killed in attacks on Iraqi Sunnis

At least 76 people have been killed in bombings in majority Sunni districts in Baghdad and surrounding areas in the deadliest day in Iraq in more than eight months have officials said.

The spike in violence has raised fears the country could be on the path to a new round of sectarian bloodshed.

Friday’s attacks pushed the three-day Iraqi death toll to 130, including Shias at bus stops and outdoor markets in scenes reminiscent of the retaliatory attacks between the two Islamic branches in 2006-2007 that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

In the deadliest attack on Friday, twin bombings near a Sunni mosque in Baquba, north of Baghdad, killed 41 people and injured dozens.

One bomb exploded as worshippers were departing the Saria mosque while a second went off after people gathered at the scene of the first blast, police said.

Television aired footage of bodies on the ground outside the mosque, pools of blood and the scattered shoes of the victims.

“I was about 30 metres from the first explosion. When the first exploded, I ran to help them, and the second one went off. I saw bodies flying and I had shrapnel in my neck,” said Hashim Munjiz, a college student, at the site.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Baghdad bombings

In Baghdad, a bomb exploded near a shopping centre during evening rush hour in the mainly Sunni neighbourhood of Amariyah, killing at least 12 people and wounding 32.

That was followed by another bomb in a commercial district in Dora, another Sunni neighbourhood, which killed two people and wounded 22, according to officials.

In another attack, a roadside bomb exploded during a Sunni funeral procession in Madain, south of Baghdad, killing eight
mourners and wounding 11, police said.

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An explosion also struck a cafe in Fallujah, 65km west of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding nine, according to police and hospital officials.

A day earlier, attacks targeted Shias in several locations.

Al Jazeera’s Omar Al Saleh, reporting from Erbil, said the sectarian nature of recent attacks were worrying Iraqis.

“You have attacks on Shia worshippers, you have attacks on Sunni worshippers. It appears that whoever is behind those attacks wants to ignite sectarian strife,” he said.

“It’s an indication that security conditions are really going downhill in this country. There is a huge and growing sense of fear among Iraqis.”

Tensions have been intensifying since Sunnis began protesting against what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the mainly Shia-led government, including random detentions and neglect.

The protests, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country’s north on April 23.

A suicide bomber on Thursday killed 12 people at the entrance of Al-Zahraa Husseiniyah, a Shia place of worship in the city of Kirkuk, where relatives of victims from violence on Wednesday were receiving condolences.

Car bombs also hit three Shia-majority areas of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 10 people.

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AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Bankers accuse the central bank to encourage Arab and Iranian banks at the expense of the Iraqi

5-17-13 Range Press / Baghdad:   Download bankers and economies, on Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Iraq responsible for the decline and the reality of private banks, local, while accusing the latter encouragement of Arab Banks and Iran at the expense of Iraq, and threatened to organize a sit-If you do not amend the laws to their work, he saw an economic analyst, that “the current circumstances do not allowed to go towards investment banks because the banking culture “is still lacking.”

This came during an economic seminar held in the building of the Gulf Bank of Iraq, in Baghdad, and was attended by a group of banks and other stakeholders, as well as (Presse term).

Banker: the central bank does not listen to the views of the private banks

And complaining, Chairman Gulf Bank of Iraq, “not to listen Bank Center for private banks and deal with it as a subsidiary has,” and urged the need to “amend some laws and regulations for the work of private banks.”

He says Mounir al-Jubouri, in an interview to (range Press), on the sidelines of the seminar, said that “the Ministry of Finance to prevent official circles since the decade of the deposit accounts or accept instruments certified by private banks,” noting that “the current legislation does not fit with the economic boom Iraq is going through. ”

Jubouri calls for the need to “amend some laws and regulations for the work of private banks,” noting that “the central bank does not listen to the views of private banks, but the deals like belonging to him.”

Banker: encourage Arab and Iranian banks at the expense of the Iraqi

For his part, accuses Bank Chairman of the Iraqi economy Hossam Obaid Ali, the central bank to “encourage Arab and Iranian banks at the expense of Iraq,” threatened that private banks “would seek to organize a peaceful protest if the central bank continues its current policy.”

Attribute Ali in an interview with the (long-Presse) Undo the reality of private banks to “lack of confidence in the central bank it,” accusing the central bank to “encourage Arab banks and Iran over Iraq despite the fact that the capital of foreign banks is not up to a quarter of that found in the counterpart Iraq. ”

Ali that threatens private banks “would seek to organize a peaceful protest if the central bank continues its current policy with private banks.”

Appendix: If the government does not deal with the private sector, how citizen

And sees the managing director of the Iraqi Company for Bank Guarantees Amin Abdul Sattar, that “Cooperation is missing between the public and private sectors,” and wondered “If the government does not deal with the private sector, how citizens will be treated with it.”

It is noteworthy curtain, in an interview to (Presse term), “The cooperation or missing coordination between the public and private sectors in Iraq,” adding, “How can we expect citizens to deal with the private banking sector if the government itself does not deal with him.”
Abdul Sattar calls on the government to “pack version of laws and regulations to support the banking business, particularly in the private sector.”

Analyst: banking culture is still incomplete

Meanwhile, economic analyst believes, that “the current circumstances are not allowed to go towards investment banks,” he said, adding that “the banking culture in Iraq is still incomplete.”

He says Majid picture, in an interview to (range Press), “The banking culture in Iraq is incomplete, both for the government or banks or citizens,” pointing out that there is a “need for a long time to get to a culture of cooperation between the banks and the various sectors.”

This is not the first time that the attack which involved the banking sector in Iraq, where attacked politicians and bankers are Iraqis, in the first annual conference for the business, which was held at the headquarters of the Supreme Islamic Council in the capital Baghdad, in (the ninth of March 2013), fiscal policy in Iraq, and considered that the banking system in the country is the “most backward” between the countries of the region, while Benoit that the orientations of the central bank has made private banks “atypical and without a father,” they saw that the “corruption” of the administrative and bureaucratic procedures in some institutions turned into “ways to blackmail.”

The deputies, politicians and economists accused the Central Bank of Iraq over the past months to burn “an average of four billion dollars a month in an auction of hard currency for the benefit of ten banks, most of the capital of Gulf, you buy a day most of the claims of the Central Bank of hard currency and make a profit obscene up to six percent including them control of the Iraqi economy. ”

The Cabinet decided to Iraqi (the 16th of October 2012), the prime BSA Abdul Basit Turki, the functions of the central bank governor and the agency, rather than the Governor of the Bank Previous Shabibi, against the backdrop of “charged issues of financial and administrative corruption” in the bank, especially in operations Dollar Auction, but something did not occur to the work of the bank and currency auction whereas the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar a significant decline against the dollar, skipping from 1170 dinars to the dollar in the past autumn of 2012, to 1270 dinars to the dollar in April 2013.

The International Monetary Fund said in a report issued in (the 21 of March 2013), after the end of consultations in the Jordanian capital Amman, between a delegation from the Fund and an Iraqi delegation headed by the Minister of Planning Ali Shukri, and seen by (the long-Presse), that the improvement occurred in the financial sector , but he stressed that he still needs a “greater efforts by the central bank in the revision of monetary policy tools and strengthen banking supervision, and to accelerate the restructuring of the banking system.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called the CBI to “take measures to gradually towards the liberalization of foreign exchange through auctions held by the Bank so as not to repeat disorders suffered by the financial market in the past year.”
UNFPA emphasized that “the establishment of a banking system nationalist requires abandoning the current model, which is controlled in which weak banks owned by the state, which enjoys preferential treatment apart from private banks,” calling on Iraq to do to strengthen its institutions, public finance to ensure efficiency and transparency in the use of oil revenues. ”

It is noteworthy that the private sector has deteriorated significantly after 2003 due to increase government support him and especially for the industrial sector of it, which led to the suspension of most laboratories and factories from work due to their inability to compete with imported goods are supported in the countries that come from, that are not subject of imported for large fees, as well as local problems caused by the fuel and energy crises and lawlessness, and equipment obsolescence.

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U.S. Lifts Sanctions On Iraqi Bank

The United States says it has allowed an Iraqi bank to again conduct business with the U.S. financial system “following the bank’s significant and demonstrated change in behavior,” according to a statement from the Treasury Department.

The privately owned Elaf Islamic Bank was blacklisted by the United States in July 2012 for doing business with the Export Development Bank of Iran, which Washington accuses of being a “proliferator” of weapons of mass destruction.

In a statement on May 17, the Treasury Department said that after the sanctions were issued, the Elaf Islamic Bank “immediately” engaged with treasury officials and froze the accounts of the Export Development Bank of Iran.

Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said the Iraqi bank’s de-listing demonstrates U.S. sanctions are “flexible.”

