Thread: Archive - Latest News Think Tank - 15/01/09 - 04/05/09

Parliament to postpone the meeting for the selection of President of the Council to next Saturday

The coalition command in the list of common writer, Thursday, to postpone the meeting of Iraq's parliament to choose a new president to the parliament on Saturday, because of the political blocs to a specific mechanism for the vote.

He went on, saying in an interview with "Uzmatik" that "the presidency of the parliament decided to postpone the meeting until next Saturday and make it a deliberative meeting until agreement is reached between the political blocs on the voting mechanism," noting that "political parties will hold meetings to find solutions to a clear end to the crisis as parliament speaker of Iraq. "

He went on, saying that "there are differences between the political blocs on some of the candidates for the presidency of the Iraqi parliament would require some time to resolve and agree on a specific candidate to the presidency of the Iraqi parliament."

For his part, MP for the United Alliance bloc, Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, that "a large number of deputies walked out of the parliament session on Thursday before the vote to choose a new chairman of the parliament from among 11 candidates."

And in an interview with Asharq al-Hassani, "Uzmatik" that "the withdrawal of those members of today's meeting to vote on the selection of a new President of the Parliament led to the postponement of the meeting," referring to "the existence of substantial differences between the political blocs on some of the candidates for the post of parliament speaker."

Hassani said that "the MPs who walked out of the meeting of Parliament, representing a number of political blocs in parliament, and want to reach a compromise to choose a new president of Iraq's parliament."

The House of Representatives decided in the twenty-second of December 2008 to make the meeting open to the House of Representatives of the fourth in January 2009, a date, a date for the vote on the Speaker of the Parliament, political parties has nominated a number of personalities to the presidency of the Iraqi parliament, including Iyad al-Samarrai and Osama Najifi and Mason Damaluji Tamim, Mohammed Taha and the behind-Olayan Luhaybi and Mahdi Al-Hafiz.

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Once vulnerable Iraqi PM now dominant leader: analysts

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, once seen as a vulnerable leader, has emerged from Iraq's provincial elections as a dominant political force no longer at the mercy of his allies, analysts said on Friday. The 59-year-old took the reins of power just under three years ago, when the country's ruling Shiite alliance choose him as a compromise candidate after Sunni and Kurd politicians prompted the incumbent Ibrahim Jaafari's ouster.

The triumph of Maliki's allies in last weekend's polls bolsters the premier's position ahead of general elections billed for the end of this year or in early 2010. "He is in a much stronger position than before, as he gained the majority of votes, and he is the person who will determine the formation of the next alliance," Tariq al-Maamuri, a noted Iraqi political scientist told AFP. "A deal will not to be imposed upon him by any person," Maamuri said, referring to the factional alliances that have become a hallmark of Iraqi politics since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein from power.

Although Maliki did not contest the provincial elections, he backed candidates standing for the State of Law Coalition, who took the largest share of votes in Baghdad and in eight of Iraq's nine Shiite-dominated provinces. Maliki campaigned relentlessly for the coalition and was its public face during the election race, making open-air speeches across the country every day in the lead-up to the vote.

"Maliki's rise is spectacular," said Reidar Visser, an analyst and editor of the Iraq-focused website www.historiae.org, noting that previously he had been forced to rely on the country's largest Shiite party for support, but which is now much weakened. "The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq has been decimated across the country," Visser said. "Maliki's coalition won Basra and Baghdad and came first in every Shiite-dominated governorate."

Although the coalition scored highly in the polls it did not gain an absolute majority and will still have to strike deals with opponents over how money is spent on much-needed reconstruction and development. The provincial elections will change very little at national government level, but the coalition's success will send shockwaves through Maliki's opponents ahead of the general election, according to Joost Hiltermann, a Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group.
"It is a significant boost," he said.

