Monday, July 19, 2021

David Rovic, I love you, but there's a wall

I like David Rovic. Here's a link to his latest piece at COUNTERPUNCH.

No excerpt. I found the piece a chore to read (I did make it through). To be Audrey about it, "And what kind of a name is Boutrous Boutros Ghali? Hello, we heard you the first time." :D

It just goes on and on.

Back to the quote. It's from the best episode of THESE FRIENDS OF MINE which later became ELLEN. It was the second episode of the first season, "The Anchor." And we meet Clea Lewis' Audrey for the first time. She knew Ellen years before and once got her tickets to a David Bowie concert. Which she always brings up, "Remember that time I got you tickets . . ." Ellen's just gotten call waiting. And she's trying to learn it while also trying to pretend she's too busy to see Audrey. At one point, Holly calls and Ellen picks up but then goes back to Audrey and pretends it's an emergency and she's got to go. She hangs up on Audrey and thanks Holly for saving her from "the most life endangering person on the face of the planet." To which Audrey responds, "Uh, Ellen, it's still me, Audrey. You have to hold down on the button."

Determined to leave her behind -- she doesn't understand why Audrey won't just drop away -- now Ellen's determined to get her back.

Their lunch is so funny as Ellen attempts to find a conversation topic that won't prompt sourness from Audrey. Puppis? No. Audrey finds them too "needy." NIGHTLINE? Audrey can't stand the program or the anchor, "It's like there's only one opinion in the world and it has to be Ted Koppel's." The United Nations? "Organized crime" Audrey declares citing diplomatic immunity.

Clea Lewis owned the first season of the show with that one episode. She was amazing. When the brought Audrey back in season two, they made her more positive. Except with regards to Keanu Reeves. She moves from her current place because Keanu doesn't respect boundaries. She tells him -- and tells Ellen -- "I love you, but there's a wall."

In fact, David Rovic, I love you but there's a wall.


Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


 Monday, July 19, 2021.  Protesters turn out in Baghdad, David Ignatius plays dummy for his ventriloquists at the CIA, Mustafa al-Kadhimi and (most of) the press pretend he wants US forces out of Iraq, and much more.



THE ECONOMIC TIMES notes, "The White House announced that US President Joe Biden would be meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi this month. The White House announced Friday that Biden would be hosting Kadhemi at the White House on July 26 in an effort to reaffirm the strategic partnership between both countries."  Khalid Al Ansary and Zaid Sabah (BLOOMBERG NEWS) add that Mjustafa plans to discuss US troop withdrawal with the White House."  TASNIM NEWS AGENCY explains, "In an interview with Saudi-owned al-Hadath television news network on Sunday, al-Kadhim said that his upcoming visit to Washington is aimed at regulating Iraq’s relations with the United States and pushing for the withdrawal of foreign combat forces from the Arab country."


That probably sounds good . . . to the very stupid. If Mustafa wants foreign troops out, he can do that without a meet-up  If he wants them out (he doesn't).  He can exercise the exit clause in Iraq's agreement with the US.  But he's refused to do that.  He makes statements -- which he knows wil be popular but he never backs them up.


Even now, he's not backing them up.  But a whorish press pretends that he is.  


Even now, he's not calling for US troops out, despite reports otherwise.  Dilan Sirwan (RUDAW) reports:

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi claimed that his upcoming visit to Washington will put an end to the presence of US combat troops in Iraq in an interview on Sunday, but stressed the need for continued training, air force, and intelligence support.

“We are visiting Washington to set out our relationship with America. The Iraqi army still needs their forces for training. We need their support to our air force, and we need their intelligence support in the fight against ISIS (Islamic State),” Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said in an interview with the Saudi owned al-Hadath TV on Sunday. 

“The visit will be to set out this relationship, and to put an end to the presence of combat forces, because the Iraqi army can now fight for itself on behalf of Iraqis and the world against these terrorist groups in Iraq,” Kadhimi added. “There is no need for combat troops.”


Get it yet?


He's not attempting to eject US troops out of Iraq.  It's a lie.  He's trying for a second term as prime minister.  Glenn Greenwald, before you Tweet nonsense again about Mustafa, grasp how empty his damn words truly are.


"Combat troops" -- the ultimate weasel word.  


As for the claim that Iraqi forces still need US forces to help them train?  Seriously?


They've been training Iraqi forces since 2003.


I think I had more respect for the Iraqi government in the fall of 2011 when they began making clear that they didn't want any help training from the US.  Remember the millions spent on the secure training facility in Baghdad?  Built just for this purpose.