Based on reporting by Reuters, dpa, and RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Financial expert calls for the central bank to take the necessary measures to save the Iraqi dinar exchange rate

Baghdad (news) .. He favored a financial expert Abdul Sattar al-Hashemi, the continued reduction of Iraqi dinar exchange rate against the U.S. dollar unless there are serious by the central bank to develop a plan to save the national currency.

Hashemi said (of the Agency news): The Iraqi dinar exchange rate is moving downward against the U.S. dollar since it took over the new administration of the central bank and so far, and this is indicative of the failure of monetary policy and the weakness of the current administration of the bank.

added: that the central bank demands to take the necessary measures to save the national currency, because the continuing decline will pull the country into economic problems large, such as high inflation and increasing prices in the market as well its impact on the monetary reserves of the Central Bank. this and see the Iraqi dinar exchange rate dropped significantly against the U.S. dollar, which made ​​some economists are expressing fears of a continued decline and its direct impact on the Iraqi economy

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Turkey Joins With Exxon, Iraqi Kurds in Oil Exploration

(Reuters) — A Turkish firm is partnering with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Exxon Mobil to carry out oil exploration in northern Iraq, Turkey’s prime minister said on Tuesday, taking Turkey’s co-operation with Iraqi Kurds on energy one step further. Oil is at the heart of the fight between the Arab-led central government in Baghdad and the ethnic Kurdish-run northern enclave as they dispute control over oilfields and territory and the sharing of crude oil revenues.

Exxon, a global oil company based in Texas, was the first to sign up for exploration deals with the KRG. Others including Chevron, Total and Russia’s Gazprom Neft have followed. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said an agreement was in place for a Turkish company to become a partner with Exxon and the KRG and that details would be clearer after his US visit.

“Our oil company already has an agreement with Exxon Mobil in place … This is a step with the KRG on exploration work,” Erdogan told reporters at Ankara airport before heading to the United States for an official visit. He is due to meet US President Barack Obama on Thursday. Until now, resource-hungry Turkey has been a customer and a transportation outlet for oil exports from the Kurdish region. With this agreement, the Turks would play an active role in exploiting Iraqi Kurdistan’s rich hydrocarbon resources.

Baghdad says it alone has the authority to control exports from Iraq and that deals between oil companies and the KRG are illegal. Leaders of the autonomous Kurdish region say their right to control oil resources is enshrined in Iraq’s federal constitution, drawn up following the US-led invasion of 2003. Turkish industry sources said the likely partner is Turkish Petroleum International Company (TPIC), an arm of state-run Turkish Petroleum (TPAO). A spokesman for the company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Assyrian International News Agency

Iraqi Government measures success by defeating opponents and not serving the people?

5-15-13 All Iraq News / [Baghdad]   He accused the Iraqi list MP Talal Al-zubaie on the Iraqi Government to measure its success in its work and planning to defeated opponents and not its services for its people.

Al-zubaie said the whole Iraq IGN today that “Government measures the success or otherwise of their defeated opponents and not to serve the people, and can be used and pressures thereon, noting that” people cannot be defeated and the Government is aware of this issue. ”

“The voice of the people will triumph in the end despite attempts to derail protests and framed with sectarian framework, and the Government must realize that there are people who believe that there is an overrun on rights and dignity and therefore the Government should either be the guarantor of the rights and freedoms of people’s lives or face demonstrations and uprisings in southern Iraq which will complement to the process of change.”

Iraq witnessed a political crisis resulted in the continuation of the popular demonstrations in the governorates of Anbar, Ninewa and Salah al-Din, as well as the deterioration of the relationship between the Government and the Parliament, which led to the disruption of many laws. end

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Iraqi Kurds Reportedly Fighting Among Jihadists in Syria

In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the debate continues in the Kurdish press over the involvement of young Kurds in the Syrian revolution. This comes four months after the announcement of the death of a young Kurdish man — a resident of Sulaimaniyah, a city located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq — in Aleppo. The press is currently reporting that Syrian Kurdish parties captured a number of Kurdish youths after they went there to wage jihad.

In February, the Kurdish newspapers published news of the death of a young Iraqi Kurdish man studying pharmacology at an Indian university who left his studies and went to Syria to assist fighters against the Syrian regime. His name was Howkar Muhammed Kurdi. According to the blog of foreigners in the Syrian revolution, he was “a 25-year-old martyr from Sulaimaniyah in Iraq and a student of pharmacology at the Rajiv Gandhi University. He decided to abandon his studies, go to Syria to join the ranks of his brethren and provide them with medical assistance. He was martyred in a raid on Aleppo on Feb. 12 [2013].”

More than three months after this incident, the official website of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), an armed Syrian Kurdish party, said that in the village of Ain al-Abd near the Syrian-Turkish border, they had captured five militants from Jabhat al-Nusra, including three Kurds from the city of Kirkuk.

It said that 11 individuals were killed in clashes in the village and five members from Jabhat al-Nusra were captured, one of which being a Saudi national, another European and the other three Kurdish Sorani from the city of Kirkuk.

The PYD is a Syrian Kurdish leftist opposition party that follows a similar ideology to the anti-Turkey Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK is led by Abdullah Ocalan, who is currently serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison.

Jabhat al-Nusra is considered a jihadist group. It is a Salafist jihadist organization formed in late 2011 during the Syrian conflict. Its capabilities quickly grew, making it a leading revolutionary and strong force against the army of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in a matter of months. This is due to the fighting experience and training of its members. The group has claimed responsibility for several suicide attacks in Aleppo and Damascus.

Islamist parties in Iraqi Kurdistan avoid delving into this topic or saying that young Kurds have gone to Syria for jihad. However, their close associates deny that the issue is a systematic problem.

A set of Islamist parties currently exists in the Kurdistan Region, the most active of which is probably the Kurdistan Islamic Union, which was founded in 1994. A moderate party, it holds six out of 111 seats in the Kurdish parliament. It opposes the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) alongside the Islamic Group in Kurdistan, which was founded in 2001, and has four seats in parliament. The group is led by Ali Bapir, who was arrested by US forces on charges of terrorism after the fall of the former Iraqi regime.

Sheikh Ali Bapir was arrested by US forces on July 10, 2003, while on his way to the hotel Ishtar in the Dukan summer resort in an ambush near the village. He was arrested with three other leaders of the group and ten of his bodyguards. They were immediately moved by three helicopters to Mosul, then to a prison at Baghdad airport.

Bapir spent 22 months in detention, and his companions served various sentences ranging between several days and weeks, and 11 months.

The Islamic Movement of Kurdistan also has a presence in the Kurdistan Region. It was founded in 1987, has two seats in Kurdistan’s parliament and a minister in the KRG.

In a statement to Al-Monitor, the Islamic researcher Mohammed Baziani, head of the al-Huda Center for Strategic Studies, founded in 1998, said that there is a number of young Kurds in the ranks of the Syrian opposition. He stressed that their participation is based on defending the rights of the oppressed after the Syrian uprising has continued for so long.

He added, “The Kurds’ suffering throughout history is the main reason behind the participation of the youth in this war. They understand the suffering of the Syrian people as a result of the injustice against them.”

Nevertheless, he minimized the importance of their participation, and added, “According to our information, there is a small percentage of youth who embrace jihadist thinking and who would like to wage jihad against the Syrian regime; they can be counted on the fingers of one hand.”

He also indicated that the Kurds in Kirkuk are influenced by Salafist and jihadist groups, which are active there. This is in addition to their proximity to Arab Sunni areas, where the Naqshbandi group is active.

It should be noted that the Naqshbandi group, or the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order, is a group that was announced after 2003, and appointed Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, vice president of the former regime, as its emir. This group is believed to be linked to armed operations taking place in some of the disputed areas between the central government in Baghdad and the KRG in Erbil. The group is active in the provinces of Kirkuk, Diyala and Saladin.

Yassin Aziz, a political analyst interested in Islamic groups and a former leader of the Islamic movement of Kurdistan, stressed the need for Kurdish leaders in the Kurdistan Region to give greater attention to the issue of young Kurds from Iraq going to wage jihad in Syria.

He told Al-Monitor, “We need to know that there are different ideologies in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the KRG needs to rationally deal with that. Yet they only care about the nationalist side in the Kurdistan Region, knowing that there are many other movements, particularly Islamic movements, in Syria.

“The KRG is interested in the Kurdish parties in Syria. More than 100,000 displaced Syrians and refugees have fled to the region. They are all from the Syrian Kurdish areas, which they call Western Kurdistan, considering it to be a part of Greater Kurdistan, which is split between its southern part in Iraq, eastern part in Iran and northern part in Turkey.”

Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, is said to have trained Syrian Kurdish militants in order to enable them to protect their areas in that country.

Aziz reiterated: “It is humanitarian sympathy on the part of the young Kurds, after the rule of Bashar al-Assad has continued for so long, and has hit the opposition with all types of weapons. This has caused the world to have sympathy for those who are being oppressed and has given the Syrian opposition an Islamic character.”

According to Aziz, the jihadist idea dates back to 1978 in Iraqi Kurdistan, when a Kurdish group formed the Army of the Quran and Muslim League. The group lasted for a very limited time, during which military conflicts erupted between it and secular parties, until the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan was established in 1987.

By Abdel Hamid Zebari
AL Monitor

Assyrian International News Agency

Iraqi Ministry of Planning: Inflation increase of 1 percent in April, Annual inflation rate up 2.5 percent

The Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation, on Monday, a rise in the inflation index for the month of April, a rate of 1% and the annual inflation rate of 2.5%.

He said the ministry spokesman Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi said “it came according to a report by the Central Bureau of Statistics for the current month of April and on the basis of field data collection on the prices of goods and services components of the consumer basket.”

Hindawi said that “These rates are calculated from the goods and services that include food and rental costs, transport and communications, health, education and other than consumer يقتنيه”.

Hindawi between that “prices in general in the Kurdistan region has seen a rise in the month of April by 0.4%, especially in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear.”

He continued that “in the central region have been rising at a rate of 1.2% due to higher prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, while prices witnessed in the South also rose by 1.3% due to higher prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages as well.”

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Several Killed As Iraqi Gunmen Open Fire On Liquor Stores

Iraqi officials say at least 11 people have been killed after gunmen opened fire on a line of liquor stores in the capital Baghdad.

Iraqi security officials said that the gunmen, who were traveling in four cars, attacked a row of alcohol shops in Baghdad’s Zayouna area on the evening of May 14.

Officials said at least five people were also wounded in the attack.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack.

With alcohol forbidden in Islam, liquor stores have been a prime target for extremist groups.

The stores have also been targeted because they are often staffed by Iraq’s persecuted religious minorities.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Iraqi Ministries, US Trade Industry discuss Iraq joining the New York [Convention] Agreement for 1958

Baghdad (AIN) -The parliament Economy and Investment Committee discussed including Iraq in New York Agreement for 1958.

The parliament’s Media Office reported “The parliament Economy and Investment Committee held a meeting on last Sunday headed by MP Mohammed Salman, Vice-Chairman of the Committee in presence of representatives from the Ministries of Planning, Trade and Finance and the Supreme Judicial Council as well as a delegation from the US Trade Ministry.”

“The meeting discussed Iraq’s joining to New York Agreement for 1958 related to recognizing the verdicts issued by the foreign arbitration courts.”

“On other hand, the Committee met with the delegation of the General Company for Leather Industry associated to the Industry Ministry where they discussed possibility of marketing the company’s products to all the state departments,” the report added

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Iraqi parliament supports the actions of the central bank to ensure the stability of the dinar

announced the Presidency of the Council of Representatives, on Sunday, its full support for the action the central bank intends to take to ensure the stability of the Iraqi currency after it experienced a decline in value against the dollar to a record level in two years.

And plunged the value of the Iraqi dinar gradually over the past weeks to reach the price per dollar to about 1129 dinars after it had been stable for 1120, the highest rate up to the exchange rate during the past two years.

The Finance Committee in the House of Representatives revealed, early last month, the start of the Iraqi Central Bank to take urgent action to preserve the stability of the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar against the dollar by increasing outlets selling hard currency, but the value of the currency has continued to decline.

A statement from the House of Representatives reportedly for “Twilight News”, the Presidency of the Council of Representatives headed by Osama Abdul Aziz Najafi, Chairman of the Board and the presence of Qusay al-Suhail, First Deputy Speaker of the House and Aref Tayfur, Vice President of the Council met with the President of the Audit Court and the Governor of Central Bank of Iraq and the Agency Abdul Basit Turki ” .

And the Presidency of the Council expressed during the meeting for “full support for the central bank to scrutinize the work of private banks and archiving of information within the bank and reform measures that include adjust the exchange rate of the dollar and reduce the phenomenon of money laundering and strengthen the capacity of the central bank in economic development.”

According to the statement, the meeting dealt with the role of the House of Representatives in issuing decisions in order to protect Iraq’s money for the next year and address the issue of debt and push focus of the international effort to protect Iraqi funds abroad.

Iraq looks forward to the United States to protect its assets and reserves of the Central Bank and the Development Fund for Iraq in the next year and vaccinated against creditors.

The U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order last year to extend immunity to Iraqi funds in the Development Fund for Iraq for a year, due to the situation in Iraq.

It seems that confidence in Iraqi تزعزت currency after a government decision to oust former Central Bank Governor Sinan al-Shabibi and tense security situation in an unprecedented manner during the past few weeks.

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There is no de-dollarization of the Iraqi economy

5-11-2013 American Contractor:    Recently Sansar Capital Management LLC published a report on the Iraq banking sector. I’ve written some notes on some of the details in the report. Such as there is no de-dollarization of the Iraqi economy. Al-Warka Bank is still in receivership and bankrupt. Over 80% of Iraqi’s do not have a bank account. ATM machines are not connected to the national switch and as such customers of one bank cannot access their funds from ATM Machines from another bank. One of the contributing factors of the low usage of banks by Iraqi’s is the lack of trust in the Iraq banking system. The two state banks Rasheed Bank and Rafidain bank are still trying to restructure with the help of the World Bank. The Iraq banking still has more improvements to make in order to compete in the 21st century Middle East. It will get there just take a little more time.

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraqi Government Says PKK Not Welcome

Iraq’s central government has said it would not accept armed groups entering its territory as Kurdish militants began withdrawing from Turkey under a peace deal with Ankara.

Under the peace deal, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters should cross from Turkey, where they have been fighting for Kurdish rights for three decades, into Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iraqi Kurds were involved in the talks with Turkey.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the presence of armed Kurdish groups could be used “to impact the security and stability of Iraq or neighboring states.”

Baghdad, however, has little control over its autonomous Kurdish region.

As well as controlling Iraq’s border with Turkey, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is fiercely defensive of its internal boundary with the rest of the country run by Baghdad.

Based on reporting by Reuters by AP

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Iraqi Prime Minister’s Coalition Strongest In Local Voting

Official results show Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led coalition finishing strongest in Iraqi provincial elections held two weeks ago.

Results released on May 4 said Maliki’s State of Law coalition won the most seats in seven out of 12 provinces but failed to achieve a majority in any district, meaning it will need to form alliances.

In the capital, Baghdad, Maliki’s coalition won 20 of 58 seats.

The secular but Sunni-dominated Al-Iraqiyah bloc finished poorly, winning no more than three seats in any province.

The April 20 elections were the first in Iraq since the U.S. military withdrawal in late 2011 and provide a picture of Iraqi political forces ahead of the 2014 parliamentary elections.

Iraqi politics remains sharply split, with power struggles among majority Shi’ites, Sunnis, and ethnic Kurds.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Car Bomb Kills Five At Iraqi Sunni Mosque

Iraqi officials say at least five people have been killed and about 20 others injured in a car-bomb attack at a Sunni mosque in a predominantly Sunni area of Rashidiya, north of Baghdad.

Police said the explosion occurred when worshippers were leaving after midday Friday Prayers at Al-Ghufran mosque.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

On May 2, the United Nations reported that April was the deadliest month for Iraq in nearly five years.

According to the UN report, more than 700 people were killed and 1,600 were wounded in the country last month.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Protesters agree to support the Iraqi Security Forces

The leader of the Iraqi Awakening, Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha, on Thursday, that the leaders of the demonstrations had agreed at a meeting on Thursday, to authorize Sheikh Abdul-Malik al-Saadi to negotiate with the government, stressing that the protesters agreed to support the Iraqi security forces in all its formations and التسمك argument and moderation during Friday sermons.

said Abu Risha, in an interview for “Alsumaria News”, “The leaders of the sit-in Anbar and various cities of Iraq, Juloa Sheikh Abdul-Malik al-Saadi to negotiate with the government on their demands,” stressing that “the demonstrators supporting the national dialogue purely between the government and their representative Sheikh Saadi” .
said Abu Risha, that “an expanded meeting in the city of Ramadi, held by representatives of the squares sit in a number of provinces on Thursday, concluded an agreement to support the attribution of the Iraqi army and security forces in various configurations,” noting that “the meeting also agreed on adhering to moderation in Friday sermons. ”

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Deadly bombings rock Iraqi cities

At least 15 people have been killed in a series of bomb blasts across Iraq, police and medics say.

