Saturday, October 15, 2022

Iraq -- new government?, power blackouts, Moqtada's pouting

Oil rich Iraq.



And the people continue to suffer.  A government that brings in billions each month and it refuses to take care of its citizens.  Instead, the money ends up in the hands of corrupt politicians.


The political stalemate may be broken.  It may not be.  This week, Iraq got a president and a prime minister-designate.  There are rules by which a prime minister-designate moves to prime minister.  Those rules have never been followed.  (A designate forms a full Cabinet, not a partial one.  No one's ever done that.  Even the two who declared that, unlike those prior prime ministers, they would form a full Cabinet, didn't.)  

So the political stalemate may be broken.  But, in Iraq, it's always better to wait and see. 


Or else, like the Obama administration in 2010, you might get chastised by the editorial board of THE GUARDIAN.  


As noted in Friday's snapshot, Abdul Latif Rashidf is the new president, Mohammed Shia Al Sudani is the prime minister-designate.   US State Dept spokesperson Ned Price issued the following:


Today, after more than a year of government formation negotiations, the United States welcomes the Iraqi Council of Representatives’ election of Abdul Latif Rashid as the President of Iraq. President Rashid named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as the Prime Minister-designate. As Iraq’s political leaders form a new government, we encourage them to bear in mind the will of the Iraqi people, who voted for a government responsive to their needs. The United States urges all parties to refrain from violence and to resolve differences amicably and peacefully through the political process.

The United States reiterates its commitment to partnering with the people and government of Iraq to advance our many shared priorities. We look forward to continuing the strong cooperation between our countries.


Hafed Al-Ghwell (ARAB NEWS) explains:


 Last year, Iraqis took to the polls in renewed hopes of charting a new path to a prosperous, stable and secure future for their country. It was a hard-fought opportunity by an exhausted, wary Iraqi public left with little recourse but to take to the streets in a bid to apply pressure on a gilded political elite in Baghdad. Tragically, at the peak of the nationwide protests, several hundreds of young Iraqis would lose their lives, with thousands more injured. Worse yet, like other troubled post-conflict transitions in the Arab world, this hard-earned reaffirmation of democracy was quickly followed by divisive politics, generating bitter public disillusion and worrying signs of a return to armed conflict as the clock ticked on.

The protracted political crisis has already fueled so much instability and acrimony at levels not seen since the U.S.-led invasion nearly two decades ago. A striking testament of Iraq's troubled year-long post-election phase was the barrage of rockets that rained down in the Green Zone in a bid to prevent lawmakers from heading into parliament to finally select a new president. The attack wounded at least 10, including four civilians, an all-too familiar consequence of the perpetual cycles of violence sparked by prolonged inaction, sectarianism and intransigence.

Similarly, endemic corruption, rampant unemployment and decaying infrastructure have also contributed to the decimation of Iraqi lives and livelihoods. Unfortunately, despite the relentless efforts undertaken in the past weeks and months for Iraqi politicians to engage, cooperate and commit to a credible path towards much-needed political stability, Baghdad never managed to achieve a single milestone or critical success. Granted, highly contested polls in post-civil war contexts often lead to a prolonged interim period between when results are announced and eventual government formation, or in Iraq's case, achieving a quorum in its parliament (The Council of Representatives) to elect a new president.

However, a year after the last general election, Iraqi politics became paralyzed by endless squabbling, needless brinksmanship, increased insecurity and escalating violence engulfing the country in chronic instability that Barham Salih's caretaker administration was severely ill-equipped to handle. It was no surprise that the two-decades-long chaos in Baghdad's corridors of power began fueling a nostalgia for the pre-2003 era given the corruption, nepotism, escalating sectarian violence and a shrinking economy despite record windfalls from crude exports.


Can Iraq move forward now?  THE NATIONAL notes, "The Iraqi political bloc led by influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr said on Saturday that it would not join a new government being formed by prime minister-designate Mohammed Shia Al Sudani."  Poor Moqtada.  A failure, a public failure.  Exposed as worthless yet again.  He'll never be his father.  He'll never be an ayatollah.  He's just a leader of a small cult of personality and he blew any shot he had at being a kingmaker.  He failed repeatedly at forming a government for months and months following the October 10, 2021 elections.  Now he doesn't even have anyone in the Parliament.  PRESS TV reminds, "In June, all 73 legislators of the bloc quit their seats in a move seen as an attempt to pressure political rivals into fast-tracking the formation of a government."  Moqtada that stunt would help him.  It didn't.  And efforts to go to court and overturn the resignations didn't work out either.


A government is forming without Moqtada.  He's just a fat failure.  He's lucky his father can't see how things turned out though, to hear insiders talk, his father never had a lot of respect for Moqtada to begin with.  

While Moqtada pouts, The October Revolution organizes.  THE NEW ARAB notes:


Speaking to The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, activists said that the planned demonstrations "will be some of the biggest," and it is because of this that militias have intensified their crackdown, particularly in the Shia-majority provinces of Babil, Najaf, Dhi Qar and Basra in southern Iraq.

Thousands of Iraqis headed to the capital Baghdad earlier this month to mark the 2019 uprising, clashing with security forces.

Activist and journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi, famed for throwing his shoes at former US president George W. Bush in 2008, told The New Arab that prominent activists from the protest movement were in real danger.

"We are in danger. Everyone who was an activist and was opposed to the former government or new government, are in danger of being arrested or even assassinated, because the security agencies are in service of the current establishment," he said.

Laying out a list of objectives, Al-Zaidi told The New Arab that Iraqis against the current ruling elite were determined to continue their movement which began in 2019.


Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "House Reject, House Mess and House Dunce" went up yesterday.  He has another one going up shortly after this.  Rebecca's "crypt keeper of the house nancy pelosi," "Betty's "Neanderthals, humans and MOONFALL" and Ann's "Call Me Kat (with baby on board)" went up yesterday -- in addition, the following sites updated:





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