Synopsis

Yep. Pumpers not Humpers!

Yep. Let's get the B-52s (and whatever else like the A-10s and Puff The Majic Dragons) fired up and have a hay day!

The article has in the title, "Idiots are leading the country" Well, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise." I thought we all knew that as actual fact!

The article states, "Retaking Falluja before parliament returns from Ramadan in mid-July would enable Abadi to consolidate his leadership, allies and political analysts said." Looks like the rocket ignitors are on and the thrust is about to hit! Having Fallujah retaken and other ISIS capabilities destroyed, would be one piece for the Iraqis (and the clerics) to strongly support Abadi's leadership. With all the loans trickling into the Iraqi populous and the other positive changes, to include removing corruption and bad actors, the way aught to be cleared for our event (authorization to launch!)! I suspect the validity of the parliamentary sessions in question will be resolved within the next few weeks and the parliament will be back in session regularly as stated with a lot less drama (maybe Maliki and associates are removed and taken into custody?). With the news regarding the HCL and other necessary reforms, the demands of the people and other conditions imposed by the IMF, WB, etc. aught to get these reforms passed shortly when the parliament session starts again. I would like to be surprised (for the IQD RV to occur in June 2016) but I am thinking the IQD RV can occur mid to late July through the end of September provided there are no hiccups like the Mosul dam breaking, or further GOI disruptions like we had starting the beginning of this year, and the HCL/reforms appear in the gazette.

Probably a tool of Maliki and associates to stir up sectarian violence. Once Maliki and associates (including ISIS) are gone, these issues should decrease dramatically.

Well said, Wiljor. I really agree with you here. The bullet train seems to be picking up speed and the tracks ahead appear to be in fine shape.

I suspect we will see more episodes in the near future of Maliki rattling off like some kind of jabber monkey having his treats taken away. Looks like Maliki is losing influence fast and he is alarmed, as he rightfully should be, that his days as a walking, talking free man are about to come to an end. Kinda like a crescendo in a music piece right before the end. Or like a turbine rotating at it's critical rpm before it blows up. Once the Maliki boil (and his associates boils) are lanced from Iraq, I suspect Iraq will progress to a socially and politically stable Sovereign State.

I find this last article interesting with other articles stating the EU is helping Iraq attain WTO status. Maybe we will see more news on the ISX and it's international connectivity soon.

I also find it interesting to see more articles appearing reporting the EU is helping Iraq to join the World Trade Organization. There was an upcoming meeting reported as well as one in September with EU and Iraqi representatives. Some believe the IQD needs to revalue before Iraq ascends to the WTO since Iraq is believed to need a tradable international currency to ascend to the WTO. Looking at all the news articles, I am amazed to see how far back in the Stone Age Iraq was held by the former regime under Saddam Hussein so Saddam could promote his corruption for personal profit. Any news article on Iraqi modernization, to me, is a quantum leap compared to Saddam Hussein era capabilities. Any news about Iraqi modernization and international connectivity is good news but may not be all that is needed for Iraq to be a Sovereign and internationally integrated State. I suspect the valuation of the IQD in the Saddam Hussein era of nominally 3.22 USD = 1 IQD is different than what it will be in the (hopefully) not too distant future. The Saudi Arabian Riyal is nominally 0.266646 USD = 1 SAR while Kuwait is nominally 3.3195 USD = I KWD on www.xe.com.

Looks like she is doing some type of post IQD RV happy dance, too, with all that IQD around her. Maybe there are lower IQD denominations there! I just hope she ain't rehearsing her post IQD dance moves and this is the real thing!

Oh, yeah, BoosterBGlee, that is FUNNY!!!

Yeah, I look at www.ino.com during the day. Looks like the crude oil price low was on about April 1 (no foolin'!) and has be rising in price about $0.20/barrel/day. I may be a little too optimistic thinking crude oil may hit $60 mid August or so. It is an American Presidential election year so no tellin' what folks will get all excited about. I'd just like to get excited about an IQD RV! I suspect Iraqi budget issues will be dispensed if crude oil prices maintain above the budgeted $45 or $46/barrel for any length of time with the higher the price the better if the revenues are accurately distributed with little to no corruption. Your posts are VERY appreciated, too, my friend - Thank You!

Somebody(ies) are all excited about international commerce with Iraq other than crude oil! I know I am!

Hey, Snow, I'll be singing when oil hits $60/barrel!

I agree, TennesseeCherokee. Sad, but true, that there are folks like Poppy3 out there.