And never ever used.


The Iraqi forces refused to show up for training from Americans.


Remember that?


Oh, wait, many probably don't because you had 'news' outlets refusing to report the truth if they thought it might hurt Barack Obama's re-election choices.


The current state of the media?


We didn't get here overnight.  The media shielded Barack.  Which is why most Americans don't know about the training facility or the millions -- of US tax dollars -- spent on it or that Barack ended up just handing the building over to the Iraqi government.  Most never heard about poor Brook Darby, sent by the US State Dept to Congress to try to spin this huge failure.  They don't realize that the Inspector General -- whose office was allowed to elapse for telling truths -- noted in reports and testimony that the Iraqis did not want training from the Americans.  


Lying whore Jill Abramson is now exposed for the serial plagiarist that she is.  And, in related news, her son's rock band dreams were crushed (you're welcome, Jill).  At THE NEW YORK TIMES, she whored over and over.  She repeatedly tailored what appeared in the paper based on whether ir would help Barack Obama or not.  Tim Arango was the reporter covering Iraq.  He learned that Barack was sending US troops back into Iraq.  Jill wouldn't let the story run.  She finally allowed it to appear dead center in a long article on Syria.


Here's what Tim Arango reported:


 
 Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.        


That should have been a front page, stand-alone report.  Instead, it appeared in the middle of a report on Syria.


And while we're here . . .


I take reporters to account.  If you don't like that, oh well.  But grasp that sometimes my sources are reporters.  Meaning?  After Anthony Shadid died, I got a ton of e-mails about how rude I was.


I was rude?


For saying he needed to keep covering Iraq and not Syria?


You do know that Anthony felt that way himself, right?  You may not know that he asked us to hit the paper on that.  You may not realize that he participate in multiple roundtables for the gina & krista round-robin as my guest.


And I bring that up because of whore Jill Abramson.


Let's all be very clear that she's why he's dead.


He didn't want to report on Syria.  He did not think (a) that it was safe and (b) that Iraq needed to lose focus.  

Jill wanted war.  More war.  And she was willing to risk the lives of others to get it.


She's a lying two-bit whore who has Tony's blood on her hands.  She knows it.  Most of us know it.  It's past time she was called out because she is not a journalist.  


She's a plagiarist.  She's a whore.


Anyone counting on her to deliver the news is as big a fool as those who counted on Gail Collins to deliver opinions worth reading.  


If you're late to the party on Gail, this is the piece of trash who oversaw the op-ed pages when the paper had multiple columnists and only one was a woman.  Confronted on hiring a man to fill in for Maureen Dowd when Dowd was on vacation, Gail insisted that it didn't matter.  Representation, didn't matter.  That's the whore trash who tries to pose as a feminist.  Grasp that.  That's the whore who refused to run any of the submissions on Coretta Scott King.  Coretta, a historical woman, had just passed away.  Gail, herself, did an unsigned editorial on her playwright friend -- a woman whose work is not all that important, sorry -- and had multiple article in the paper -- including on the front page -- about her death.  But Gail wouldn't draft an outside writer to write about Coretta or take any of the submissions on the topic offered to the paper.  Tired of my nagging, Bob Herbert finally pulled Coretta into a column -- the first (and only) time her death was noted on the op-ed pages.  Grasp that we could write a book about all the whore trash at THE NEW YORK TIMES alone. Oh, the stories we could tell.

The bulk of the press exists as p.r. agents.  They don't deliver news, ,they run through publicity copy.  


Saturday, we noted David Ignatius' latest nonsense column which argues -- on behalf of the CIA -- that Mustafa needs a second term because . . . well, there might be worse.


Worse for whom, David?  For whom?


The Iraqi people are suffering.  But he doesn't care about them.  


What's really sad about old whores like David?  They don't realize that they have a long history.  They don't realize that their past arguments re already known.  They don't grasp just how whorish they look.  Papers should probably begin to impose a ten year limit on columnists since, by that point, they ha e a history that betrays them as an idiot who has repeatedly gotten it wrong.


Uli Tweets:


Iraqis have protested in Baghdad to demand that authorities hold accountable the killers of dozens of activists associated with a long-running protest movement. More than 70 activists have been targeted in assassinations, attempted murders and abductions
Iraq protesters demand accountability after killings of activists
Hundreds protest in Baghdad demanding the end of impunity after the killings of dozens of pro-democracy activists.