Wednesday’s attacks follow a sharp increase in violence that has prompted warnings of a full-blown sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shia.

A suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest detonated himself in the midst of a group of government-backed Sunni fighters who were collecting their salaries east of the city of Fallujah, killing six, police sources said.

In Baiji, 180km north of the capital Baghdad, police said a roadside bomb killed four policemen.

A car bomb in a Shia district in northeastern Baghdad killed at least three people and wounded 14, police and hospital sources said.

Another car bomb north of the city of Ramadi killed two policemen and wounded another 10.

Iraq is home to a number of Sunni groups including a local al-Qaeda affiliate that has launched frequent attacks to undermine the government and provoke wider confrontation.

Violence in Iraq has increased as the civil war in neighbouring Syria puts a strain on fragile relations between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

Though still well below its height in 2006-07, provisional figures from rights group Iraq Body Count indicate the number of violent deaths in April was the highest monthly toll since 2009.

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AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Iraqi Kurd Ministers, MPs to End Boycotts

ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi Kurdish ministers and MPs will end boycotts of parliament and the cabinet begun in March, the prime minister of the autonomous Kurdistan region said on Wednesday.

A meeting that included Kurdish political parties “decided to return the Kurdish ministers and representatives to Baghdad… and participate in sessions of the Iraqi cabinet and parliament,” Nechirvan Barzani told a news conference in Arbil.

The boycotts began in March after Kurds objected that the new federal budget did not allocate enough money to pay foreign oil companies working in the region.

Kurdistan has signed oil contracts with various foreign firms without the approval of Baghdad, and complains that the federal government has not paid money owed to them.

For its part, Baghdad regards as illegal all contracts not made by the federal government.

Barzani’s announcement came a day after he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad.

In addition to the oil deals, Kurdistan and Baghdad are at odds over issues including a swathe of territory in northern Iraq that the region wants to incorporate over Baghdad’s strong objections, and power-sharing.

Assyrian International News Agency

Nijaifi, Iraqi Ambassadors discuss developing Iraq’s diplomatic efforts

Baghdad (AIN) -The Iraqi parliament Speaker, Osama al-Nijaifi discussed with a number of Iraqi Ambassadors, the development of the Iraqi diplomatic actions.

A statement by Nijaifi’s office cited on Tuesday “The parliament Speaker received at his office in Baghdad, a number of Iraqi Ambassadors where they discussed developing the work of the Iraqi diplomatic efforts.”

Nijaifi stressed “the parliament’s support for the diplomats to contribute in enhancing the cooperation with world countries where the Foreign Ministry and its ambassadors represent Iraq with all its sects and communities.”

“The delegation’s members expressed their gratitude and appreciation to Nijaifi’s support, confirming that “they would exert all efforts to give bright image for the diplomatic representation of Iraq,” according to the statement. /End/

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Iraqi parliament to hold regular session on Monday

4-28-13 Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi parliament lifted the consultative session held on Sunday to discuss the security instability in Hawija district.

Parliamentary source told Iraqi News (IraqiNews.com) “The parliament decided to lift the consultative session it held after it failed to acquire the quorum required to hold the planned exceptional session,” noting “the session discussed the security crisis in Hawija district associated to Kirkuk province.”

“The parliament decided to hold the regular session on next Monday,” according to the source.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraqi government is unlikely to be in a position for some time to issue dinar

tlm724] Good morning Shredders, in our chat the other nite Bondlady inspired me to look into the past to see the future . You were amazing by the way and thank you ! I was doing some research and came across these two reports from 2003 .

You may have read them already but I thought I would share them with you. You vast knowledge of economics will allow you to fully understand these as my brain hurts just thinking about economics !

[tlm724] The first report is titled : The Benefits of the New Iraqi Dinar Author: Brad W. Setser, Fellow for Geoeconomics August 7, 2003 Iraq Reconstruction Report

[tlm724] and the second one is : Should Iraq Dollarize, Adopt a Currency Board or Let Its Currency Float? Authors: Brad W. Setser, Fellow for Geoeconomics, and Nouriel Roubini May 23, 2003 Council on Foreign Relations

[Shredd] Thank you Miss Timmy. You are absolutely correct about revisiting past articles.

[Shredd] This article from August 2003 stating that until the government can issue debt (bonds), they will solely rely on the auctions to be the dominant monetary policy. What’s neat is for the last few months, we’ve seen more activity in regards to the issuance of sovereign debt.

Therefore, we can deduce from an economics perspective, Iraq is close to unhinging themselves from utilizing the auctions and when the auctions cease, we will have a strong dinar.

“The new Iraqi government is unlikely to be in a position for some time to issue dinar debt that can be bought and sold to help regulate the money supply. Managing bank balances and buying and selling foreign currency will be the dominant monetary policy instruments for a while.

And since most of the economy’s hard currency earnings are coming from the sale of oil by the government, the transfer of frozen assets to the government and international aid, the state will play a much larger role in the foreign exchange market than is typical in advanced economies.”

[Shredd] The second paper was very informative and supports my thinking of a managed float. See here:

“The introduction of a new currency might be easier if the new currency is temporarily pegged to the dollar, though this is not strictly speaking necessary. But the goal should be to move quickly to a managed float and to ensure monetary stability with sound fiscal management and some form of inflation targeting.

In the short-run, the dollar offers a convenient solution to many of the immediate problems that the transitional government is likely to face.

However, a core policy objective should be to find ways of solving immediate problems without “locking” Iraq into a suboptimal monetary arrangement, since a managed float exchange rate regime would be preferable to outright dollarization or a currency board over the medium term.”

[Shredd] Additionally, on a free float, we assume the exchange rate would soar in a short period of time. If, for the sake of argument, that would not be the case immediately or if it gained at a slow/steady rate, we have to consider what I had forgotten…………..spending.

We know that spending for infrastructure and government projects will move at an unprecedented rate. In fact, I don’t expect very much of unused allocated budget funds for these projects.

So, if the spending is high and the floating rate, market driven monetary policy cannot keep pace to cover and not only cover but outreach spending, the Iraqi economy would struggle and suffer setbacks and continued investment delays.

[Shredd] That’s my two dinars worth! Thank you for bringing these to me!

[tlm724] Shredd your welocme and thank you for helping us all understand. Your amazing ! shredd and timmy – out here are the links to the above mention papers :

http://www.cfr.org/iraq/benefits-new-iraqi-dinar/p6203

http://www.cfr.org/economics/should-iraq-dollarize-adopt-currency-board-let-its-currency-float/p5994

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraqi Army Regains Control Of Sunni Town

Iraqi authorities say security forces have retaken control of a Sunni town north of Baghdad after gunmen who seized it agreed to withdraw.

Police and military officials said that army units entered Suleiman Beik in Salaheddin Governorate on April 26 morning under a deal negotiated by local tribal leaders.

Armed Sunni Muslims seized the town on April 25 after a gun battle with security forces.

More than 150 people have been killed in clashes in Sunni towns in western and northern Iraq in the past four days.

The fighting has raised concerns about the spread of sectarian clashes in Iraq.

The latest unrest in Iraq began on April 23 after a deadly security crackdown on a camp used by Sunni protesters in the northern town of Hawijah.

Minority Sunnis say that the Shi’ite-led government discriminates against them.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Abduction of Syrian Archbishops Targets Eastern Christians, Says Iraqi Group

The Syriac Gathering Movement, a political party in Iraq, has condemned the kidnapping of Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo’s Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Archbishop Paul Yazigi, of Aleppo’s Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Church.

“The kidnapping of the metropolitans is evidence that the presence of Christians in the East is targeted. It could threaten peace in Syria, as it could sow sedition in the country, undermining the peaceful coexistence between different parties,” the movement said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The statement demanded the kidnappers not compromise the archbishops’ lives or dignities as they perform a great humanitarian role to serve all people.

It called upon the United Nations and international organizations to put in place measures to prevent future abductions.

“We know very well that the role these bishops are playing in Aleppo is to encourage the Syrian Christians, and strengthen them to remain in their land,” said Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, according to Christian ministry SAT-7.

MidEast Christian News

Assyrian International News Agency

Iraqi parliament to hold exceptional session over Hawija events

Wednesday, 24 April, 2013

Baghdad (AIN) -The Iraqi Parliament chairmanship decided to hold exceptional session on next Sunday to discuss Hawija events of Kirkuk province.

Media office of the parliament cited on Wednesday “The chairmanship of the parliament deiced to hold exceptional session on next Sunday to discuss Hawija violent events in presence of the ministerial commission formed to consider these events and the parliament Security Committee and the Human Rights Committee.” /End/

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraqi Patriarch Urges Christians to Vote in Key Elections

Iraqis went to the polls Saturday in their first provincial elections since the United States withdrew its military presence.