"Maliki can now build on this as we head into the parliamentary election season. We can anticipate more of his winning formula; appearing to take a tough stand against the Kurds, the Sadrists, the Awakening Councils and anyone else that the ordinary Arab citizen does not like, and using state funds to establish groups that will bring out the vote for him." The success of Maliki's allies followed a year that had seen the prime minister strike a tough nationalist pose in a deal with Washington that will see American troops leave the country before the end of 2011. Maliki's standing has grown in the past 12 months as he has presented a secular national agenda in response to the sectarianism that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2007.

He also ordered Iraqi forces in 2008 to take on Shiite militiamen in hotspots such as Basra, Maysan and Diyala provinces as well as Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, eventually routing the rebels.
However, one US-based analyst warned that Iraq remains a fragile state and cautioned the premier against complacency.

"It's a big boost for Maliki, but I hope he doesn't get too overconfident," said Michael O'Hanlon, a specialist on Iraq and US national security policy at the Brookings Institution, the Washington-based think-tank.

"I am worried that everyone will draw that conclusion," he said, when asked if the provincial elections could speed the pace of the planned US troop withdrawal. "We're already trying to get out fairly fast and lots of things can still go wrong," O'Hanlon said.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidAN...%3A%20analysts

Union of Arab Banks: the establishment of the Arab banking conference in the UAE

Preparing the Union of Arab Banks to convene a conference of international banking in the Arab emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in the month of April.

The source said the European Agency for the independent press (Iba) today, Friday, that the conference to be held in the eighth and ninth of April, came in within the next meetings of the board and the general assembly.

He will participate in the conference's range of economy and finance ministers and Central Bank Governors and leaders of banking and financial institutions and Arab investment. He invited a large number of senior officials of the organizations and associations of Arab and international banking.

It should be noted that the EU held a workshop last week about the mechanics of the consolidation of the banking operations in Arab countries.

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Postponement of the Parliament to choose a president next week

Not be resolved to choose the President of the House of Representatives at the meeting today after the session to provide candidates
To compete for the position offered to the three mechanisms for the selection of a President
1 - The ten candidates before a single vote is obtained an absolute majority of the House of Representatives Adeddaeda (138) will be the voice of the candidate for the post.
2 - to be voted on ten Almarchin If one of them got on the (138) are chosen for the post and if no one gets the required number will be the selection of the top two candidates in a subsequent meeting will be voted upon is to obtain an absolute majority would post it.
3 - be given the opportunity to further negotiations between the blocs to reach agreement on a candidate even if the agreement after the holiday, the quarterly of the Parliament, which happened after the approval by the General Budget for the year 2009.

Note that the vote would be secret in any mechanism to be selected. And approved the selection of the second mechanism, during preparations for the voting process had withdrawn a total of parliamentary blocs of the meeting, which affected the right has not been completed and were deferred to next Saturday has shown that the Constitutional Court and the meetings could be held to continue the work of running the parliament, first deputy speaker of parliament until agreement on a new president.

The large number of candidates is the main obstacle to the solution of the problem and the parliamentary blocs, which does not support the candidacy of Dr. Iyad al-Samarrai, and she resolved to make a rival candidate to resolve the matter as soon as even the dispute Aitisa and hindering the work of parliament

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Ki-moon in Baghdad for the second time and Kirkuk file and activate the activities of the United Nations in Iraq to dominate his talks with Talabani and Maliki

The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, on Friday, an official visit to Iraq, is to hold talks with the President Jalal Talabani and Minister Nuri al-Maliki, on cooperation between the UN and Iraq, and discuss the latest developments on the Iraqi arena.

Ki-moon launched immediately after his arrival in Baghdad, talks with Talabani on the work of United Nations agencies in Iraq.

Concentrated Ki-moon talks with Talabani and Maliki to discuss political developments on the Iraqi arena and the international organization seeking to expand its activities in Iraq after the withdrawal of multinational forces, and the case of Kirkuk, and the stages of the Committee made by the normalization of the situation in the city, as the United Nations evacuated its report on the "disputed areas" into after the local elections.