Deji Sadiq Tweets about it as well:


Iraq protesters demand accountability after killings of activists Hundreds protest in Baghdad demanding the end of impunity after the killings of dozens of pro-democracy activists.
2:34 AM · Jul 19, 2021


Also noting it is Linda Hemby:


#Iraq: Hundreds protested on Sunday in central Baghdad to demand that authorities hold accountable the killers of dozens of activists associated with a long-running protest movement
@AFP
Iraqis protest against unpunished killings of activists - France 24
Iraqis protest against unpunished killings of activists


TRT WORLD NOW Tweets:


In pictures: Iraqis protest in central Baghdad to demand authorities hold accountable the killers of dozens of activists associated with a protest movement against government corruption
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3:30 PM · Jul 18, 2021


Golly, Jane Arraf, that doesn't look like a "small" protest -- the one you noted in your Tweet.  At least you managed to include that the Iraqi police was stopping reporters from taking pictures.

Farid Y. Farid Tweets: 


In #Baghdad, hundreds have taken to the streets today to call for an end to assassinations & abductions targeting activists & revolutionaries of the #October2019 uprising. More than 70 have been killed in the last 2yrs #إنهاء_الإفلات_من_العقاب #Iraq
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10:22 AM · Jul 18, 2021


More poignant scenes from the #Baghdad protest where many youth feel power let down that their friends have been killed without any semblance of justice meted out by authorities #Iraq #إنهاء_الإفلات_من_العقاب
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10:52 AM · Jul 18, 2021


“We're here to say that we want to end impunity in #Iraq,” .
@alfeli_47
, an 18-yr-old student told #AFP from Firdous Square in #Baghdad. “We want freedom! This revolution started because of this & we won't stop until we win” france24.com/en/live-news/2
#إنهاء_الإفلات_من_العقاب
Iraqis protest against unpunished killings of activists - France 24
Iraqis protest against unpunished killings of activists

2:07 PM · Jul 18, 2021

ALJAZEERA carries AFP's report:


Hundreds of Iraqis have protested in central Baghdad to demand that authorities hold accountable the killers of dozens of activists associated with a long-running protest movement.

More than 70 activists have been targeted in assassinations, attempted murders and abductions since a pro-democracy protest movement erupted against government corruption and incompetence in 2019.

“We’re here to say that we want to end impunity in Iraq,” Hussein Al-Faili, an 18-year old student, told AFP news agency on Sunday from Firdos Square, a key protest site.

“We want freedom! This revolution started because of this and we won’t stop until we win.”

Dozens also turned out in the southern city of Nasiriya, where tensions have been running high following a hospital fire that killed at least 60 people on Monday.


The October Revolution started in the fall of 2019 to call out corruption and to demand a better Iraq.  The protests continue.  They continue despite the attacks on protesters at demonstrations -- attacks carried out by security forces.  Remember when, I do, Jane Arraf went on NPR to dismiss the force being shown towards protesters and instead she justified the use of tear gas cannisters and less than 30 minutes after her 'report' social media was abuzz with photos of the protester killed by a tear cannister -- lodged in his head.


Oh, Jane, it's been a very interesting career.  It could make a film.  Not a serious film, mind you, but it would be hilarious if it focused on the oblivious American reporter who forever gets it wrong -- think an update of Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour's THEY GOT ME COVERED.


The following sites updated:






Posted by at

Friday, July 16, 2021

One of the best things about music right now, Chase Rice

 MUSIC ROW notes:


Chase Rice rises three spots to No. 1 this week on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart. “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” features duo Florida Georgia Line and was written by Rice, Hunter Phelps, Cale Dodds, and Corey Crowder. 

Rice sat down with MusicRow to discuss his three-part project, The Album, and returning to live music after the pandemic. “I played ‘Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.’ at the Ryman a couple of weeks ago and it was mind blowing! Everybody stood up and came to the front–I don’t know if that was allowed or not– but we didn’t care. It was a special moment and I haven’t seen a reaction like that since ‘Ready Set Roll,’ to be honest. Even ‘Eyes On You’ didn’t get a reaction like that live. I feel like I finally have a party song that’s going to become a hit for the first time since ‘Ready Set Roll,’ which I think is going to be one of the coolest moments during shows.” Click here to read the full interview. 



And from Chase Rice's Twitter account:

Check out the latest episode of "Behind The Song" with Drew Baldridge.
@GoCountry105
bit.ly/3ejts10
Image
11:57 AM · Jul 14, 2021


And here's a reaction to his hit "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen."



