KristiD

Can you explain what this is? I"ve never heard of it. But if this law is saying that starting in April, all countries must trade their currency at a market value, then April is our month! Because for sure right now Iraq's $.008 valued dinar is manipulated and way under valued. The CBI maintains that low rate with their auctions because Iraq deliberately devalued their dinar after the fall of Saddam so that it would be cheaper for them to rebuild their devasted infrastruction and everything else that had been destroyed. If it were allowed to go immediately to a float, I am sure it would settle at a significantly higher rate because no way is $.008 the true market rate. Struggling as Iraq is right now (unstable government, coronavirus and low oil prices), with all Iraq's reserves and natural resources (including gold), and much of it's country now having been rebuilt, surely it's worth over a penny, probably well over a penny even today with $30 oil. None of its neighboring oil producing countries' currencies have significantly dropped because of the coronavirus and low oil prices. And while Iraq's government is unstable, it's not like they're in the midst of a coup. Instead they are peacefully working (albeit slowly) with the protestors to create acceptable change for both sides. Despite these dire times, I still see a lot of room for a higher rate on the dinar. Granted, not as high as a few months ago, but still a rate that would be acceptable to many of us. Can you provide a link for this currency manipulator law please? I would like to read it and see if it' would apply to Iraq and the CBI's auctions. Thanks!

In January, I posted about Breitling and his partner doing webinars on tax planning for the RV. Today I got a message from his partner (which went out to all people on Breitling's mailing list) saying that, with oil prices dropping, they decided to add an extra webinar later this month because basically, time is short now. It seems that Breitling, my favorite dinar guru. thinks these oil wars may indeed push Iraq to RV quickly. If you want to attend the webinar (which are free) go to Breitling's site and at the end of his audios, he gives you the website where you can sign up for them. But the fact that Breitling feels there's a good chance the RV may happen pretty soon gives me a nice dose of hopium that has a good chance of being true! GOOOOOOOOOO RV!!!

These are great! Thanks for sharing!!!

That seems right to me!!!

Karma's a *****! Islamic Scholar Who Said Coronavirus Was “Allah’s Punishment” Gets Coronavirus An Islamic scholar who said the coronavirus was “Allah’s punishment” for China’s treatment of Muslims now has coronavirus. How ironic. Back in February, Hadi Al-Modarresi, who is based in Iran, said that the coronavirus outbreak was “undoubtedly an act of Allah that is divine punishment against the Chinese for their treatment, mockery, and disrespect towards Muslims and Islam,” reported MEMRI-TV. “It is obvious that the spread of this virus is an act of Allah. How do we know this? The spread of the coronavirus began in China, an ancient and vast country, the population of which makes up one seventh of humanity,” said Al-Modarresi. 1,172 people are talking about this “More than a billion people live in that country. The authorities in that country are tyrannical and they laid siege to more than a million Muslims and placed them under house arrest. The journalists in that country began to mock the niqab of Muslim women and they forced Muslim men to eat pork and drink wine. Allah sent a disease upon them and this disease laid siege to 40 million [Chinese people]. The same niqab that they mocked has been forced upon them, both men and women, by Allah, by means of the state authorities and officials,” he added. It is now being reported that Al-Modarresi has contracted coronavirus, meaning that Allah must obviously be punishing him for wrongdoing. The scholar tweeted to his almost 1 million followers with a prayer to Muhammad and the revelation that “The health of His Eminence is in a marked improvement.” 1,294 people are talking about this He also tweeted an image of himself wearing a surgical mask. 295 people are talking about this Twitter users reacted with little in the way of sympathy. “Allah 0 – coronavirus 1,” remarked one. “He shows a great capacity for convoluted reasoning. Of course it is all based on 7th century logic,” added another.

I posted this a while back but nothing came of it. I still think it's a good idea so @ladyGrace'sDaddy, perhaps you, as a moderator, could take it to management or something. I think it could be a win-win.

