Tuesday, June 14, 2022

THE UNIVERSE - Out of Nothing: Infinity


I've been watching science documentaries for the last few days and the one above is my favorite so far. If you're interested in the big bank, I think you'll love it.


"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, June 14, 2022.  Some in the US press (CNN) continue to lie about cleric and cult leader Moqtada al-Sadr, others offer a little more truth and a prisoner long held and tortured at Guantanamo makes a plea deal.



As we noted Sunday, in Iraq, the political stalemate continues.  October 10th, elections were held and they still don't have a prime minister or a president.  The Court has stated that the carry over government has limited powers.  This hasn't been taken to the court yet but that also means this 'Cabinet minister meets with Saudi Arabia counterpart' nonsense the press keeps reporting really needs to stop as well and don't be surprised if this gets taken before the Court.  They're not allowed to do certain things.  They were supposed to be dissolved.  Now a new hiccup, Qassim Abdul-zahra (AP) reports:

Dozens of lawmakers who make up the biggest bloc in Iraq's parliament resigned on Sunday amid a prolonged political impasse, plunging the divided nation into political uncertainty.

The 73 lawmakers from powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc submitted their resignation based on his request, to protest a persisting political deadlock eight months after general elections were held.

Parliament Speaker Mohammed Halbousi accepted their resignation.

Al-Sadr, a maverick leader remembered for leading an insurgency against U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, emerged as the winner in the election held in October.

The election was held several months earlier than expected, in response to mass protests that broke out in late 2019, and saw tens of thousands rally against endemic corruption, poor services and unemployment.


In the last 24 hours, the press finally showed up.



I guess the press is a bit like the police, they "always come late, if they come at all."  And looking at some of the results of the last 24 hours, maybe they should have stayed away.

Nadeen Ebrahim of CNN just can't relinquish the fantasy.  Ebrahim insists that he's "Iraq's most powerful politician" and that "After eight months of political paralysis, the kingmaker of Iraqi politics has ordered his bloc to withdraw from parliament."


Kingmaker!  We told you they were lying whores.  We told you Moqtada wasn't a kingmaker and it didn't take us eight months to do so.  Most sane people long ago stopped repeating that nonsense.  Not Ebrahim.


Here's a few clues.  The most powerful politician in Iraq wouldn't let his followers live in slums like Sadr City.  The most powerful politician in Iraq, would have been able to cobble a government together well before eight months.  In 2010, it took eight months because Nouri lost the election and refused to step down.  What happened, the US put together The Erbil Agreement to give Nouri al-Maliki a second term as prime minister -- after he lost the election.  That seems pretty powerful.  And this go round?  Nouri threw one roadblock after another in Moqtada's path.  Seems pretty powerful.


Moqtada is a cult leader and he's accomplished nothing except managing to elude arrest on that bench warrant that's been in place since shortly after the US government invaded.


His power is waning -- as witnessed by his lower turnout (and control of his followers) in last fall's elections.  


Many Shi'ites boycotted.  A number were prevented from voting -- especially the militia members but don't tell that to the US press because they play favorites.  Even with the evidence in their face, they will lie.  I don't care for the militias and I've called them out repeatedly including years spent stating that they shouldn't become part of the national forces.  But they were disenfranchised.  That's a fact.  When you pick and choose which facts you want to go with, you're not really helping anyone and you're making yourself look like an idiot.


Moqtada has no huge power and that's one of the reasons he couldn't form a government.  Another reason he's not a kingmaker is that he never had the temperament for it.  Any one with any talent at all would have long ago learned how to make compromises.  Instead Moqtada pushed three times for a vote and failed every time and learned nothing from it.


He's an idiot.


Raed Omari (ARAB NEWS) notes:


 At a press conference in Amman on Monday, Al-Halbousi said Al Sadr’s bloc had chosen to be the “scapegoat” after failing to form a majority coalition in parliament. He said the legislature would proceed with measures according to election law and parliamentary protocols to select a replacement.

Ali Moussawi, a former Iraqi member of parliament and a political researcher at Baghdad University, said: “Al-Sadr reached the point that he accepted the bitter reality that it’s nearly impossible to form a government away from the Iranian-backed groups.”


Iran had long been a refuge for Moqtada.  He left Iraq repeatedly from the start of the war until 2011 or so.  He'd dart over to Iran whenever he was worried that the arrest warrant was going to be executed.  In 2010, he tried to present himself as strong an independent of Iran.  Whomever his bloc wanted to back from prime minister, he said, he'd do so.  This was in the midst of the eight month political stalemate.  He held his little election and then?  Iran said Nouri.  That's not who his followers voted for but Moqtada went along, tail between his legs.


He refused to make any overtures this time and he found out just how powerless he was.  I have no idea why but the government of Iran has never, ever wanted Moqtada to be prime minister or to select who is prime minister.  That's a long standing pattern.  


It didn't help that last August, he got a huge bribe from the US State Dept, but that anti-Moqtada in leadership attitude has been there for years.