Despite weeks of violence and bloodshed leading up to the elections, voting in 12 of Iraq’s 18 provinces took place in a state of relative stability and amid tight security. Reports of scattered violence during the first several hours of voting did not prove deadly and seemed not to dissuade voters.

The Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon, Archbishop Louis Raphael Sako of Baghdad, said interest among Iraqi citizens in exercising their right to vote was good.

“I think the situation is much better today because of the security, and the police and the army are controlling the city of Baghdad in which we are living,” he said. “And many people are going to vote for their candidates and, among them, Christians, to vote for people who can do something for them and to be able to ask for their rights and also for their interests.”

The patriarch said he had issued an appeal leading up to the elections, urging Christians to vote. He reported that several Christians were among the thousands of candidates running for 378 positions, and that Christians were among those heading to the polls.

“Now they are going to vote but you know many Christians already left Baghdad. But they are participating. I don’t know exactly what is the percentage but really they are participating in the elections,” he stated

There are 13.8 million citizens eligible to vote in the 12 provinces where elections were being held. Officials delayed voting in six provinces, among them Kirkuk and in the northern Kurdish region, due to security concerns.

Archbishop Sako added that the general situation for Christians in Iraq has seemingly improved.

“There is an improvement of security on all levels. There are also explosions but nothing against Christians as it was before that. And also they can have their jobs and also their work. The problem is the future,” he said. “There is no real stability. Therefore they are a little bit worried, not only the Christians but also the others.”

The patriarch also maintained that the Christian presence in Iraq remains important for the country’s future.

“The role of Christians doesn’t depend on their number but on their qualifications and I think everybody is looking (at) them as an elite, and they can do a lot if they want, if they are not afraid,” he emphasized. “And given their open-mindedness and also their skill(s), I think they are able to do a lot for the country, and to show also their role and their contribution.”

“I think they should be encouraged to stay and to persevere here and to vote. Iraq is their country, (throughout) history, they still have something to give to Iraqi citizens,” he concluded.

Election results are not expected for several days and will not directly affect the shape of Iraq’s national government. But the vote is seen as an important barometer heading into the parliamentary election, set to take place next year.

By Laura Ieraci
http://www.news.va

Assyrian International News Agency

Iraqi Central Bank sales to rise to $ 130 million

Sales of the Central Bank of Iraq at the beginning of the meetings of the World Bank this week, Sunday, rose to $ 130 million, compared to last Wednesday, when the Bank recorded sales of $ 88 million.

And, today, Sunday, rise in the Bank’s sales to hit 130 million and 563 million dollars, covered by the Bank at an exchange rate basis total 1166 dinars to the dollar, compared to last Wednesday, Bank sales of 88 million, 853 k.

Application of distributed 111 million and 963 thousand dollars in transfer rates and by 86% over sales in cash which amounted to 18 million and 600 thousand dollars was covered by the World Bank, and the exchange rate reached 1179 dinars to the dollar, including the 13 Bank Commission dinars to the dollar, with the 22 banks had come forward to participate in the Iraqi Central Bank’s auction of any offers to sell the dollar.

And Ashur the rest of other banks in terms of buying the currency in cash with the Bank bought six million dollars, followed by the three banks, namely the Bank shared the Middle East Al Huda Bank United Bank for investment, and $ 4 million each.

The Central Bank decided last Wednesday continued to hold auction for sale of foreign currency from the dollar on Sunday as a normal day at work.

The CBI was established as an independent bank under its law of the 6th of March of 2004, as an independent body, is responsible for maintaining price stability and the implementation of monetary policy, including exchange rate policies and the daily meetings of the buying and selling of foreign currency except official holidays the Bank depends on these auctions

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraqi parliament to resume its regular session on Tuesday

Sunday, 21 April, 2013 | Zawya

4-21-13 Zawya / Baghdad:   The Iraqi parliament will resume on next Tuesday its regular session to read and vote on a number of law drafts included within the session’s agenda. A statement by the media office of the parliament reported on Sunday “The next session of Tuesday includes the vote on the correctness of each of MPs, Thamir Ibrahim Tahir and Haitham al-Jubouri, as well as the vote on the Telecommunication & Informatics Law, besides reading other law drafts.”

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraqi Central Bank to discuss issues of the protection of Iraqi funds

BAGHDAD (Iba) .. Search the Iraqi Central Bank Governor Abdul Basit Turki Saeed with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Central Bank of Iraq and the protection of Iraq’s money.

A source from within the central bank, told the independent press (Iba) said on Saturday that “the Iraqi Central Bank Governor Abdul Basit Turki organized a private visit to Enyoryuk to discuss the protection of Iraq’s money and reserves of the Central Bank and other issues, financial with the Feds.”

The source continued that “the Turkish visit to Washington came on the sidelines of the spring meetings in America which is considering the financial and banking issues and developing new plans for the develop morphological sector”. (End)

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

13 Candidates Killed Ahead of Iraqi Elections

Baghdad — Iraq holds provincial elections tomorrow, the first elections since the pullout of US troops, against a backdrop of widening violence, a record number of assassinations of political candidates, and deepening political division.

Although overall attacks are at roughly similar levels as they were for the last provincial elections in 2009, at least 13 candidates and two political party officers have been killed in targeted attacks in the past few weeks — a record number. Almost 150 candidates have so far been struck off the list of candidates, most of them for alleged ties to the banned Baath Party of Saddam Hussein.

“It’s a showdown,” says Iraqi political analyst Saad Eskander. “They use ‘legal’ methods — expelling the ones they don’t want or by force — physical liquidation. This is an extension of politics, not an extension of terrorism.”

Violent politics

In Baghdad, where explosions in Shiite areas have become common, residents were jarred last night by a bomb that ripped through a crowded internet café in the almost exclusively Sunni neighborhood of Amariyah. Police said at least 25 people were killed and more than 50 wounded when the explosion tore through a three-story complex packed with young men and families relaxing at the start of the weekend.

Amariyah was an Al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold and the first urban neighborhood in which Sunni neighborhood fighters joined US soldiers to drive out the organization.

No group has taken responsibility for the blast, though an interior ministry official linked the explosion to the provincial elections.

“I think this is a conflict between competing political parties,” said the official. He described it as a warning to supporters of moderate Sunni politicians allied with the Shiite-led government.

Baghdad has been under heightened alert for weeks ahead of elections for provincial council, with restricted access to many Sunni neighborhoods believed by the Shite-led government to be particular security risks. Armored vehicles and tens of thousands of extra troops are being deployed in the capitol.

The interior ministry says it has arrested several Al Qaeda leaders and seized more than 100 bombs over the past week.

The elections will be the first secured completely by Iraqi forces since US troops pulled out of the country in 2011. It is also seen as a test of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s chances for re-election in national polls next year.

A different story outside Baghdad

In an indication of the growing divide between Iraqi provinces and the central government, the Iraqi cabinet decided to postpone elections in the mainly Sunni provinces of Anbar and Ninevah for security reasons. The move, though, is also seen as propping up unpopular incumbent politicians and Prime Minister Maliki’s own hold on power.

With the Kurdish region holding separate elections in September, voters in only 12 of Iraq’s 18 provinces will be going to the polls tomorrow. Elections have also been postponed indefinitely in the disputed city of Kirkuk.

In Baghdad, campaign posters have plastered roundabouts and concrete walls for weeks. Among the most prominent are those for Mohammad Rubai’e, elected four years ago on a campaign he modeled on President Obama’s slogan of “Change.”

“We aimed to produce change in four years but it’s difficult because there was so much destruction,” says Rubai’e, who switched allegiances from the largely Sunni Iraqiya to one of the main Shiite coalitions with wider support. “Iraq needs political reform that starts at the top to achieve visible change.”

At a recent campaign event on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, Rubai’e, a secular Shiite, met with Sunni tribal leaders, pledging to bring clean water to their agricultural area.

“We will vote for whoever listens to us and brings us services. We don’t trust the thieves. We know who they are now,” says Sheikh Raad Mutar al-Mehdi.

‘Most democratic elections’

Despite the fact that voter turnout is expected to be around only 50 percent, this election is considered to be perhaps the most democratic in Iraq’s post-war history.

Parties and candidates needed a certain percentage of votes to win seats in previous provincial elections, meaning that if they did not reach that threshold, votes cast for them were discarded. That clause was removed after legal challenges.

In a more controversial move, the percentage of guaranteed seats for women has also been raised to 25 percent of the total in each province and for the first time, Shiite Kurds have been included in seats set aside for Iraqi minorities. The guaranteed seats for women potentially mean that female candidates who won very few votes will be given seats over male candidates with more support.