Or there's another way to look at this. Yes, low oil prices seriously hurt Iraq as they need $58/barrel to run the country. Although they don't have time to establish and grow other revenue sources, one thing they can do is increase their deliberately-held-down, low rate of the dinar. Most of us here think Iraq has been planning on increasing the value of the dinar all along (heck it's why we bought dinar!), and because it looks like they've been working overtime the past year to get to that point, to me, it actually seems likely that this is what Iraq will choose to do in response to low oil prices.... that is RV their currency and let the market determine its rate. That would immediately give them much more and desperately needed purchasing power. The rub is that now with lower oil prices, the market will not support a high rate (certainly not $3+), but jeeze, you would think they can manage something over a penny and hopefully somewhere between a dime and a buck.

Because an RV would immediately give Iraq more purchasing power in all the billions of dinar they hold. You have to remember that the current rate of US$0.0085 is not a market rate. It is, and has been for many years, artifically and deliberately kept that low via the CBI auction. The reason for that is that, after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq purposely devalued their dinar so that it would be cheaper to rebuild after the devastation. Iraq has always planned, and has said sp many, many times, that at some point, they want to add value to the currency and someday get back up to over US$3. While that may not be possible now because oil looks like it will stay low for a long, long time, certainly a free market there could sustain something between a few pennies and a buck. This whole situation is the reason we all invested in the dinar in the first place.

Ouch!!! I'm suprised to see you say this to me......