The Ki-moon has congratulated the Iraqis for their participation in the provincial elections, preliminary results showed that exports to the list of coalition rule of law supported by Maliki in nine provinces came in in third place in the province of Karbala (a stronghold of the Islamic Da'wa Party, headed by Maliki).

The Information Office of the Secretary-General in a statement that Ban Ki-moon congratulates the Iraqi people to exercise their right to vote enthusiastically in the elections in an atmosphere of admiration for the free of violence, which would strengthen democracy and advance the cause of national reconciliation, praising the determination of the Iraqi people to ensure the electoral process transparent and fair.

Ki-moon recalled that he had visited Baghdad for the first time in the twenty-second of March (March) 2007, and witnessed some of the violence that was then lived in Iraq after a mortar shell landed near the headquarters of the news conference with Maliki, who collected.
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Iraq and Kuwait sign a joint record for the number of outstanding issues

At the headquarters of the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry, on the morning of Thursday, 5 / February 2009 signing of the minutes of the joint meeting between the two sides, the Iraqi and Kuwaiti delegation was led by the Iraqi Dr. Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud, deputy foreign minister for legal affairs and multilateral relations, the Kuwaiti side was headed by Khalid Sulaiman Al-Jarallah, undersecretary of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait, dealing with a number of outstanding issues between the two land borders, oil fields and investment of the joint and an end to Iraqi Airways file and activate the Joint Commission to search for Kuwaiti prisoners and missing persons in Iraq, and preparations for the Ministerial Meeting to be held later in Baghdad between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries.

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Iraq and how it relates to cash with the World Bank

That claims to re-draft budget to the legitimate government, especially that it (the budget) has been on the agenda of the Iraqi Council of Representatives and read the first reading.

These demands were based on a fundamentalist is that such a budget from their own tables, as well as the final accounts for previous years of work and projects of ministries and governmental institutions and the amounts allocated to such projects and completion rates, it is necessary to know the fate of the money earmarked for the current year's budget, as well as the surplus from this budget, and whether the surplus will be added to the budget for next year? These amounts paid or in full?

Here we need to know how and where made, because one of the most important duties of the Iraqi Council of Representatives oversight, and perhaps the most important reasons for the late submission of final accounts is to cover cases of financial and administrative corruption in Iraq, and we believe that there are flaws in the great and mysterious subject, and perhaps there are heinous crimes in the disposition of money public against the national interest and, therefore, the nature of things requires that the state government budget submitted with the final accounts, and this requirement is not impossible or arbitrary, and the Iraqi Council of Representatives of the duty to correct this imbalance.

There is confirmation in the next budget to the investment side, as was the case in previous years .. But the supervisor did not see the field so far, an achievement or a giant investment projects completed in full, and this is much a member of the Chamber of Deputies and the Ministers, or specialists in this regard, but the public sees in the community, where unemployment is still widespread and extreme poverty as well as the obvious weaknesses in the level of public services, and whatever declared to be no more talk in conferences and symposia, to change, or the performing of these projects in some ministries implemented poorly and incorrect example, we hear a lot of people say that certain street or alley has been newly Thblith break, but again and filled with digging and after a few bumps too, and they say San: The question left on his earlier done much better than hundreds of millions of dinars!!

The link to Iraq the way the World Bank policies that adversely affect the salaries of staff and their suffering is not justified. That would undermine the confidence of the government, the excessive dependence of the World Bank has brought us the scourge in the future, especially after we saw that the things belonging to the intervention of the bank day-to-day life of the citizen, such as support for fuel, supply, unemployment, and increased salaries and wages, that the honor of responsibility we need to move away from this prejudice necessities, at least at this particular time

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Parliament’s deputy speaker can discuss and issue the laws

Iraqi federal court granted the Parliament’s deputy speaker the authority to discuss and issue the important laws. This measure will help in issuing several important laws, including 2009 budget, after the parliament’s delay in choosing a new speaker after al-Mashhadani’s resignation.

