Khaled Al-Yaqoubi, the security adviser to the Prime Minister, disclosed some of what was stated in the dialogue of the Iraqi military delegation during his recent visit to Washington, pointing out that the Iraqi delegation reminded the Americans that their interests had not been harmed for 9 months.
Al-Yaqoubi and in an interview with the media Karim Hammadi, followed by the 964 network:
We first agreed to establish new rules of engagement that determine the status of each soldier, whether a consultant or with other missions in Iraq.
Previously, American drones were flying in the Iraqi sky at an altitude of 3000 meters and armed, now we agreed that the planes would fly in the Iraqi sky but only in places where ISIS is present and at an altitude of 5000 meters.
We agreed that all U.S. states that enter its advisers, be with the prior approval of the Iraqi government.
We agreed to form a military committee between the two parties that meets and approves the readiness of the Iraqi forces, the seriousness of the threat and measurement of the level of this threat in order to strengthen the areas of weakness in the Iraqi forces, and work to evacuate Iraq and its sky from any foreign forces by any addresses.
We agreed on a fundamental point, which is not to act individually from any party throughout this period, and reminded them of their individual actions when the Popular Mobilization headquarters in Al-Qaim were hit, besieging the embassy and the consequences of these dire actions, which the parties can no longer afford.
American interests in Iraq have always been hit, from 2003 until the coming of Mr. Al-Sudani, and we told them that the political agreement is the guarantor in preserving the interests of both parties, and we reminded them that their interests have not been harmed for 9 months.
The Americans were flexible and understanding of the Iraqi situation, and we signed a meeting minutes and announced a final statement and published it in the US Department of Defense and the US State Department.
Shafaq News / The spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government, Peshua Horami, announced on Sunday that the Turkish Foreign Minister will visit Baghdad and Erbil this week.
Fidan is scheduled to hold talks with officials in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region.
Last March, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani made an official visit to the Turkish capital Ankara, at the head of a large ministerial and security delegation, during which he discussed several files, most notably security, borders, water, energy and expanding trade between the two countries.
Subsequently, Iraqi officials said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Iraq to discuss the file of resuming oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, in addition to the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in northern Iraq, as well as files related to water and the economy.
Shafaq News / The President of the Kurdistan Region received, on Sunday, a high military delegation of international coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
Barzani received talks with the former commander of the international coalition forces against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, General Matthew McFafferlan, accompanied by the new commander General Joe Wol, according to Shafaq News.
The Ministry of Transport revealed, on Sunday, the details of an Iraqi-Turkish meeting in Ankara, on the steps to embark on the path of development.
A statement by the Media Office of the Ministry of Transport said that “an Iraqi technical delegation from the Ministry of Transport headed by the Director General of the General Railway Company Younis Al-Kaabi, accompanied by the representative of the Italian consulting company, visited the Turkish capital Ankara, and held important and expanded talks with officials of the Turkish Ministry of Transport, on the development road project and its economic importance for Iraq, Turkey, the countries of the region and the world.”
The statement added that “the meeting between the two sides began with a welcoming speech from the Director of the Turkish Railways Department, Hassan Bezok, in the Iraqi delegation, before reviewing the total lengths of railways in Turkey, and the intention of his department to develop shipping and rail transport operations with Iraq and the world.”
The Turkish official stressed, according to the statement, that “his country’s government attaches great importance to the development road project, and wishes to provide all kinds of support, including construction, courses, systems and others in the railway sector.”
The statement added that “the Iraqi delegation reviewed the importance, size and sustainability of the project, which is directly supervised by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and the delegation also presented to the Turkish side road studies.”
The statement stressed that “Al-Sabbi reviewed all the main stages of the project, in addition to presenting a general technical presentation, which included the sizes of absorption and operation, standards, specifications, the number and types of stations, in addition to the signal and communication system.”
The statement continued, “Al-Kabi discussed with his Turkish counterpart the process of linking between the two countries with the high and coordinates included in that process, as well as reviewing the current levels, topographic survey and soil investigations in that region.”
The statement pointed out that “the Iraqi delegation agreed with the Turkish side to conduct a field visit to the point of connection between the two countries, which is located in Fishkhabur, and that the delegation called on the Turks to share soil surveys and site studies between the two sides to keep pace with the work of the Iraqi side.”