The is what's happeing. Last Friday, after OPEC had decided to cut production in order to keep gas prices up the day before, Putin backed out of OPEC+ saying he wouldn't cut production and would prices fall. People are speculating he did that to hurt US shale oil producers and put them out of business. Apparently Russian has money set aside to cover the shortfall for a while. In response MbS in Saudi Arabia announced big price cuts on its oil and also said they would be increasing production too. People say that maybe to undercut Russion so much that it can't compete and will come back to OPEC and agree to production cuts. Then MbS three of his relatives whom he said were plotting a coup. So this is not just normal fluxuations, this was 2 separate, different deliberate moves by two major oil producing countriesmpanies to crush oil prices. Bloomberg's subheading is: "Oil market braces for what hedge funds call a ‘nasty’ period" ..... I guess so! Breitling just did an audio where he said the coronavirus, which is pushing oil prices down, will be good for the RV because adding value to their currency is the only way Iraq can make up for the loss in revenue from low oil prices. So I wonder if these bombs might make the RV imminent...... Putin Dumps MBS to Start a War on America’s Shale Oil Industry At 10:16 a.m. on a wet and dreary Friday morning, Russia’s energy minister walked into OPEC’s headquarters in central Vienna knowing his boss was ready to turn the global oil market upside down.Alexander Novak told his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman that Russia was unwilling to cut oil production further. The Kremlin had decided that propping up prices as the coronavirus ravaged energy demand would be a gift to the U.S. shale industry. The frackers had added millions of barrels of oil to the global market while Russian companies kept wells idle. Now it was time to squeeze the Americans.After five hours of polite but fruitless negotiation, in which Russia clearly laid out its strategy, the talks broke down. Oil prices fell more than 10%. It wasn’t just traders who were caught out: Ministers were so shocked, they didn’t know what to say, according to a person in the room. The gathering suddenly had the atmosphere of a wake, said another. For over three years, President Vladimir Putin had kept Russia inside the OPEC+ coalition, allying with Saudi Arabia and the other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to curb oil production and support prices. On top of helping Russia’s treasury – energy exports are the largest source of state revenue – the alliance brought foreign policy gains, creating a bond with Saudi Arabia’s new leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But the OPEC+ deal also aided America’s shale industry and Russia was increasingly angry with the Trump administration’s willingness to employ energy as a political and economic tool. It was especially irked by the U.S.’s use of sanctions to prevent the completion of a pipeline linking Siberia’s gas fields with Germany, known as Nord Stream 2. The White House has also targeted the Venezuelan business of Russia’s state-oil producer Rosneft.“The Kremlin has decided to sacrifice OPEC+ to stop U.S. shale producers and punish the U.S. for messing with Nord Stream 2,” said Alexander Dynkin, president of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow, a state-run think tank. “Of course, to upset Saudi Arabia could be a risky thing, but this is Russia’s strategy at the moment – flexible geometry of interests.” link Saudis Plan Big Oil Output Hike, Beginning All-Out Price War Saudi Arabia plans to boost oil output next month to well above 10 million barrels a day, as the kingdom responds aggressively to the collapse of its OPEC+ alliance with Russia. The world’s largest oil exporter engaged in an all-out price war on Saturday by slashing pricing for its crude by the most in more than 30 years. State energy giant Saudi Aramco is offering unprecedented discounts in Asia, Europe and the U.S. to entice refiners to use Saudi crude. At the same time, Saudi Arabia has privately told some market participants it could raise production much higher if needed, even going to a record 12 million barrels a day, according to people familiar with the conversations, who asked not to be named to protect commercial relations. With demand ravaged by the coronavirus outbreak, opening the taps would throw the oil market into chaos. “Saudi Arabia is now really going into a full price war,” said Iman Nasseri, managing director for the Middle East at oil consultant FGE. The Saudi Energy ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment. Aramco’s unprecedented pricing move came just hours after the talks between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies ended in dramatic failure. The breakup of the alliance effectively ends the cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has underpinned oil prices since 2016. Production limits agreed to by OPEC and its erstwhile partners expire at the end of the month, opening the way for producers to ramp up output. Read: Aramco Slashes Crude Pricing The company’s shares plunged 9% in Riyadh on Sunday, the first time the stock slumped below its initial offering price. Aramco traded at 29.95 riyals as of 1:57 p.m., giving it a market value of 6 trillion riyals ($1.6 trillion). The Saudi government sold 1.5% of the energy giant’s shares at 32 riyals each in December. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, closed down 9.4% on Friday, its biggest daily drop since the global financial crisis in 2008, settling at $45.27 a barrel. Saudi production is initially likely to rise to between 10 million and 11 million barrels a day in April, from about 9.7 millions a day this month, according to people familiar with Saudi thinking. The final figure would depend on the response of refiners to the price cuts, the same people said. Maximum Pain The shock-and-awe Saudi strategy could be an attempt to impose maximum pain in the quickest possible way to Russia and other producers, in an effort to bring them back to the negotiating table, and then quickly reverse the production surge and start cutting output if a deal is achieved. In a sign that both sides remain in talks, the OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee, a body of senior oil officials who advise ministers, plans to meet on March 18 to review the global oil market, according to delegates. Saudi and Russian officials are part of the JTC. “It’s certainly a high-risk, high-stakes approach,” Tim Fox, chief economist at Dubai-based lender Emirates NBD PJSC, said Sunday in a Bloomberg Television interview. “It didn’t come together on Friday and I think market confidence that it will at some point in the next couple of weeks is actually quite low.” The production increase and deep discounts mark a dramatic escalation by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi oil minister, after his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak rejected an ultimatum on Friday in Vienna at the OPEC+ meeting to join in a collective production cut. After the talks collapsed, Novak said countries were free to pump-at-will from the end of March. Record Discounts With jet-fuel, gasoline and diesel consumption rapidly falling due to the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the energy market now faces a simultaneous supply-and-demand shock. Read: Oil Short-Selling Surges and It Could Be Just Getting Started After the failure in Vienna, Riyadh responded within hours by slashing its so-called official selling prices, offering record discounts for the crude it sells worldwide. Aramco tells refiners each month the prices for its crude, often adjusting the OSPs by a few cents or as much a couple of dollars. But in a notice to buyers sent Saturday, Aramco announced it was slashing most official prices by $6-$8 a barrel across all regions. The dramatic move will resonate beyond Saudi Arabia. The kingdom’s pricing decision affects about 14 million barrels a day of oil exports, as other producers in the Persian Gulf region follow its lead in setting prices for their own shipments. Getting Nasty In one of the most significant pricing moves, Aramco widened the discount for its flagship Arab Light crude to refiners in northwest Europe by a hefty $8 a barrel, offering it at $10.25 a barrel less than the Brent benchmark. In contrast, Urals, the Russian flagship crude blend, trades at a discount of about $2 a barrel less than Brent. Traders said the Saudi move was a direct attack at the ability of Russian companies to sell crude in Europe. Read: Takeaways From the OPEC+ Flop in Vienna “This is going to get nasty,” said Doug King, a hedge fund investor who co-founded the Merchant Commodity Fund. “OPEC+ is going to pump more, and the world is facing a demand shock. $30 oil is possible.” Some believe the market could go even lower. “We’re likely to see the lowest oil prices of the last 20 years in the next quarter,” said Roger Diwan, an oil analyst at consultant IHS Markit Ltd., implying that the price could fall below $20 a barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell to a low of $9.55 a barrel in December 1998, during one of the rare price wars that Saudi Arabia has launched over the last 40 years. link Saudi Crown Prince purges rivals to the throne, arrests 3 members of royal family It’s a real-life “Game of Thrones” in the desert kingdom. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman tightened his grip on power Friday with the arrests of three top-ranking relatives — including the only surviving brother of his father, King Salman — who were once considered the prince’s rivals for the throne. Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al Saud and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al Saud, the king’s nephew, were taken into custody and accused of treason, sources told The Wall Street Journal — a capital crime in the kingdom. A royal cousin, Prince Nawaf bin Nayef, was also arrested. The 35-year-old crown prince, known as MBS, has been the country’s de facto ruler since 2017, when his father ousted Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince, in MBS’s favor. MBS has won international praise for efforts to modernize the kingdom, such as abolishing rules that forbade women from driving. But he has been ruthless in his pursuit of dominance within the royal family, arresting dozens of relatives on corruption charges in 2017 — and has been accused of ordering the gruesome death of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the regime, in 2018. link

