Hikmah

RTGS has been in use for years in Iraq, there are over 40 banks right now who utilize it like Rasheed, Rafidian and even Warka.

There are two versions of the HCL. The first was created and put together in 2007, the US helped craft legislation that allowed the provinces to choose who they worked with, where the oil was drilled for and full transparency including revenue sharing for all the citizens of Iraq. Then Maliki became PM. His team took the original HCL apart and centralized everything, the GOI worked with the oil companies, told them where to drill and offered no transparency. This is the version the Kurd's, Christians, Turkmen and Sunni don't want to pass, they want choices when oil is drilled in their backyards. If the HCL gets passed anytime soon, it will be Maliki's Shia version that benefits very few people in Iraq, unless you're part of the government and the Shia religion.

Sounds like they're saying "paying their bills"

Sounds like they're taking the weapons away from the civilians, guess they don't have a second amendment to protect themselves with.

Israel is the fly in this ointment. They'll never agree to losing lands and going back to what is was before the Arabs attacked in 1967. I don't see Iraq dividing either unless it's into autonomous zones, the Iranians won't allow it. http://www.npr.org/2011/05/24/136495202/background-israels-pre-1967-boundaries

The elections will be delayed because of the change in ratio's.

Exactly. This isn't smoke they've been fighting for years.

lol Baghdad is going to blow a gasket, that's a billion dollars they'll never see.

The GOI have drug their feet since 2005 when it comes to Article 140, they've had every opportunity to address and fix this. Instead, they ran in the face of the enemy and essentially handed Kirkuk to the Kurd's and I don't see them returning it with a bow on it. Baghdad's sectarianism is coming home to roost, they lost Anbar Province for three years and they're about to lose Kirkuk permanently. I don't think President Trump is going to allow Syria, Iran or Turkey to dictate terms to the Kurd's, it's going to be up to us. The "trump" card is that the Kurd's have already offered to accommodate US bases in the territory, something the US wants badly.

"Kurdish officials claim there is no real partnership in governing Iraq, and the Baghdad government treats them as guests rather than partners in the country." Truer words were never spoken, Iraq and the Shia have treated the Kurd's like crap for years, who wouldn't want to leave? I agree, Drunk Viking, I don't think this is disastrous for the dinar but it sure doesn't help anything.

Thank you Yota

Clowns like this are exactly why Abadi has to dismantle the militia's, no more armed factions that don't answer to the central government, it's 2017 for crying out loud.

State of Law is starting up in preparation for elections in 2018, look for more of these types of articles.......................in the coming days.

Barzani needs to fix the Kurdish problems first, right now they're divided. He's remained two years past his time as President and he's not keen on giving up any power. If he can unite the Kurd's and state he wants to create a democracy in Kurdistan, I don't know why the west would stop him, there's too much upside. Hopefully Baghdad understands how serious they are and the long range implications of a free Kurdistan, if they do what they've always done, the Kurd's have no reason to stay. I can't imagine it happening let alone how this will effect our dinar.

Thanks, Tiger. The Iranians like to put this stuff out there to get Sadr, Ameri and Badr worked up, they and Maliki want no more troops in Iraq, they can't lie cheat and steal as much when our troops are there.

"for the sale of these remittances to beneficiaries such as banks and departments of social welfare and retirement and minors." Bonds are debt, Iraq is cheating Peter to pay Paul. They're taking dinars from the banks, social welfare programs and pension programs and replacing them with paper bonds to fill in the holes in the budget. At some point, Iraq is going to have to repay this or the banks, social welfare programs and pensions will collapse.

Morning, Yota, thanks for the articles. At some point Abadi is going to have to address the HCL issue, what they're doing now isn't working. Baghdad is still dragging it's heals, transparency and distribution of the funds to the people of Iraq will remove confrontations like the above.

Western Mosul is going to very difficult to liberate, it's the oldest part of the city and the streets are very narrow with homes closely packed together. It's going to be a street by street fight that won't end quickly. The US can't carpet bomb this area due to the high number of civilians still living there, so it's going to be up to the Iraqi's Counter Terrorism group to get this done, which means high causalities on both sides. I hope I'm wrong, but if Iraq can free western Mosul by June or July it will be a miracle. Abadi's in a tough spot right now and he's doing his best to convince not only the Iraqi's but the world that Daesh will be eliminated "soon." We'll see what happens. The CBI can't loan money directly to the GOI, so they purchased bonds issued by the GOI as a workaround. It's a house of cards, Iraq's economy, as it stands today, is unsustainable. Without a move towards an open market economy all that the GOI can do is borrow money, oil just won't cut it anymore.

I agree, Iraq is no where close to solving the HCL problem, they can't even honor the deal Abadi brokered in 2014. Over and over the GOI fail the Iraqi people.

lol, I don't know about smart but I'm like you, dialogue is what I enjoy.