The statement continued, “The Turkish side confirmed its initiation of rapid action to meet the specifications presented by the Iraqi delegation.”
The Iraqi delegation also called, according to the statement, on the Turkish side to “find a railway network that will be suitable for the model to be implemented by the Iraqi government.”
He noted, “The Turkish side confirmed its start of extending 133 km of railways, linking the modern railway line from the Iraqi-Turkish border with the Turkish railways, which ensures linking the large port of Faw with Europe.”
According to the statement, the two sides agreed to “identify a joint working mechanism as well as exchange of experiences and joint focus on the border linkage point in the town of Fishkhabur.”
Shafaq News/The World later BRICS summit on Tuesday (August 22), will not remain the same after. This is what China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa hope to say, as these countries alone make up about half of the world’s population, about 30% of global GDP, and more than 16% of the volume of global trade, and are betting on creating a multipolar world, a term that means breaking the “unipolarity” represented by the West, specifically the United States.
The 15th BRICS summit in Johannesburg will not be normal by all standards, as it is the first since the coronavirus pandemic, and its agenda is full of major issues in light of the global tension arising from the Ukrainian war, the escalation of underlying tensions in East Asia, and the readiness of proxy fighting fronts in the Sahel regions after the Niger coup.
But the most important thing is, observers say that the summit, to which 67 global leaders were invited, will make fateful decisions related to starting work to issue a common financial currency, which means seeking to exclude the US dollar from the throne of world currencies, in addition to promoting the use of local currencies of the five countries in commercial operations among themselves, and establishing a system of mechanisms for joint payments, in addition to studying membership applications by countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt and Argentina.
Politicians and observers say that the BRICS group’s progress towards these goals certainly means huge changes in the balance of power, and also indicates that the United States, which has been almost alone, over the world since the collapse of the Soviet Union, is gradually losing its political and economic, and perhaps military, as well.
While the U.S. military defense budget reached a record $858 billion, BRICS military spending currently stands at $400 billion, but it also has 11 million troops, in addition to about 6,500 nuclear bombs (possecurs of China, Russia and India).
Despite its image as a clutter that challenges Western hegemony, the prestige of BRICS has nevertheless suffered a setback after it failed to ensure the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in person (he will participate through video technology) after South Africa came under Western pressure on the idea of his visit as Putin issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court regarding his role in the Ukraine war. But Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent Moscow at the summit, while Chinese President Xi Jiping as well as the leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa will attend. It was remarkable that the Johannesburg government deliberately announced recently that it had not invited French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the summit, although dozens of state leaders and governments will participate.
Even symbolically, BRICS is one of the most prominent indicators of the rise of alternative powers to the European-American duo that dominated international affairs over the past three centuries, and has taken a sharper turn since the American quasi-ination of controlling geopolitical conflicts politically and economically, after the end of the Cold War with the Soviet Union in 1991.
Through its share of the global economy, BRICS outperforms the G7 share, and the BRICS countries currently represent 40% of the world’s area, which is certainly increasing if other countries join it, and since its launch at the summit level in 2009, it does not hide its quest to become a global economic power, break the unilateralism represented by the West under the leadership of the United States, and establish a multipolar world order.
Since South Africa’s late accession, BRICS has been known to have remained almost closed to new members, and it is now trying to open membership doors now. The new members will have to adhere to the goals of the group, including combating poverty and sustainable development, promoting economic and social integration, strengthening security and peace to ensure economic growth and political stability, reforming international financial institutions to have a greater voice for emerging countries, and enhancing food security.
Among the most indicative steps of autonomy and breaking U.S. unilateralism, observers say, China’s decision in 2013 to launch the “Belt and Road” initiative a few months later at the BRICS summit in the South African city of Durban in 2013. This trend can also be clearly seen in BRICS’ decision to open the New Development Bank during the group’s summit in the Russian city of Ufa in 2015, a bank, based in the Chinese city of Shanghai, where BRICS is betting to serve as an alternative to the World Bank institutions, which is the financial arm of Western hegemony globally, and has an estimated capital of about $100 billion.
According to figures from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), “foreign investment has played an important role in the growth of BRICS economies since 2001, with annual FDI inflows to the bloc more than quadrupled from 2001 to 2021 (from $84 billion to $355 billion) and contributed significantly to the formation of gross fixed capital.”