Say what?! I didn't understand those charts at all. But I think the up shot is still what I said originally: Still, I think because this coronavirus is very new, along with the fact that some countries lie (China, Iran and North Korea), and also along with the fact that the tests are highly inaccurate and limited in supply in many places, it means we don't have enough data to confirm this yet. And even if it is true (and I think it probably is), we still need more data to better define the susceptibility percentages of the various races/peoples. But if you're not Chinese, Iranian (or possibly some or all of the other MIddle Easterners) or Italian, it's looking good for you so far!!

There's speculation maybe Ivanka or Don Jr. I see good leadership skills developing quickly in both of them. While it's really too early to tell, it looks the the virus may target people according to their ACE2 cells. I really don't know what those are, but apparently it is pretty constant within different races. As such, it seems that this makes some races much more susceptible to the coronavirus than others. This was from February 10, so keep in mind it's almost a month old: link East Asians, Japanese, and Han Chinese are the most likely people to become severely sick by the coronavirus with a chance of more than 90% when exposed. Europeans only rank in the 50%, Africans in the 60% range, and considered low to medium. It also makes a difference if one is a smoker or non-smoker. I think the Iranians, and possible other Middle Easterners also probably have a high susceptibility to it. As more data is collected, we will see if this theory holds true and what the actual numbers are. To me right now, I think it probably is true, and if so, it explains why China has a 5% mortality rate but the US is less than 1%. The simple reason is the coronavirus hits some races much harder than others, and also that we don't have many numbers from the US because it started here much later. The one thing that troubles me a little about this theory, though, is Italy. They seem to have a relatively high number of deaths early on there. Much more so than other European countries. Still, it's something to keep in mind.

I look at this, and also how China treats its citizens, and I am so thankful that Trump really cares about his people and takes care them - even those who are in trouble and/or stuck in other countries. It defies belief that so many Americans think he's a Nazi and ruining the country. Luckily, it looks like many people are now thinking for themselves instead of just believing the outright lies that the alt left and media bark out constantly. I hope and pray the poor Iranians, and Iraqis, can bring in some more leaders who likewise really care about their people.