Gotta tell ya, I was surprised to see you post this Newbie. Truthstream Media? I could only get through about eight minutes of this stuff before I hit the pause button, there's more holes in their suppositions than a block of swiss cheese. Truthstream has it's roots with Alex Jones, he employed Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton until they split off to form Truthstream, but both cover things like chemtrails, vaccines, the illuminati and vague globalist conspiracies. The narrator talks about the seven countries as if we have a desire to overthrow them and I don't believe that's the reason for the temporary travel ban, it's not part of some conspiracy as far as I can tell. Five of the seven don't even have central governments, there's no way to have the home government conduct background checks and forward the info to the US. Anyone who's ever gotten a passport knows there's a process to receiving it, five of these countries don't even have a process. I don't see an agenda in that, just practical thinking on Trump's part. He wants to know who's entering the country and what they're going to do once they get here. No shame in that, it's been like that for years until the past administration changed things up. But it doesn't mean the US intends to attack and remove their leadership, it doesn't make sense. Why would Trump include Iraq on this list if that was the motive? We already broke that country, why put a travel ban on a country that we're so heavily invested in if the motive is to destabilize it? Another thing she mentioned was the missile test, where again she's wrong. In 2010: U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929, from 2010, says the Security Council "decides that Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic missile technology, and that States shall take all necessary measures to prevent the transfer of technology or technical assistance to Iran related to such activities." And in 2015: In Resolution 2231, passed in 2015, the Security Council endorsed the nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. It terminated the provisions of the 2010 resolution and added language deep in one of the annexes saying: "Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology, until the date eight years after the JCPOA Adoption Day or until the date on which the IAEA submits a report confirming the Broader Conclusion, whichever is earlier." Iran is in clear violation of the agreement, it's not a conspiracy. These dirt bags have publicly vowed to wipe Israel off the map and have made similar threats to the US as evidenced by this article. Rouhani isn't capable of doing anything to the US but the last thing we want is another destabilized middle eastern country, so we let this moron rant. When the people of Iran want change, let them make it. If Iran attacks the US or Israel, flatten them, but until then, sanctions are about the only thing I see Trump doing. The last thing I watched was related to Iran attacking our navy and for sure, these guys have made aggressive moves in international waters towards our navy, there's tons of video showing them too close to navy destroyers and other ships. They even captured our sailors when all the had to do was pull them back into international waters instead of taking them back to Iran where they humiliated and video taped the crew. There are a ton of these biased sites on the web, I have a list of over 75 of them who spout this kind of stuff to attract clicks and followers. We need a firm hand on the Iranians, the middle east doesn't act or think like western governments. Sanctions crippled these guys and if they don't toe the line, more sanctions are necessary. If they get too froggy, Israel will pick up our slack and remove the threat with extreme prejudice and violence, something the west needs to support if it occurs.

Iraq's begging and inability to repay it's debt is one of the many reasons Iraq has a B- credit rating from the west. They might overlook the terrorist infestation but if you add in the Paris Club, the Kuwaiti's and now the Czech's it's pretty clear Iraq doesn't honor their financial agreements. Compound that with a rentier economy solely based on oil and these guys aren't making any progress on their credit rating.

Tjank you Lorre, so far Abadi is holding steady.

Shiite for brains works for me, but I would respectfully disagree with your assessment of the term ISIL: ISIS stood for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. Al-Sham was formerly a caliphate on the land that is now Syria, Israel, Jordan, etc .ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The Levant is a more historical/traditional name for Syria. https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-ISIS-and-ISIL-1 Neither ISIS or ISIL is "wrong," it's just a historical perspective. Daesh works for me too. In the end, my post was more about how the governor of Kirkuk is asking for US assistance after Mosul is liberated from ISIS/ISIL/Daesh because of the impending hostilities about who's going to manage their territory.

Kirkuk is between a rock and a hard place. The Kurd's have always contended it was a part of their territory, Saddam pushed the Kurd's back and "arabized" the region and took it from them. Article 140 was a constitutional solution to this problem but Maliki wouldn't follow through and Baghdad and the Kurd's have been bumping heads since. When the Iraqi army fled in the face of the enemy, it opened the door for the Kurd's to come in and "protect" Kirkuk. Once ISIL is removed from Mosul and Anbar Province, the Kirkuk issue is going to become a big issue with both parties, Baghdad has already stated they want Kirkuk back in the fold and Barzani told them to go pound sand, all territories the Kurd's took from ISIL are now part of Kurdistan, including the northern region of Iraq. Both the Kurd's and the governor of Kirkuk want the US to remain and maintain the status quo in the event that a conflict breaks out. I don't think Baghdad would have a chance in open combat with the Kurd's, they just don't have the discipline or training and if they tried to take this area back by force, there's going to be a lot of casualties and damaged property. The governor knows that if the US is there, Baghdad won't do squat, they'll squeal as loud as they borrow, but they won't have many other options. Hopefully these guys figure out something out soon, ISIL's going to be gone sometime this year and the potential for conflict is going to escalate.