Synopsis

Possibly, truer words could not be spoken.................... 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11New International Version (NIV) The Man of Lawlessness 2 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie,10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie. George Soros may be too old to fill this role since God's temple (at least as I understand it) has not been (re)built. Looks like the "man of lawlessness" will be similar to, or demonstrate similar characteristics to, George Soros. George Soros claims to be "some sort of god" and also "the creator of everything." Looks like George Soros may be differentiating himself above God..

Great description of Amensty. Thanks, Laid Back!

Ouch!

..............or floating up into outer space and another universe on hopium.................

I think it is a possibility that the roll out of the lower denominations notes with more value could be longer (further in the future) as you stated. I was thinking the current counterfeit bills could be identified now during the exchanges at the bank locations and destroyed when the lower denominations are exchanged for the higher denominations. Also, with higher security features on the 50K and 100K bills, it may be cost prohibitive to even attempt to counterfeit these bills now. If there is a subsequent move to pull the higher denominations out of circulation by exchanging for USD or gold or Iraqis simply depositing these notes in a bank, then I suspect the revaluation could go much smoother with less corruption due to the prior removal of the counterfeited currency in circulation or stored by Iraqi citizens. I am looking for the news as to what is being used to pull most of the Iraqi dinar in from circulation and the Iraqi citizen as a imminent precursor to the revaluation. I could be wrong, but the issue of significant amounts of counterfeit bills in circulation or stored by Iraqi citizens could be a significant hurdle if the revaluation occurs now so reducing the bill count could be a way to reduce the impact of counterfeiting at the time of revaluation. Also, pulling in the counterfeit notes at the present value vs. the USD would make the issue of the held counterfeit notes less volatile. If I had a counterfeit 25K Iraqi note worth what I thought was nominally 20 USD and the bank told me that note was counterfeit, I would be less upset than if I had a counterfeit 25K Iraqi note I thought was worth nominally 2,000 USD or more after the revaluation. Iraqis likely know there is a potential they are holding at least some counterfeit notes. Exchanging now at the lower conversion rate to USD would likely avert a syndrome like "Iraqi Dinar Gold Fever" and subsequent mad rushes and loss of life due to exchange issues coupled with identifying counterfeit notes.

I thought it odd, too, that various Iraqi leaders would run to Iran. If Maliki is Iran's man, what are the others doing going to Iran? I would think Iraq would want to be an independent State. Maybe the Iraqi leaders are doing Maliki damage control or maybe the PTB told Iraq to put their Big Boy Britches on and dictate terms to Iran. All told, some semblance of working relationship needs to be maintained with a bordering state - including not dabbling in each other's affairs. Just my

My opinion is this is another step to attempt to reduce the note count in circulation. If so, Iraqi people may want to exchange their old worn out notes for far fewer of the new notes with the high security features. They would be storing far fewer notes and would make it easier for them to hide the notes. Possibly, the places of exchange (banks) would require a bank account at their location. In this way, the bank could track who has how much dinar and may be required to supply this information to the CBI, IMF, international auditors, etc. Also, people suspected of pilfering could be tracked and how much they are holding (in exchanged bills). I see this as good news if the 50K and 100K notes are put in circulation in the near future.

I, too, was thinking this is some sort of Maliki plot. If Maliki is exonerated by his installed Judiciary stool pigeon, Maliki may then believe he is untouchable - at least for pilfering and money laundering. I suspect the religious authorities and the people will have something important and compelling to say about this. Maybe this will get Mahmoud impeached and another competent person installed to replace Mahmoud. I hope this plan back fires on Maliki and Mahmoud quickly.

The article states, "Saleh also noted, “The International Monetary Fund requested the Ministry of Finance hire an international company to oversee Iraq’s foreign debts in a bid to set forth a mechanism to repay them.” And “He noted that some indications suggest that Iraq “owes $69 billion in foreign debt,” stressing, “These funds have never been used in investment but in consumption fields, which makes it more difficult for Iraq to settle them.”" Another article recently stated the estimated amount stolen from Iraq was 850 billion USD. If Iraq could recover 10% of the stolen money, Iraq could pay off the debt and have money left over - hey, maybe they could even RV their currency - Yeah! With the IMF requesting an international company to oversee Iraq's foreign debts, I wonder if the return of the stolen money is in the not too distant future and the IMF wants to ensure the returned stolen funds is not repilfered. Looks like good news. Thank You, Wiljor, for posting!

The article states (the amount is highlighted in the post), "Efforts to fight corruption in Iraq since 2003 , did not succeed, and even now, as reports indicate that the total thefts of public money in the country amounted to about $ 850 billion." I suspect a significant amount of the stolen money was used to pay people off for black market goods and was subsequently spent on other things so the money ended up in circulation in and out of Iraq. As such, a significant portion of the circulated funds may not be recoverable. However, the people who pilfered the money, and those who supplied the black market goods, can be identified, indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated or executed. What pilfered money remains that was deposited in foreign accounts, and transferred among foreign accounts, is likely recoverable fairly readily once the corrupt have been identified with the accounts associated with them and their shell identities. Even if a quarter (212.5 billion USD) or a third (283.3 billion USD) of this stolen money was returned, Iraq could pay off their financial obligations and have a significant boost to their reserves. There would also be a lot of money for investment purposes to loan to people and businesses to get their economy going. Also, having no debt, ISIS removed, a fully seated government, and corruption significantly reduced should help out their credit rating.