More Iranian Parliament members are infected..... 23 and counting. Watch the video above and you'll see why. Ignorance is one thing, but this is just stupididy. https://www.foxnews.com/health/iran-says-77-dead-amid-2336-cases-of-new-coronavirus Iran reports 2,336 cases of the new coronavirus, at least 77 dead; MPs hit hard Iran on Tuesday announced new measures to slow the spread of the new coronavirus and reported that the country has seen 2,336 cases and 77 deaths since the outbreak. An Iranian lawmaker reportedly has told colleagues to stop their contact with public as there are 23 cases of the new coronavirus among parliament members. That's according to lawmaker Abdolreza Mesri, who was quoted by Iranian state television's Young Journalists Club program. Iran’s supreme leader earlier on Tuesday ordered the Islamic Republic’s armed forces to assist its Health Ministry in combating the spread of the new coronavirus. The decision by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei comes as Iran has seen the highest death toll from the new virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes outside of China, the epicenter of the virus. After downplaying the coronavirus as recently as last week, Iranian authorities now say they have plans to potentially mobilize 300,000 soldiers and volunteers to confront the virus. Concern over the outbreak now stretches to Iran's top leadership — some of whom have fallen ill from the virus. An activist group also said Tuesday that Wikipedia's Farsi-language website appeared to be disrupted in Iran after a close confidant to the supreme leader died of the new coronavirus. The advocacy group NetBlocks linked the death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi to the disruption, though Iranian officials and its state media did not immediately acknowledge it. Authorities face increasing criticism from the Iranian public over the outbreak amid concerns the number of cases from the virus may be higher than currently reported. The disruption raises fears of Iran potentially shutting off the internet entirely again, as it did for a week during economic protests in November. Iran separately has created its own so-called “halal” net of government-approved websites. Experts still worry Iran’s percentage of deaths to infections, now around 4.4%, is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections in Iran may be far greater than current figures show. Saudi Arabia and Jordan meanwhile announced their first cases of the virus Monday. Iran stands alone in how the virus has affected its government, even compared to hard-hit China, the epicenter of the outbreak. ADVISER TO IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER DIES FROM CORONAVIRUS, AS OTHER TOP OFFICIALS INFECTED Mirmohammadi’s death makes him the highest-ranking official within Iran’s theocracy to be killed by the virus. The virus earlier killed Hadi Khosroshahi, Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican, as well as a recently elected member of parliament. Those sick include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, better known as “Sister Mary,” the English-speaking spokeswoman for the students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and sparked the 444-day hostage crisis, state media reported. Also sick is Iraj Harirchi, the head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus who tried to downplay the virus before falling ill. Meanwhile Tuesday, the Middle East’s largest airline, Emirates, said it had to reduce or ground flights due to the new virus. Because of the slowdown, the government-owned carrier has asked its employees to take paid and even unpaid leave for up to a month at a time. Emirates’ operates out of Dubai, the world’s busiest for international travel. “We have been tested before and Emirates will come out stronger,” Chief Operating Officer Adel Al-Redha said. CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE The world’s largest airline trade association, IATA, says Mideast carriers have already lost around $100 million in revenue due to a drop in ticket sales because of disruptions caused by the virus.

Can we start a Coronavirus topic somewhere? I've posted about in the the Health section and also in the News section and even the Crypto section. Now when I find a new article, I'm not sure where it should go. Maybe it could be an olive branch that we could reach out to Yota with since he's so good at oganzing..... It would probably make him feel good that we miss and need him........... just a thought.

At the 2:20 mark, you see Iranian congressmen visiting the sick-with-coronavirus Vice President in the hospital - and none of them are wearing a mask! At the 2:00 minute mark, this same infected Vice President is meeting with the Cabinet before she got sick. I think it's spread pretty well through the Iranian government already. Good 4 minute video which shows how Iran is under reporting the death rate.