By Jane Arraf
Christian Science Monitor

Assyrian International News Agency

Iraqi Dinar Revaluation in the midst of a global currency reset

4-18-13 White Rhino:    When you add the Chinese currency swaps (Well over 20 other nations), the announcement of the BRICS Development Bank, the announcement of a Yuan currency HUB in France to compete with London, to your statements a clear picture emerges of the tremendous pressure on the US FIAT Dollar.

So, you have to ask yourself. What financial shocker could force trillions of dollars worth of foreign investment into the United States?? What financial shocker could create 400 US millionaires over-night?

What financial shocker would allow the US to pay off some/most of the debt relieving GLOBAL economic pressure. What shocker would once again encourage investment, small business, employment, economic growth, and a rising GDP.

For the Banksters, what shocker would provide capital for the insolvent Central Banks, keep the price of GOLD down, free up currency for lending and growth, stymie the threat aginst the US FIAT Dollar by the BRICS and Chinese currency swaps, revive their criminal FIAT currency system, while maintaining the confidence in a corrupt Stock Market, and a worthless US FIAT Dollar.

The only thing on earth that I can think of with the RESOURCES to back such a financial shocker is an Iraqi Dinar Revaluation in the midst of a global currency reset.

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Possibility to witness the next year, the birth of the new Iraqi currency

Najib: the restructuring of the currency would help in reviving the Iraqi economy | On 2013-04-17

BAGHDAD / Raghad Doham

Confirmed a member of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament Najiba Najib that “restructuring of the Iraqi currency is an urgent need in the form that is in harmony with the size of the budgets of the country and the amounts received by the state, so it is important to be adopted currencies metal with small groups and others with large groups such as the” 20 “1050 thousand Iraqi Adinar the. “adding that” structural re-used financial and Tistaad policy to revive the economy of the country. ”

Najib said that “these prefectures with large category will help traders and Iraqi businessmen dealing in Iraqi dinars instead for asylum to the U.S. dollar to the difficulty of the transfer of the amount of Iraq.” LINK

NEXT…….

Economic Parliamentary: Delete the

three zeroes from the currency will not see the light after the dismissal of Shabibi WEDNESDAY, 17 APRIL / MAY 2013 16:50

Twilight News / ruled out the decision of the Economic Committee in the House

of Representatives Mahma Khalil, Wednesday, that is to delete the three zeroes from the currency of Iraq over the next year, returned to the changes, which affected the CBI may prevent the process of restructuring the national currency, as well as having a previous request to the government to wait In the beginning the currency exchange procedures.

He was a member of the Finance Committee parliamentary Abdul Hussein al-Yassiri had announced, earlier, that the central bank and according to official communications of the current year starts procedures for deleting three zeros from the local currency, stressing that it would lead to the development of cash transactions and international economic.

Khalil said in an interview with “Twilight News”, that “the project to delete three zeros from the Iraqi currency had arrived from the Central Bank of the parliamentary economic committee earlier.”

However, Khalil said that “the Iraqi government has asked to wait to begin the project under false pretenses, although the application and currency restructuring is purely economic projects as well as it contributes to the safety of the national currency.”

He believes that “the policy of the central bank policy today is unsuccessful, did not succeed in lifting the siege of the Iraqi dinar, and the issue of the currency exchange as she could not keep the hard currency within the environment of Iraq.”

He described the decision of the Economic Committee that “the interest of Iraq to conduct restructuring of the Iraqi currency and delete the three zeroes, which is a vital economic project and to keep the currency from counterfeiting and damage.”

According to Khalil, the “There are international companies giant has a desire to implement this project, and sent appliances for this purpose for Iraq,” noting that “Iraq is not the only country that is restructuring its currency national, has preceded us Turkey so, as there are many countries that its economy Exhausted the structuring of its national currency. ”

He pointed out that “the printed forms of the new currency (after deleting three zeros) include half a dinar and five dinars and ten dinars, 25 and 50 dinars, and the parameters of the country and its culture,” noting that “if the deletion of zeros, the value of the dinar per be equal one dollar or so.”

And on the possibility to witness the next year, the birth of the new Iraqi currency, Khalil said, “We serve as the economic and the central bank is linked with us, we demanded from the bank to keep this project exists,” but he also said, “The government asked to wait, and I think that what happened on the Central Bank of the changes and the appointment of New Acting Governor means that this project will not even see the light in the coming year as well. ”

The Iraqi government has decided to end of October last year, set the head of the Office of Financial Supervision Abdul Basit Turki, rather than Shabibi article the former government’s decision, after criticism by the parliamentary Finance Committee relating to the mismanagement of funds and addressed to Alshabibi and other bankers officials.

The CBI had said in August that it plans to delete the zeros from the Iraqi dinar to facilitate financial transactions made through cash in most cases.

Among the difficulties faced by Iraq if they are to foot on the deletion of zeros from the dinar is pulling about 30 trillion dinars in circulation in the Iraqi market now, then get rid of them and replace them with a new currency.

The Finance Ministry has ruled out earlier in the deletion of zeros from the local currency in 2013 because the budget is calculated in current currency. LINK

[Shredd] player46 so what are your thoughts on these two?

[luckyintx] imo … it’s good to c the conflicting arts on the dinar….. it makes ya wonder if they r’nt about to do something that’s my take … jmo

[Shredd] luckyintx lets chew on this

[player46] I think Khalil is always complaining about Maliki and beating him up for getting rid of Shabs…

[luckyintx] kinda like the art today about the 2014 date…

[luckyintx] they r trying to deceive imo

[DogzNova] possibility to witness the next year, the birth of the new Iraqi currency,

[luckyintx] DogzNova yup… the NID’s tho… not the lds imo

[Shredd] so would you say the contradiction is in the timing?

[player46] yes…

[luckyintx] Shredd I would … jmo

]Shredd] and you too playa?

[player46] he says won’t see the light of day even next year…

[DogzNova] the timing is lining up for what I see… just sayin

[Shredd] i agree Dog and let me say this about the timing…..if I may we know from many articles over the past few years that this change in currency is a process a two year process, right?

[player46] I think it is about to happen imo… I think we need the “indebtedness law”… consumer protection….

[DogzNova] Shredd correct

[Shredd] good points playa so, for this process to begin, what needs to happen

[DogzNova] it began in the beginning of 2012.. from my point of view

[player46] you mean delete 0′s process?

[Shredd] yes playa

[player46] have an increase of value…

[DogzNova] again.. U see where i’m going

[Shredd] if you remember, the process was spelled out in stages over a year ago August of 2011 if memory serves first was the preparations

[player46] Shredd …. yes, refresh us please…

[Shredd] second was the introduction of the new notes and third was the switching of the two

[DogzNova] they said the lasy two yr were gona be devided up into three phases.. only half of the truth IMO

[Shredd] well, lets talk about options on how the cbi can remove the 000 notes cuz from this recent news, we know they are not removing 000 from the rate so, the obvious option is incentive via a stronger rate

[Shredd] stronger than the dollar anything less, they will stay put another would be, by law, the cbi gives an expiration date of the 000 notes i don’t believe this is really an option

[luckyintx] 2 years

[Shredd] these are legal tender yes lucky

[DogzNova] Shredd I read quite a few arts that said thats not gonna happen

[Shredd] and they will coexit

[DogzNova] exp date.. that is

[Shredd] we have many articles that say this i agree Dog no exp date

[DogzNova] Shabs said 10 yrs

[Shredd] Dog, you took the words right outta my mouth next, is the 10 year article this came out the fall of 2011

[DogzNova] and if I’m not mistakin.. one of them said NEVER

[Shredd] saying the two will coexist for ten years speaking of the IQD and NID tho we have confirmation of there being 4bn now right Dog ok, so, of these are going to be legal tender

[DDF] Shredd what is nominal value?

[DogzNova] 4 billion on their streets?

[Shredd] DDF, nominal value of a 100 dollar bill is 100, even tho it is 1 bill no, 4bn paper notes going down to 1bn

[DogzNova] where did U see that

[luckyintx] DogzNova many arts

[Shredd] yes, in the last two day’s so, there used to be 9bn notes just a few years ago by the way

[luckyintx] the auction was very low today

[Shredd] so the cbi has been partially successful in bringing in the dinar next we have auctions again, took the words outta my mouth

[Shredd] so, via the auctions, we have seen a lot of dinar moved the more dinar the cbi brings in the less it will have to collect after the dinar is strong

[Shredd] so, we also know electronic dinar exists we have supply on the streets both in and out of the country so, the cbi has been business as usual working on bringing in dinar and the 000 project sits on the horizon and all of the sudden, a hurricane of news now about commencing this process and replacing this year or by 2014 so basically in the next 8 months or so

[Shredd] that is a relatively short period of time to amp things up, creating all this urgency and bringing in as much of the 000 dinar as possible agreed lucky so, what’s next?