Thank You, Wiljor! I have worked for a very large international oil company. While there, I worked with an older person who was born in and started his career in Pakistan. This person is very sharp and keeps up to date with various crude oil industry news. His belief he shared with me is oil could be sustainably produced to meet the world wide oil demand for the near future at a minimum of around $52/barrel. He shared a more reasonable oil price would be $55 to $65 and depends on oil supply interruptions, excessive oil production, and other supply/market factors. Some oil is really accessible and easy to produce. Other crude oils cost much more to produce and would not be produced unless profitable. Crude oil that costs nominally $40/barrel or less is likely all that is needed to meet crude oil demand at a $52 to $65/barrel price. Manufacturing costs for a particular crude are also a factor in the price of that particular crude. What really drives the oil price up is speculators/folks who buy crude on paper but have no means for either producing or processing the crude oil. If this speculative/hedging practice was removed, crude oil prices would likely stabilize in the $52 to $65/barrel range. What happened when crude oil prices went way down is all the crude oil exploration and production companies did was to shelve the capital projects to rework crude oil wells and drill new ones. Over time, the existing supplies will dwindle since crude oil well production depletes over time without reworking existing wells or drilling new ones. As a result, crude oil prices could, in the near term, rocket again and get the crude oil exploration and production companies engaged to meet the market volume of crude oil.

Really good point, Laid Back. Looks like the Iraqi populous is thinking and doing the same thing we are for much the same reasons.

Say What???!!! Has the news media reported all laws past, Kurds on board, all will be in Parliament, bonds go on sale tomorrow, the ISX will open trade tomorrow, and on and on or has this type of information been passed on by delusional and malicious gurus seeking to misinform with the possible intent to scam people post event of their IQD? The news media has reported the Kurds have agreed to things and then back out but otherwise the gurus have done the things Poppy3 is accusing the news media of doing. The boots on the ground and people sources information has never been correct. This guru is incredibly brazen in proliferating out and out lies.

If crude oil prices continue on their current trajectory, crude oil could hit $56/barrel around mid July.

The article states, "and put a Shammari Speaking to direct the transformation of Iraq 's importance to the digital economy as it provides transparency and significantly reduce the corruption and manipulation and fraud, as well as the reduction of effort and time to stroll public transactions and ease the pressure on staff during the completion of transactions in different ministries and departments." Extremely good news here. I wonder if this was another stipulation for the IMF, WB, etc. loans. Makes sense if it was. I suspect the bad actors are really squealing on this one and we may just see who they all are in the news soon!

There is somewhat less than 40 million Iraqis. 40 trillion dinars in circulation/40 million Iraqis means there is about 1 million Iraqi dinar per every man, woman, and child in Iraq. At nominally 1,285 IQD/USD, this is about 1,000 USD per Iraqi. Mechanisms to reduce the IQD on the street would be good news and could include a gradual erosion of the IQD vs. USD to dollarize the Iraqi economy further and make the IQD revaluation easier later. Hopefully the later is real, real soon!

Thank You, EagleEye!

The second to the last article states, "World Bank discussed with the reconstruction of areas affected by the mechanisms of lending to the liberated areas of the organization Daash terrorist fund terrorist operations" This is one piece I was wondering how they would handle. If Iraq was given these loans, are they sure none of the loans would fall into the hands of Daash and fund their operation? In my opinion, the recapture and the start of reconstruction of all the areas previously and currently held by Daash will commence very soon. I may be wrong, but I suspect the capture of all the Daash held territories (towns and cities, too) will occur much sooner than the end of 2016 and was one of the stipulations the IMF, WB, etc. made to the GOI for the loans to start trickling into Iraq now.

What could be happening here is two fold. First, raising the exchange rate to 1,300 IQD = 1 USD could help level the exchange rate on all venues since there is some variation now (less then 1,300 IQD = 1 USD) to prevent corruption and potential mismanagement once the IQD is revalued. Second, raising the amount of IQD to purchase USD accelerates pulling the IQD out of circulation and dollarizing the economy. Iraqis may wan to part with their IQD in favor of the USD to pull IQD off the streets. With little to no IQD on the streets, the relative wealth of the average Iraqi will remain about the same when the IQD revalues since they hold USD instead of IQD. There may be more steps taken to further increase the amount of IQD to obtain USD to further help the Iraqis dollarize. As a result, taking more IQD to obtain a USD is, to me, a very, very good sign.

I could be wrong, here, but I suspect the accurate current census (not conducted in quite some time) is another step for determining citizen from foe to segregate the bad actors (dead people, ghost soldiers, foreign agitators, etc.) from the true general Iraqi populace for future distribution of the oil revenues, social services, etc. via Article 140 and other Iraqi Constitutional directives. My opinion is Iraq was held in the Stone Age by Saddam Hussein so that he (and now others) could perpetrate their vile practices and corruption. Weeding out all the contrary entities should help Iraq function in the long run as a Sovereign State and, in my opinion, will help to sustain (or even improve) the future IQD to USD exchange rate. As a result, completing the census and implementing the mechanism (smart cards or whatever) to the Iraqi citizens (for oil stipends?) would be extremely good news. Every real Iraqi citizen getting money from oil in their pockets aught to make them real, real happae'!!!