YIKES Steve Wozniak thinks he and his wife may have been ground zero for cornavirus in the US.

You cannot compare coronavirus to the flu!!! The flu figures you are quoting are for 2 year. Cornavirus has been tracked for less than 2 months. Also, it has a fairly long incubation period - 14 to 21 days, and is just now spreading worldwide. It started in China so China has the vast majority of deaths and infections. But pretty much everyone agrees that China is grossly under-reporting the true figures. Currently, people estimate that the true numbers are 10 to 50 times higher than China reports,. follow Jennifer Zeng on twitter, she's Chinese but living in the US and has many contacts in China. You will be shocked and deeplly disturbed by the videos she posts. It is really, really bad, and much more serious that the Chinese Communist Party is reporting. But, even if you annualize China's reported numbers (the ones we know are much less than the actual ones), deaths are still higher than the flu.. China reports 2,915 deaths of of March 2nd. So since it's been less than 2 months that China has been tracking it, let's round that 2,915 numbe up to 3,000 even for 2 months. 3,000 deaths every 2 months would be 18,000 per year. And that doesn't include any other country where it's just now establishing a foothold! This is not a natural virus, it was created in a lab and has HIV proteases that make it extremely contageous. Scientists all around the world are working fervently to find a way to stop it. I hope they will be successful soon. But the rapid spread and high mortality rate make this something differnt than the world has ever seen before. I encourage everone with a family to make some preparations for it.

It's getting real now! I hope this helps the Iranian people topple the current regime. https://www.foxnews.com/health/advisor-irans-supreme-leader-dies-from-coronavirus-1150-cases-middle-east-linked-to-country Advisor to Iran's Supreme leader dies from coronavirus, as other top officials infected An advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died from the new coronavirus, as other top officials in the country are confirmed to be infected, according to multiple reports on Monday. Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, was an Expediency Council member who advised Khamenei and settled disputes between him and parliament. COVID-19 has already infected Iran's vice president and deputy health minister. His death comes after the country rejected help from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday -- who announced last week the U.S. was concerned Iran may have covered up details on the spread of the virus. CHINA CLOSES FIRST MAKESHIFT HOSPITAL AS NEW CASES DROP IN COUNTRY, INCREASE WORLDWIDE Pedestrians wearing face masks walk on the sidewalks in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 1, 2020. While the new coronavirus has extended its reach across the world, geographic clusters of infections were emerging, with Iran, Italy and South Korea seeing rising cases. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) "We neither count on such help nor are we ready to accept verbal help," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said during a briefing on Monday. He added the country has always been "suspicious" over American intentions, and that the U.S. government was trying to weaken Iranians' spirits over the outbreak. Iran's mortality rate from the virus is roughly 5.5 percent, compared to an overall fatality rate of about 2 percent in China. The difference in rates has led people to suggest the number of infections in Iran is higher than what the country has officially reported. Iran has 978 confirmed cases of the virus after recording its first case less than two weeks ago. IRAN PREPARES TO TEST 'TENS OF THOUSANDS' FOR CORONAVIRUS AS NUMBER OF CONFIRMED CASES SPIKES The virus has killed at least 54 people, the highest death toll outside of China. The majority of 1,150 cases throughout the Middle East are linked back to the country. Iran was preparing the possibility of testing "tens of thousands" of people following a spike of cases on Saturday. The country has closed schools and universities due to COVID-19, but religious Shiite shrines have remained open. Last week, Iranians were captured licking some of the shrines in defiance of the coronavirus. CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE Most countries in the Middle East have limited or ceased travel to the country. It has the 4th highest infected total outside of China, South Korea, and Italy. India on Monday announced two positive cases of COVID-19, according to the country's Ministry of Health. One person was found to be infected in New Delhi and had a travel history from Italy. The other was from the southern state of Telangana and had a travel history from Dubai. Both patients are being closely monitored, the department said. Intelligence agencies had concerns over India's lack of countermeasures to the virus and said its dense population could fuel a widespread outbreak, according to Reuters.