MIDDLE EAST EYE notes:

Parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, one of Sadr's most prominent allies, ratified the resignations immediately, without hesitation or investigation, casting more uncertainty on the situation.

On Monday, Halbousi said he tried hard to dissuade Sadr, but did not succeed. He said the resigned MPs will be replaced by the losing candidates who obtained the highest votes in the constituencies of the withdrawing Sadrists.

A quick review of the election results published on the official website of the High Electoral Commission clearly reveals that the Coordination Framework will be the biggest beneficiary of the process. The bloc will be awarded no less than 50 seats, adding to the 83 it has currently.

On Sunday night, meetings were held in Baghdad by the leaders of the Coordination Framework in Baghdad to discuss the latest developments, sources told MEE.

Falih al-Fayyad, head of the Hashd al-Shaabi governmental paramilitary umbrella group, and the Hashd's chief-of-staff Abu Fadak al-Muhammadawi were the most prominent figures at the meeting.


He took his toys and went home. MEE notes he may be planning to lead protests against whatever government forms.  When have his protests been successful?  He didn't lead The October Revolution, young Shi'ites led it.  He then tried to hop on the bandwagon.  The young Iraqis kicked him off it and he then tried to destroy the movement but was unable to.


How is he a leader. 


During Nouri's second term Moqtada joined the movement to oust him via the Parliament.  Jalal Talabani -- on Joe Biden's orders -- stopped that from happening.  When Jalal can out maneuver you, how bright are you?  Not very and not very powerful.


Don't waste your time reading the nonsense Jane Arraf has scribbled for THE NEW YORK TIMES.  It's more garbage from the woman who's 'reported' on Iraq since the 90s and never, ever had an actual scoop.  Not at CNN, not at NPR, not at NYT, not at THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR.  Sorry if I've left out any other outlet she failed at.

Sunday, we noted the Atlantic Council's Abbas Kadhim offered this analysis:


The Sadrist Mivement submitted their resignation letters to Parliament Speaker Halbousi and he placed his approval signatures on them. When they become final, if it gets there, the law allows the next vote getter to take the seat vacated by every resigning MP. (1)

This will redistribute 73 parliamentary seats among various political blocs. It is expected that the Framework Coalition will benefit, by increasing their seat numbers, and some independents may also het seats. Again, if the Sadrists make their position to withdraw final. (2)


Most likely, Sayid Muqtada al-Sadr will receive many appeals from varions Iraqi — and non-Iraqi — voices to reconsider his decision. The Sadrists are an important piller in current Iraqi politics. He may reconsider if his conditions, or most of them, are met, but unlikely. (3)


This latest Sadrist decision, if final, will force a re-shuffle of the entire govt formation alliances and negotiations and it will reconfigure the balance of powers, which means the extension of post-election uncertainty period. Don’t expect a government formed soon. (4)

I do not expect the Framework to do anything, other than appealing to Sayid Sadr to reconsider his decision and return to the table. They will only act & talk on basis of the new reality after the CoR membership is redistributed & finalized, if this happens. (5)

If it does, one of these possible scenarios may materialize: A) the Sadrists leave the official politics and become popular opposition (they can’t be a parliamentary apposition). This will lead to an early election. (6)

B) a government is formed with pro-Sadr participation under their own banners (Sayid Sadr may leave the option open for some people close to him to participate on their own). It will be a bit hard life for the new govt, but better than scenario “A”. (7)

C) the life of current government is extended with a mandate to prepare for another early election. Parliament has to vote to dissolve itself for this to happen and send a good-will to the Sadrists that they are not excluded. (8)

D) a new government is formed by a compromise candidate with a declared purpose of preparing for early election. This is better than scenario “C”, because the new govt will have full authority to govern, as opposed to the current caretaker govt whose powers are truncated. (9)



Jane notes it too.  Doesn't seem to understand it, but she notes it.


We'll wind down with this, AP's Ben Fox reports:


An Iraqi man who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for more than 15 years pleaded guilty Monday to war crimes charges for his role in al-Qaida attacks against U.S. and allied forces along with civilians in Afghanistan.

The pleas by the prisoner known as Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi before a military commission at the U.S. base in Cuba amount to a legal milestone, aiding efforts to resolve the long-stalled Guantanamo tribunals and wind down operations at the detention center.

Prosecuting Hadi al-Iraqi has been delayed for years by some of the same legal and logistical challenges that have held up other Guantanamo cases as well as by his deteriorating spinal condition that has left him partially paralyzed.

Hadi al-Iraqi, who is about 60 and says his real name is Nashwan al-Tamir, was arraigned at Guantanamo in 2014 before the commission, which was set up to prosecute prisoners for war crimes in a high-security court that combines military and civilian law.


If only this plea has happened when Bully Boy Bush was in the White House, Jane Meyer and THE NEW YORKER might have pretended to care.  Instead those at Guantanamo were left with no real interest on the part of the press.  Someone held for years who finally makes a plea (after years of torture)?  Doesn't build confidence in the system or in the punishment that will now be imposed.


The following sites updated: 




 

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