In a press statement to al-Hayat newspaper, the member of the parliamentary financial committee MP Sami al-Atroshy said “the federal court decision will allow us to discuss 2009 budget as soon as the government send it to the parliament.”

He emphasized that the budget ratification will take 1-2 weeks. He also said “the parliament will discuss one point regarding the Islamic Supreme Council’s request to make the provinces’ budget according to the residents’ number.”

Al-Atroshy mentioned that most of the parliamentary blocs accepted the suggestion of granting Kurdistan region %17 of the budget, on the condition of making a financial settlement between the federal government and KRG after carrying out the general census in October 2009.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=9166&Itemid=1

Iraq, Iran may ink oil deal: minister

Iraq’s Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani has said that the Iran-Iraq talks on joint oilfields were going ahead well and an oil deal was expected to be signed by March 20, IRNA reported. The agreement is to be inked in line with Iraq’ efforts to develop its oilfields and increase oil and gas exports, Shahristani said.

Spokesperson for Iraqi oil ministry Asem Jihad said that his country intends to develop its oilfields based on a five-year plan and increase its oil export to four million barrels a day from 1,700,000.

The Iraqi oil minister anticipated that his country’s oil exports would reach two million barrels a day by March 20.

He hoped that following the agreement, they would be able to extract oil from joint oilfields.

Shahristani also said that 30 foreign companies have announced their readiness to participate in Iraqi oil projects.

Iraq’s economy is dependent on petrodollars as its budget bill has not yet been approved by the parliament due to fall in oil prices.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=9167&Itemid=1

Barzani: We refuse any foreign interference

Massoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan region called on the public and private sectors in Kuwait to increase their investments in Kurdistan region, because the region is considered as an oasis and can have the capacity for these investments.

Following President’s Barzani visit to the Kuwaiti Parliament yesterday, he held a press conference to answer the reporters’ questions. He stressed the necessity of the American forces existence in Iraq by saying “any immediate American withdrawal may lead to a civil war.”

Regarding Article 140, President Barzani said “the world has to step up in implementing Article 140, especially after carrying out the provincial elections. The elections in the disputed areas demonstrated that the Kurdistan Alliance Bloc has a crushing victory. If the elections were carried out in Kirkuk, the bloc would get the same victory. We are not afraid of the elections; either it will be carried out today or tomorrow. We are supporting the constitutional and legal solutions for Kirkuk and other areas.”

He emphasized that the region and its leaderships became under a campaign of defamation and said “in Kurdistan parliament, we chose the unity with our Arab brothers in Iraq. The accusations of secession are baseless. We must be supported for more constitutional and legal institutions and infrastructure. Why does the infrastructure mean secession?”

President Barzani refused any regional interference in the Iraqi affairs by saying “while we don’t see such interference in Kurdistan region, we refuse them in any Iraqi city. The relation between Kurdistan regional government and the federal government are close, especially in the foreign policy.”

In answering a question regarding the relations between Kurdistan region and Israel, which was repeated for two times, Barzani said “the Iraqi diplomatic relations with the foreign countries are up to the federal government. Kurdistan region cannot make any unilateral relation with Israel or other countries. Why do you ask me this question and the Israeli flag flies in the skies of Arab capitals like Egypt and Qatar? If we make relations with Israel, then we will declare it without any fear.”

He also spoke on his talks with the Kuwaiti leadership and said that they were on the relations between Kuwait and Iraq in general and with the region in particular. He also spoke on the political, financial and economic support of Kuwait to Kurdistan region and emphasized the readiness of cooperation with Kuwait to find its prisoners’ corpses in Iraq.

Bearing in mind, Kurdistan region president’s visit includes Kuwait and Qatar.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=9148&Itemid=1