Kurdish minister swears in the House of Representatives
Alsumaria News / Baghdad - A parliamentary source said on Saturday, that the Minister of the Kurds were sworn in before the House of Representatives during its meeting held today under the chairmanship of Salim al-Jubouri, and the presence of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and 261 deputies.
The source said in an interview for "Alsumaria News", "The Minister of the Kurds were sworn in before the House of Representatives during its meeting of 22 of the first legislative term of the legislative year, the first of its third parliamentary session held today under the chairmanship of Salim al-Jubouri, and the presence of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and 261 deputies."
The Council of Representatives, on Saturday (18 October 2014), its the 22 of the first legislative term chaired by Salim al-Jubouri, and the presence of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and 261 deputies, voted on Mohammed Ghaban interior minister and Khalid al-Obeidi as defense minister and just Hurcab to the Ministry of Tourism and the statement Nuri to the Ministry of Women.
BAGHDAD / NINA / House of Representatives voted today to complete the ministerial cab after the agreement on the security ministers in the House's session which was attended by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
MP, Rehab Al-Abbouda told the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA / The House of Representatives voted to approve ( Jassim Mohammed for the Immigration Ministry, Bayyan Nuri as the Minister for Women, Hoshyar Zebari for the financial, Khalid al-Obeidi, the defense and Mohammed Salem Ghaban for the interior, Adil Shirshab for Tourism and Friard Raundozi for Culture, Saman Abdullah as Minister of State and Rose Nuri Shaways deputy Prime Minister.
The Controversial Kurdish Ministers in the New Iraqi Cabinet
Posted by Reidar Visser
Iraqi news reports and public controversy regarding the Kurdish ministers in the new Iraqi government of Haydar al-Abbadi that was seated last September have brought to the fore some of the key issues in Iraqi political culture and behavior in the post-2003 period.
In several Kurdish statements, as well as in press reports that uncritically reproduced those statements, one can get the impression that Kurdish politicians who were unhappy with the way portfolios were distributed to individual Kurdish ministers back in September think they have the right to conduct some sort of private reshuffle, moving individual Kurdish politicians between ministries in accordance with their preferences and ideas about which positions fit which individuals better. It has been maintained that Abbadi did not sufficiently consult with the Kurdish parties in making his nominations before parliament, and there is a desire for change of several key ministries. In particular, the Kurds are insistent that Hosyhar Zebari, the previous foreign minister, should be finance minister rather than deputy PM, whereas Rosch Shaways should continue to hold that deputy premiership. The Kurdish view has been that the swap between those positions could be executed as soon as there was internal Kurdish agreement behind the decision.
Of course, from the constitutional point of view, what the Kurdish parties may think about the allocation of Kurdish politicians to ministries is subordinated to the will of the Iraqi parliament, as expressed in the vote on the Abbadi government in September. Constitutionally, it is immaterial what Kurdish parties or the Kurdish regional president Masud Barzani may think about the issue. Parliament has already expressed its will, and if there are to be changes, these will have to be voted on. The only reason there is a legal loophole for making such changes at all without first going through the formal process of dismissing ministers already voted into their jobs is that the Kurdish ministers have refrained from formally taking the oath as ministers in the new cabinet before parliament.
Accordingly, before any swearing in of Kurdish ministers as per the new allocation preferred by the Kurds themselves can take place, a proper vote in the Iraqi parliament on their candidacies must be conducted. Whether a majority for such a vote is realistic remains an open question. True, one could expect such support for new Kurdish ministers to materialize as part of the general agreement between all the leading Iraqi factions that led to the formation of the Abbadi government in the first place. However, it is noteworthy that voting patterns on the individual ministers back in September featured several protest abstentions and many ministers failed to reach the symbolically important absolute majority mark of 165 (the Iraqi supreme court has insisted that an “absolute majority” means a an absolute majority of the total members of the assembly only in those cases where this is expressly mentioned and therefore an absolute majority of MPs present is enough for minister approval). Accordingly, the Kurdish bloc itself does not have sufficient votes to pass these ministers without the active support of at least some of the non-Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi parliament.
With security ministers still not appointed and indications there may be ministers of state added (one of the reported new Kurdish ministers is just an unnamed “minister of state” to be given to members of a Kurdish Islamist party), the new Abbadi government is structurally looking more and more like the second Maliki cabinet. It is true that the Abbadi government formation process looked cleaner on the surface with no intangible “strategic policy council” and no mysterious “Erbil agreement”. But if there is a multiplication in coming weeks of numbers of ministers with no other purposes than satisfying particular political party interests, some of the assumed differences between Abbadi’s and Maliki’s cabinets could soon get blurred.
The Kurdish stance on its ministers, too, is reflective of the culture of consociated democacy that has crystallized in Iraq since 2003. Essentially, the Kurds think they wield sovereignty within their allotted quota of ministerial seats. That is not a view that is supported by the Iraqi constitution, and one that will be put to the test when the Iraqi parliament gets together to tackle these issues in coming days. A forthcoming decision on Saturday has been expected, but so far there is no formal agenda on the parliament website. What is clear in any case is that any new Kurdish ministers must be voted on before they can complete the formality of swearing in.
Coalition airstrikes weakened the capacity of the IS
Washington / NINA / The Commander of the US Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin announced on Friday that the air strikes of the coalition forces led to weaken the capacity of the IS organization, noting that the process of defeating the organization "will take a long time.
Austin said in a press conference held at the headquarters of the Pentagon that "the security of Baghdad International Airport is secured, saying there are no risks that might threaten the traffic at the Airport.
Austin stressed the crucial role of Iraqis in defeating the IS in Iraq, stressing the need to reorganize the Iraqi army and regain the trust of the Sunni street by the central government.
Austin admitted that the coalition is facing difficulties in finding targets belonging to the IS organization due to the changing their military tactics in moving and communications. / End
Chattels - Yesterday, this came out from IMF regarding Vietnam.. It was completed July 2014 but just released yesterday... it is lengthy but you may find it interesting..
I enjoyed Page 20 - section 26:
"The SBV broadly agreed with recommendations to enhance the monetary policy framework.
...The authorities explained that they had increasingly implemented monetary policy
through short-term interbank interest rates, and were beginning to view money and credit targets as indicative.
Liquidity forecasting had improved, and progress had been made in communicating the rationale for policy action to help guide market expectations.
They noted that a stronger banking system and increased confidence in the currency would be needed to facilitate a smooth transition from the exchange rate to inflation as a nominal anchor over the medium term."
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