I think economic collapse is a bit over dramatic because it would likely take some time to get to that point. Although sadly, Iraq has other serious problems in addition to low oil prices. Allawi probably will be out today and again they are at square 1 trying to find a new PM to start to put together a new government. And who knows how bad coronavirus will get. But with respect to oil, personally, I think prices will continue to fall along with demand and, in my opinion, may actual level out around $25. Trump has said that's where he wants it to be (or at least below $40). Also, last year Russia announced that it's considering a $25 price in its future projections. I think it's likely oil will settle well below the $58/barrel that Iraq needs to fund their government and services. So while I don't think Iraq is facing an imminent collapse, I think they deffinately need to make other plans to account for the likely permanent loss in oil revenue. Perhap's Breitling's theory is true that low oil prices will push Iraq to RV quickly because it's the fastest and easiest way to give them more spending power and stop the hemorrhaging. Furthermore, I also think both sides of Iraq's internal batte (the pro-Iranians and the protestors who want improved living conditions along with Iran out of Iraq) surely must both want the RV. It would give the Iranians some desperately needed purchasing power and it would do the same for the protestors who will immediately be able to afford more. I think that would actually placate the protestors a lot actually. And while it's not ideal for Iraq to be pushed into something this big from an urgency standpoint, I do believe Iraq has been planning and preparing to do this RV for years, and it appears that they are pretty close to being ready. I think most of us here think that. So hopefully Iraq can get their ducks all lined up in a nice enough row that they can successfuly pull off the RV. I think the only real question is, as always, can Iraq can get their act together enough to just do it.

Iran Vice President Is One of 7 Officials to Contract Coronavirus Masoumeh Ebtekar, President Hassan Rouhani’s deputy for women’s affairs and the highest-ranking woman in the government, was at least the seventh Iranian official to test positive...... Ms. Ebtekar, one of four vice presidents, was known to Americans as “Mary” during the Tehran hostage crisis four decades ago, when, as a young revolutionary, she was a spokeswoman for the captors of the 52 Americans held at the United States Embassy. Iran now appears to have the highest number of government officials infected by the coronavirus, ...... Besides Ms. Ebtekar, the other Iranian officials infected include: Mojtaba Zolnour, a member of Parliament from Qom and head of Parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee; Mahmoud Sadeghi, an outspoken member of Parliament from Tehran; Iraj Harirchi, the deputy health minister who had been leading the effort to contain the coronavirus; Morteza Rahmanzadeh, the mayor of a Tehran district; Dr. Mohamad Reza Ghadir, head of coronavirus management in Qom and director of the city’s state medical university, and Hadi Khosroshahi, a prominent cleric and former ambassador to the Vatican. Mr. Khosroshahi, 81, died,....... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/world/middleeast/coronavirus-iran-vice-president.html

Looks like pets should be safe from coronavirus. For us animal lovers this is really good news!!! \

And now we see more Iranian government officials getting sick and one even dying. One good thing that might come out of this is that the Iranian people may be in a better position to get rid of their tyrannical governement as many of them start dropping off. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iranian-vice-president-infected-coronavirus Covid-19 Infects Iranian Vice President, Kills Iran Ambassador To Vatican FARS news agency reports that for former Iranian Ambassador to The Vatican has died from Covid-19. 101 people are talking about this * * * Nothing says 'we've got this under control' like confirming that a handful of your government's most-senior officials have caught the virus at the root of a deadly pandemic sweeping the globe. After confirming on Thursday that its 'official' death toll from the outbreak had reached 22 with 141 cases confirmed (lawmakers have claimed that the death toll as of Monday was up to 50 in Qom alone), Iranian state media reported that the country's vice president for women and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar has tested positive for the virus. She is the third senior official to be infected, alongside the Deputy Health Minister and Cleric Hadi Khosroshahi, who succumbed to the pneumonia due to his advanced age. Masoumeh Ebtekar