[DogzNova] Shredd do U have another way of seeing the 4 billion notes on the streets other then the arts… Not that I doubt U.. It’s the arts I doubt.. U no how it is

[Shredd] incentive or implementing the start of the process to remove the rest so, if a free float regime is coming they better get started real soon because we don’t know if the market will provide the increase to above the buck

[player46] Shredd they could start there 1 to 1 or little higher…

Shredd] if they are going to manage the float via an rv, they may have longer, but again, until the dinar is stronger, the dollar will remain right playa

[player46] It mentioned feasibility in one art. which if they are talking about the study, that was $ 1.14 I believe…

[Shredd] so, in my mind and kind of a summary, if the 000 notes will stay for a while, being legal tender and accepted by all banks the incentive of a stronger dinar remains and they have given us a defined timeline

[Shredd] we know they are commencing the process and we know it is a two year process – a two year process but as we’ve said for so long, the beginning of the two year process is what we are looking for because the increase in the rate comes with that

[DogzNova] jan 2012

[Shredd] and an exchange of a dime won’t move any of it playa, yes, i think it was 1.13 something

[Shredd] so dolphin,proccess? the first stage is preparations which is the same word used in the first articles we saw a few days ago

[Shredd] so, i believe we will soon see confirmation of the existence of the lower denominations (notice how that bit has been silent for so long?)

[luckyintx] yes, then 2014 the NID’s imo Shredd since about this time last year Shredd

[player46] Shredd … yes it has been a while..

[Shredd] so, in my humble opinion, i believe we are really close to knowing more…..more on the timeline, more on the monetary policy, more on the collection of the dinar

[Shredd] out!

Shredd, from all of us here at BLC… tyvm! Lucky

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Media War Begins Ahead of Iraqi Kurdistan Elections

As soon as the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, announced last week that he was calling on the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Iraq to schedule a date for presidential and parliamentary elections in the Kurdistan Region not later than Sept. 8, the region has witnessed a spike in media disputes that have resembled the early stages of electoral campaigns.

Following Barzani’s announcement, the opposition media noted that this decision came as a result of pressure from opposition parties, alluding to the reluctance of the president to hold the elections on time. Displeased, the president responded, asking the opposition not to talk on behalf of the people of the Kurdistan region and to acknowledge its weight and position on the political map.

“We ask the opposition to be responsible, to acknowledge its weight and the fact that it represents the minority. It has absolutely no right to speak for the people of Kurdistan,” responded the presidency in a statement issued by Omed Sabah, the Kurdistan Regional Presidency spokesman.

The media disputes did not stop at this. Accusations of treason arose, when Adham Barzani, a key member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by his cousin [Massoud Barzani], accused the former secretary general of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), Sheik Salah al-Din Muhammad Baha al-Din, of spying for another regional country. Baha al-Din, in his turn, announced that he would file a lawsuit against Barzani.

These media skirmishes came after the Kurdish Lvin magazine published in its last issue an interview with Baha al-Din, in which he said that “this presidential term has been the worst throughout the political and historical career of Barzani.” The statement enraged Barzani’s party and supporters.

A statement released by the presidency mentioned that the president has decided to hold the presidential and parliamentary elections on time, not later than Sept. 8, 2013. The president has called on the IHEC to set a date.

Jotiar Adel, an academic from the Sarnaj Center for Research, Strategic Studies and Statistics in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, said that these media disputes and exchanges of accusations are the fruit of fear. Political parties are concerned that the political map will be modified post-elections.

“Tensions are heightened in regard to crafting the new political map in the upcoming event,” Adel added in a statement to Al-Monitor.

The two main parties of the region — the Barzani led-KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani — have announced that they will participate in the upcoming elections on separate lists. This is despite the fact that their strategic alliance, which dates back to 2007, stipulates participation in the local and national elections on the same list.

This decision came after the change that happened in the region following the 2009 regional elections, when the opposition (non-KDP and non-PUK parties) took over one third of parliamentary seats.

After the 2009 elections, the parliamentary coalitions underwent changes. Talabani and Barzani’s parties won 59 seats, while the opposition — which split from Talabani’s party in 2008 — amassed 25 seats. Additionally, the two opposition Islamic parties won nine parliamentary seats out of 111, which led Barzani and Talabani to reconsider their political calculations and the form of participation in the next elections.

Adel notes the concern of some parties about the prospective alliances that are still blurred. “I expect to see changes, yet not as significant as the tensions. The two main parties are committed to their strategic alliance, which became starker when the PUK supported the KDP’s stance regarding the presidency issue,” Adel added.

He continued, “I believe that changes will take place within the opposition parties, notably the Movement for Change, which will participate on a separate list, while Islamic powers and movements are striving to unite under the umbrella of one list.”

Gergeis Koli Zada, a political analyst and journalist, believes that these media disputes are a normal occurrence between opposition and ruling parties, as long as the presidency is stepping aside.

He added, “The media dispute between the presidency and opposition powers is not normal. The presidency must not engage in such disputes and commit itself to its administrative course. The presidency must govern the region without getting involved in any discussions with the opposition and ruling powers alike.”

Zada reiterated that this “media dispute will usher in media tensions and an exchange of accusations.”

It is worthy to note that the first elections in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region took place in 1992, after the region became semi-independent from Baghdad in 1991. At the time, Barzani and Talabani’s parties won all of the seats in parliament by equal shares, with the exception of five seats that went to the Assyrian coalition. This parity, however, resulted in the postponement of elections until 2005.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the opposition had split from Barzani’s party in 2008 instead of Talabani’s. The error has been corrected.

By Abdel Hamid Zebari
AL Monitor

Assyrian International News Agency

Continuing problems of the central bank will affect the stability of the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar

Baghdad (news) .. Warned the Vice-Chairman of the Finance Committee MP / coalition of Kurdish blocs / Ahmed Hassan Faizullah, of continuing problems within the central bank charges on his work because it will affect the stability of the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar.

He said Faizullah (of the Agency news): that the central bank is a major financial institution and job maintaining the stability of the currency and control of financial and banking operations, Fasthdavh will decrease would in front of international banks, and lose confidence in him, and thus affect the stability of the Iraqi dinar.

He added: can not be any party to interfere with the work of the Central Bank or directing false accusations untrue to reality, as it is an independent body unrelated third party run by financial experts and economists.

He was accused member Integrity Committee Jawad Alshahyla, the current Directors of the Central Bank of stealing 10 tons of gold, as well as other operations of currency smuggling and money laundering.

And witnessed the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar severely decrease its price against the U.S. dollar, which made economists fear the financial and monetary situation in the country of the problems that may affect it.
LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraqi Authorities Execute 21 Men Convicted Of Terrorism

Iraq’s Justice Ministry says authorities have executed 21 prisoners convicted for terrorism and links to Al-Qaeda.

The ministry said on April 17 that the executions were carried out the previous day by hanging.

It says all the men were Iraqi Al-Qaeda operatives who were involved in bombings, car bomb attacks, and assassinations.

Iraq has executed 50 people so far this year.

Baghdad has dismissed calls from international human rights organizations to reconsider capital punishment.

Last year, Iraq executed 129 people amid international concerns about the fairness of the trials.

Executions are usually carried out by hanging.

Rights monitoring group Amnesty International ranked Iraq fourth among the top five executioners in the world in 2011, after China, Iran, Saudi Arabia.

The United States ranked fifth.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Iraqi dinar rate anticipated to increase

Tuesday, 16 April, 2013 | Easyrider

4-15-13 Easyrider: “Iraqi dinar rate anticipated to increase.”

They have been saying this for the past 2-3 weeks on Iraqiya television that they were going to increase the value of the dinar. Looks as if they might actually follow through this time because they know the citizens have had enough and the are losing millions a day. Good to see it in writing this time.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraqi Army Voting Mired In Factional Politics

Early voting among members of Iraq’s armed forces this week for provincial elections scheduled for April 20 reflected the same factionalism that currently characterizes Iraqi politics.

Government administrators and civilian activists agreed on the need to ensure the “smoothness” of the polling process for members of the police force and army. The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) boasted that the 2013 elections were the first to be undertaken solely by Iraqis without international assistance.

Kolshan Ahmed, a Kurdish member of the Board of Commissioners of the IHEC, told Al-Monitor that about 640,000 Iraqi soldiers took part in the special voting on April 13, 2013, with a 70% voter turnout.

About 720,443 people were supposed to participate in the special ballot — excluding the provinces of Nineveh and Anbar — according to a statement by the IHEC, when designated 425 polling stations for this process.