Thank You, Wiljor, for all the great articles you bring over!

I agree, Wiljor. To me, this looks like a Maliki whack job. Pretty sure this Ministry of Justice employee knew, or had nearly exclusive access to, something that would directly implicate somebody (like Maliki) of something really big and important. Hopefully, this intimidation and assassination apparatus will be fully exposed, dismantled, indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and have rightful justice served on them.

Ditto for me, too!

Oh, yeah, Wiljor!

In my opinion, it seems like Maliki is under pressure to avert his personal crisis. Maliki's call for early elections to install people to resolve the crisis may imply he is vying for a third PM term - as mentioned or implied in other articles recently. Also, the call for early elections may mean Maliki has an idea of his remaining walking/talking days if something doesn't happen (soon) in his favor. This may be an indication that his once powerful friends are now distancing themselves and Maliki sees his only hope is to regain the role he once had. Maliki likely knows if he calls out certain names or incidents implying culpability of certain once powerful friends that his days will be even shorter and his potential means of escape are eliminated.

Hoping the pedal is to the metal on this one!

The article states, "Kurdistan Alliance MP Ahmed Sarhan, on Saturday, there are no developments in the problems between the Kurdistan region and the federal government, adding that the two sides focused their efforts on the war against terror Daash." Does this guy mean by "there are no developments in the problems" that they are stalled and the problems are not getting better or worse, more or less or does he mean the war against Daash has now united the Kurdistan region and the Federal Government? Which Federal Government? Looks like this person is a smooth talking and polished politician!

I am looking forward to those cruises! Pretty sure post event folks (including me) will want to share notes with other dinarians to some extent to move and keep moving in the right direction for the investment protection a more optimized investment opportunities.

Thank You, ChuckFinley! I am pretty sure there are a lot of DVers that will need some cruise ship post RV therapy at some point like you and me! That pic was from an Alaskan cruise ship. Would like to do an Alaskan cruise and a few others post RV.

Along with mentioning the HCL, what I like is the opening of the article, "MP for the Bloc citizen Furat al-Tamimi, on Friday, moving block enactment of a number of important laws, most notably that of the Federal Court Act." As important as the HCL is, without the tools (one of which could be the Federal Court Act) to remove corruption to a level where the vast majority of the Iraqi people could benefit from the HCL, I am thinking there would be more cause for sectarian strife and open violence in the streets. How would the HCL be really beneficial then? The articles indicate people are demanding the government pilferers be brought to justice now and I would think they would not tolerate their HCL proceeds delayed or pilfered once the HCL is passed. I suspect the Federal Court Act would also provide a mechanism for the most corrupt, like Maliki, to be indicted, convicted, and prosecuted. Seems like the Federal Court Act, the HCL, Amnesty, and some form of viable National Guard Law would need to occur about the same time to provide a sound social, political, and economic basis for Iraq to achieve a stable and sustainable future. All in all, I am thinking the next couple to few months could be very, very fulfilling for what we have all been waiting for!

Will be praying for your comfort and healing in this time of loss for you and your son.

Thank You, Adam, for your encouraging post!

The article states, "Alnasiri called to the importance of focusing on increasing credit and finance, soft loans and activate hiring deposits in the aspects of investment and reconstruction, as well as the development of information and banking technologies of modern technology with focus on disclosure and transparency of financial statements for banks and customers, accompanied by instructions and mechanisms that contribute to the development of human banking resources and special expertise and banking cadres mode, pointing out that these proposals together would contribute to the stability and development and reform of government banking and private sectors. Looks like Iraq's banking practices are starting to come together in a very positive way. I am hopeful they can implement this initiative since I think this would help us on our way.

The article states, "on the other hand stressed Iaram Sheikh Mohammed on the House of Representatives the most difficult stage and the scene in general in crisis for the sensitivity of the situation and the accumulation of problems and crises. the Chair said that the representatives of the people to bear a great responsibility and duty of moral and legal towards those who elected them, vowing that the people 's representatives are involved in exposing corruption and corrupt files, noting that the charges raised against the House of representatives has raised the ire of the street and Rai year, stressing the importance of uncovering the facts in front of the Iraqi people in a neutral, transparent and professional noting that the board of continuous Representatives work to enact important laws calling for committees to send ready - made laws , legislation and create the necessary reports to the issues and the topics raised at the meetings relate to the lives of citizens. Looks like the attempt at stalling the corruption investigation was having an affect on enacting the "ready-made laws" and the Iraqi people knew this and were unhappy about it since the Iraqi people would benefit from the "ready-made laws." I think this is all really good news and may be a very positive indication of the wrap up of the necessary items soon to introduce Iraq (and us) into a new era!