The BRICS summit in Russian St. Petersburg in November 2020, in partnership with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which serves as another alternative bloc to Western hegemony, and since 2001, has been another important indicator of the transformations underway globally, an organization officially joined by Iran last July. According to some analysts, BRICS serves as the “economic-to-valancal arm” of the Shanghai Organization, a phenomenon still under development.
During the past months, experts and observers have estimated that the Ukrainian war in which Russia was involved accelerated the movement of Moscow, Beijing, and other countries in BRICS towards ensuring financial independence away from the US dollar, especially after the world witnessed the speed and severity of sanctions, which were imposed on relations, commercial and economic interests and the property of Russians around the world, and was a warning bell that prompted the leaders of the group countries to search for new financial options, to get rid of the “authoritarianism” of the dollar, which was used many times to besiege the weakening of countries and peoples during the past few decades, as in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and others.
It can be said that the blocs and allies witnessed by the world, although they reflect a form of convergence in interests and goals and rapprochement between the countries of the bloc itself, but at the same time reflect the conflicts of major countries and the transition from grinding military wars, to the struggle for economic interests, to ensure continuity and survival prosperity, even at the expense of other countries or blocs, which are goals that sometimes inevitably require resorting to battlefronts and trenches.
If BRICS carries an indication of alternative blocs, history also says that the world has seen the rise and fall of other blocs, for example the Warsaw Pact (founded in 1955) to counter NATO, which represents Western Europe and the United States. The world also witnessed the fall of the so-called “Siato” Southeast Asian Nations, founded in 1954, with the support of Washington to counter Moscow’s influence.
The Baghdad Pact (founded in 1955) and annexed Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Britain and Pakistan, also fell to counter the Soviet expansion and the Nasserite revolution. There was also the “Rio Alliance” (1947), representing the first alliance of its kind after the end of the end of World War II and included countries of the Americas, but it is now with little influence under Washington’s absolute dominance.
However, there are global blocs that are still active in the year, besides NATO, which has existed since 1949, there is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the bloc of countries of the “Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership” formed in 2018 after the announcement of the United States’ exit from its founding nucleus by the administration of former President Donald Trump. The bloc includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam, and collectively accounts for about 15% of GDP globally.
There is also the Group of 7, the ECOS security alliance that has been bringing the United States together with Britain and Australia since 2021, in order to counter China’s influence, and there is the Quad Quad Quad Alliance (2007), which Washington is trying to strengthen with India, Australia and Japan, to also contribute to China’s encirclement and counter its influence in the Asia-Pacific region. There is also the North American Free Trade Organization (NAFTA), the Southeast Asian Association (ASEAN), and the Five Eyes Alliance, which includes the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and coordinates with Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway, through intelligence and security cooperation.
In addition, there is the Common Market of South American States (MERCOSUR), the Arab Maghreb Union, the Baltic Free Trade Area, and the Commonwealth of Independent States, along with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
{Political: Euphrates News} Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al-Sahaf confirmed on Sunday that international ministerial figures will visit the capital within the next two weeks.
“On Wednesday, August 23, the Turkish Foreign Minister will conduct an official visit to Baghdad, where he will meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and will hold bilateral talks between the two sides at all levels,” Al-Sahaf said. Regarding the presence of close visits by Arab and foreign officials to Iraq, the journalist stressed that “Baghdad will witness during the next two weeks a high-level polarization of ministerial figures who meet Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein, the three presidencies and a number of Iraqi national political figures.” He added that “these visits will be at a ministerial level, and bilateral talks will be held with a number of countries at the level of undersecretaries of foreign ministries in Baghdad to meet with their counterparts in the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
{Economic: Euphrates News} The Director General of Rafidain Bank chaired the agency Maher Hussein Rashid, today, Sunday, the meeting of the Committee of Procedure of Government Banks at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance.
A statement by the bank, a copy of which was received by {Euphrates News}, said: “The meeting included the Director General of the Legal Department in the Ministry, Mohammed Hamza Mustafa and all general managers of government banks and the presence of representatives of the Central Bank of Iraq.”
He added, “The meeting witnessed the completion of discussing the procedures, mechanisms and amendments to the draft internal regulations of government banks and the contents of the proposals and ideas submitted by those present at the meeting and in accordance with the directions of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Iraq.”