Mekdad Sharifi, the head of the IHEC’s Board of Commissioners, said in a press conference held in the fortified Green Zone and attended by Al-Monitor that “the voting process has not encountered any serious problems, but a number of polling stations experienced intensified pressure by members of different military sections who showed up to vote.”

In Anbar province (in the west) and Nineveh province (in the north), the security and military apparatus voted for their representatives in the local councils, despite the electoral commission’s postponement of the elections in these two provinces. But those who were allowed to vote in these provinces were soldiers who came from other provinces, as the people of Anbar and Nineveh were prevented from entering polling stations to carry out the commission’s decision.

However, trouble came from the Saladin province — home to the city of Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein — as polling station administrators were forced to close a number of stations after receiving news from Baghdad that a certain political entity was banned. This entity is headed by Mishan al-Jubouri, a Sunni politician who has taken extremist views in support of the Kurds, and has recently shown signs of rapprochement with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Shiite State of Law coalition.

Al-Monitor spoke with civilian observers in Tikrit. They noted that the “process of the special ballot was confusing because of the IHEC’s late decision to exclude the Jubouri-led al-Insaf front from the elections.” They stressed that the names of the front’s members are still present on the lists and that a number of voters were allowed to vote for them.

Jubouri was on the run from a court ruling on charges of financial and administrative corruption. However, he surprised the Iraqi public and returned [to Iraq] last month saying that the Iraqi judiciary had dropped all charges against him. Meanwhile, Iraqi politicians said the issue is related to a deal between him and the State of Law MPs.

In general, what happened in Saladin did not affect the course of the security services’ elections, but concerns are focused on what will happen later in the general vote. There are also concerns about the political controversy regarding the influence the authorities have over the military, as well as the exchange of accusations by political opponents claiming that Maliki forced army generals to vote in favor of his State of Law coalition.

Politicians opposed to Maliki are circulating news that he will use his influence within the circles of power to win a comfortable majority in the provincial councils, but there is no conclusive evidence of that. These are not Sunni opponents of Maliki, for there are Shiite allies of Maliki who accuse him of using the security services, saying that the culture of submission and surrender to the man in power is controlling the election options.

Ayad Allawi, the leader of the Iraqiya bloc, also said, “Military officers had been told that there were cameras monitoring voting rooms and that they would be able to identify those who did not vote for a specific list.”

Yet, at a recent electoral ceremony, Maliki himself expressed concern over attempts aimed at rigging the elections and said that the State of Law Coalition is targeted by this rigging.

The UNHCR quickly responded by saying that it would cancel the results of any polling station in which fraud was proven, and the army command said it would punish every officer pushing his soldiers to vote for a specific list. This entire debate, however, seems to be part of the hidden electoral propaganda in a divided and tense political landscape at a time in which evidence of the manipulation of the voters’ options remains behind the scenes.

The army and police votes received by the political blocs competing in the local elections remain unknown for now, as the commission announced that it would no longer count the army and police votes before the voting process is over on April 20, 2013.

In the last week leading up to the elections, tensions between the political blocs have been growing amid increasing mutual accusations. Hopefully, the intensity of the battle will quell once the voting process is over.

By Ali Abel Sadah
AL Monitor

Assyrian International News Agency

Patriarch Sako: the Iraqi Martyrs ‘Example and Witness of Christian Faith’

Baghdad — The martyrs in the Christian tradition of the East have a leading role and “their relics” are “precious faith-strengthening treasures”. They also represent a “living spiritual legacy,” which opens the door “to life and the future.” This was underlined by the Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael I Sako, during his homily for Mass celebrated yesterday in the Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad. On the same day that Pope Francis launched an appeal in favor of the persecuted martyrs in the world today, whom he hopes may hear “the consolation of the Risen Jesus”. The Patriarch on his own initiative made a pilgrimage to the symbol of the Islamic extremist violence in Iraq . On 31 October 2010 the building was attacked by a group linked to al Qaeda, ending in a massacre: more than 50 dead, including two young priests, and dozens wounded. For many faithful present at Mass yesterday, presided over by His Beatitude with a group of priests it was an ecumenical gesture full of “hope.”

The patriarch began his homily explaining the meaning of his “pilgrimage” to the church of the martyrs: “I come as a pilgrim to your cathedral – said Mar Louis Raphael I Sako – the cathedral of glorious martyrs, at the beginning of my patriarchal service in Baghdad”. He then thanked “his Excellency Mar Yousif Abba”, Syrian Catholic Archbishop of the Iraqi capital, whom he called “brother and companion of studies at the seminary in Mosul, for allowing me to make this journey in all its spiritual dimensions.” “I knew some of the martyrs of the massacre – added Mar Sako – especially the two young priests, Waseem and Tahir, who gave an excellent example of service and sacrifice” for the Church.

His Beatitude then highlighted the role of martyrs in the Eastern tradition: “In the tradition of the Eastern Churches – he said – martyrs have a prominent role, in the prayers and shrines of our country.” “We sing, at lauds and at vespers every day, of their courage, we visit their relics to receive their blessing, because they are ‘precious treasures’, as sung by the Chaldean rite. Martyrs represent a living spiritual heritage that opens doors to new life and the future. “

In his homily the Patriarch referred to Tertullian, a theologian of the third century AD, who spoke of the martyrs saying that “their blood is the seed of a new life.” “Despite the violence that is not a source of glory in the eyes of God and does not honor man – said His Beatitude – these martyrs remain at the summit of religious values, as emblems of peace, love, service and sacrifice. They are for us a hopeful sign of eternal life. With them we enter into the Paschal Mystery, that is the resurrection of Christ. Just as we do not separate Christ’s death from his resurrection, so we do not separate death from the resurrection of the martyr. “

Mar Louis Raphael I Sako concluded his homily by encouraging the faithful to follow in the footsteps of the martyrs in the paschal journey: “This should not happen on a personal level, but as a community and Church walking on the Easter path. Our people must conquer fear and regain the strength to walk towards peace and prosperity. Our Church, in Iraq in particular, is marked with the sign of Easter. It must not close in on itself, and its troubles, but must understand – concluded the Patriarch – that it is invited by its conscience to change the reality and suffering in the light of Easter, of life and renewal, with a total commitment.”

By Albert Zarazeer
Asia News

Assyrian International News Agency

Deadly Attacks Continue Ahead Of Iraqi Elections

Police officials say at least seven people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in bomb attacks in Iraq.

The bombings came a day after a wave of deadly attacks killed at least 50 people and wounded about 300 across Iraq.

On April 16, a car bomb killed at least four people in Aziziyah, while a roadside bomb killed a soldier near Mussayib, both south of Baghdad.

Two separate blasts north of Baghdad killed two people.

The violence comes just days before an April 20 election, in which Iraqis are to choose provincial governing councils.

At least 14 candidates have been killed so far.

The authorities have delayed voting in two Sunni-dominated provinces amid security concerns.

Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and dpa

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

The Iraqi Dinar will be the strongest currency of the Middle East

4-15-13 Bear5642:    To all of the people in Dinar Land. Please listen: Shabibi’s intentions upon being reinstated back into the CBI is to make known and to reaffirm to everyone of his statement made last year at this time, “The Iraqi Dinar will be the strongest currency of the Middle East.”

Governor Shabibi is one of the most renown experts on finance and is highly respected. Maliki’s intentions has always been to take control of the CBI and the wealth of the nation.

Soon we will all see what Shabibi meant by fulfilling his promise to the Iraqi people.

There will be no LOP. I repeat there will be no LOP.

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Russia Gaining Foothold in Iraqi Oil

Posted GMT 10-12-2012 22:36:38

MOSCOW (UPI) — Baghdad may send a signal to energy companies working in the Kurdish north by sidelining Exxon Mobil from developments in the south, an industry official said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrived in Moscow this week to meet with Russian officials. The Iraqi government timed the approval of an exploration contract in southern Iraq between Russia’s Lukoil and Japan’s Inpex Corp. to coincide with his visit.

Iraq has the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world. A report from the International Energy Agency this week said Iraqi oil production could more than double by 2020 and it could eventually pass Russia as a major oil exporter.

Analysts watching the Iraqi oil sector point to lingering acrimony between Baghdad and the semiautonomous administration in the Kurdish north as reason for concern. Baghdad had said unilateral contracts with the Kurds are illegal.

Baghdad is reportedly considering bringing Lukoil and Gazprom Neft, Gazprom’s oil division, into the West Qurna-2 project in southern Iraq in favor of Exxon. News agency RT, citing an industry insider, reports Baghdad is frustrated with Exxon’s work in the north and could send a signal with the replacement.

Lukoil didn’t reply to RT. Baghdad in April declared a Kurdish deal with U.S. supermajor Exxon frozen because of the legal issue.

Assyrian International News Agency