During the meeting, Rachid stressed “the need to develop the banking system and the role of corporate governance in improving banking performance to achieve sustainable development and digital transformation of banking operations, enhance modern methods, keep pace with advanced technology and technologies, update the requirements of modern banking business away from routine and bureaucracy, leaving paper transactions and reliance on electronic systems in banking.”
{Economic: Euphrates News} Economist Bassem Jamil Antoine revealed, on Sunday, that Iraq is facing a unique situation in a crisis of high dollar prices that it has not experienced before.
Antoine {for Farat News} said that: “The recent state of the dollar’s rise is a unique situation that Iraq has not experienced in advance, and the productive sector in the country is still weak, and it cannot compensate for supply and demand operations, and that the demand for goods and goods is large and local production does not fill the need and the weight is on the dollar.” He pointed out that “the fears of some traders will enter the platform and buy the dollar from pursuing income tax and the customs fee that will revolve and be used by some weak souls to trade, and there are parties working on speculation in dollars and have strength, which led to the complexity of the process more.” “Treatment in decision-making is required, but there is a need to put pressure on those who manipulate the dollar,” Antoine continued. The official exchange rate is 1320 dinars to the dollar in the Iraqi budget, but the parallel price witnessed today, Sunday, a strong rise in the Baghdad markets, reaching 155 thousand dinars per 100 US dollars. This comes after Washington imposed sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks. The House of Representatives moved to address the crisis and hosted the Finance Committee, the Governor of the Central Bank Ali Al-Alaq, to also discuss the bank’s measures to stabilize currency prices. Since the beginning of this year, the Central Bank of Iraq has launched a working mechanism in an electronic platform and the international financial transfer system “SWIFT”; but this did not help the dollar exchange rates to settle in Iraq, despite the attempts of the government and the Central Bank to control the exchange rate in parallel markets. In a televised meeting, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, explained the reasons for the high exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar, because traders did not enter the bank’s electronic platform. The Central Bank of Iraq had said that dollar-banped banks accounted for only 8% of foreign remittances.
The World Bank said that the Iraqi economy suffers from stagnation of non-oil GDP, industries, and agricultural activities, which was accompanied by high inflation rates, as Iraq lacks under its current government; large-scale structural reforms that strengthen its economy away from oil.
In the report issued on the economy in Iraq and its debt, under the title: (Renewed pressures: Iraq’s recovery in danger) seen by “Economy News”, the World Bank stated that the annual budget approved by government authorities, witnesses a significant increase in the volume of public expenditures by 59% from the previous year, which represents 74.3% of total spending, which will lead to a large fiscal deficit of 51.6 trillion Iraqi dinars – equivalent to 39.7 billion dollars – which represents 14.3% of the volume of public imports, more than half of the last record reserves accumulated in the wake of the boom in oil prices.
On the policies of (the Central Bank) in devaluing the local currency, the World Bank reported that the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar led to an increase in total and basic inflation; due to the heavy dependence on import operations in light of weak domestic production that is not supported by government authorities, which exposed the country’s fragile economy.
The World Bank report added that the transaction standards adopted by the Central Bank through currency auctions caused hard currency to be redirected to the parallel market, which caused the devaluation of the dinar against the dollar.
According to the World Bank, Iraq’s lack of diversification of sources of income – due to the chaotic policies of successive governments – led to a contraction of GDP by 1.1%, in 2023 and an increase in the country’s public debt to 58.3% from the previous year 53.8%, which will reach 152 billion dollars, an increase of 10 billion dollars, while the total external debt amounted to 50 billion dollars, and internal debt reached 102 billion dollars, which means that in the government authorities borrowed in the previous three years internally about 60 billion dinars, at a rate of 15 billion annually, and with annual interest on internal debts of 16 to 17% of the volume of debt.
According to the bank, the prospects for the economic future in Iraq are still exposed to great risks due to excessive dependence on oil, which makes it vulnerable to shocks in the oil markets and global demand, as evidenced by the recent decline in oil prices, in addition to the drivers of fragility, which pose fundamental challenges to the economy, such as the purchase of corruption, poor service delivery and infrastructure development, and security risks.
The World Bank added that the continuation of these policies by government authorities will make the country’s budget in favor of the political parties that have delayed development and made them suffer from significant imbalances despite the passage of two decades of allegations of ending the war.
Search 4 Dinar 