And here's the music video for that hit.




Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


 Friday, July 16, 2021.  We look at the upcoming elections in Iraq (another group announced today that they won't be participating) and the difference between public statements and what officials really want.



THE NATIONAL offers a nonsense clip -- did the US State Dept hold their hands while they made it? -- entitled "Why are US troops in Iraq?"





Why are US troops in Iraq?  As you watch the garbage above, you quickly realize it won't provide you with an answer.  


2,500 US troops in Iraq?  You mean 2,500 admitted to, right? 


Then they call the drawdown at the end of 2011 a "withdrawal" -- which not even the Pentagon called it in real time.  And then they insist that after the "withdrawal," three years later, US troops were sent back into Iraq.  


How's your math?


I never claim it to be my strong suit but when I ad 2011 plus 3, I get 2014.  Is that what you get?


I ask because 2014 isn't 2012.  I'm right no that, right?


 

Tim Arango's September 25, 2012 NEW YORK TIMES report which noted, "Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions.  At the request of the Iraqi government, according to [US] General [Robert L.] Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence."


2012.  A year after 2011.  Not even a full year after the drawdown (not withdrawal, all US troops did not leave Iraq -- refer to Ted Koppel's real time reporting for NBC and NPR).


THE NATIONAL wants to ask "Why are US troops in Iraq?"  They don't want to answer it.


Not even in a geopolitical manner.  But they also don't want to be honest about the basics.


This is a propaganda video made by people who want the US in Iraq forever.  As the video moves from getting basic facts wrong, it then presents arguments as facts.  ISIS.  Iran.  Blah, blah, blah.


Iran?  The US has to stay in Iraq because of Iran?  


Hate to break it to THE NATIONAL but ISIS may some day be gone but Iran's going to be Iraq's neighbor forever.  


They share a border.  They'll fight, they'll get along, they'll have a relationship that will last as long as the earth does.


It's all a bunch of nonsense from THE NATIONAL.


Let's drop back to yesterday's snapshot:  After it went up, there was some confusion.  We were talking about Mustafa al-Kadhimi and his notorious inability to provide leadership.  We were noting that elections were supposed to take place this October and that Mustafa wanted a second term as prime minister of Iraq.  We were noting that otuside factors were the only thing benefitting him because his own actions certainly were not.  We explained that one of the biggest political parties in Iraq, the PUK, was in disarray.  It's the second largest party in the Kurdistan Region.  (Clearing up for one e-mail, the person appointed prime minister-designate will most likely have to cobble together support from various parties and slates because no one will win enough support from the direct election -- or that's been the case in every national election in Iraq since 2005.)  And now Moqtada al-Sadr -- Shi'ite cleric and attention whore -- is issuing a dramatic statement.  Those seem to come weekly now, don't they?  Last week, he was declaring that he was about to be killed and "Don't Cry For Me Sadr City" in his best Evita manner.  Yesterday's announcement was he wouldn't see office, be part of the process and blah blah blah.  Then we noted a sentence about Mustafa that I'll include in just a second.  Mustafa is making agreements with political leaders and has been doing that for months -- these are regarding the upcoming elections because he wants their support to get a second term.  The PUK and KDP have been in talks but have made no agreement thus far.  Moqtada had made an agreement with Mustafa.  (Nouri al-Maliki is rather infamous right now for his -- and State of Law's stance -- which is against a second term for Mustafa.  Even Moqtada wouldn't go that far.)


So after that, the following:



At the end of the month, Mustafa al-Kadhimi  is supposed to visit the US and meet with President Joe Biden.  ADDED: ARAB NEWS reports:


Iraq and the US discussed Thursday “the mechanisms for the withdrawal of combat forces” during a meeting of senior officials. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi met with US National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk to discuss these mechanism and the “transition to a new phase of strategic cooperation that develops the relationship between the two countries and enhances Iraq’s security and sovereignty,” a statement released by Kadhimi’s office said. 


That first sentence created some confusion -- did I mean Mustafa or Moqtada?  I meant Mustafa.  So I asked Shirley to add what appears after "ADDED" hoping that cleared it up.  


On that topic, if the US government wants Mustafa for a second term, look for the visit to produce statements about a "withdrawal."  It'll be meaningless but they'll offer them.


Mustafa is grand standing about wanting US troops out.  He doesn't.  His government would fall without them -- and that's the reason, pay attention THE NATIONAL, that US troops are still in Iraq: To prop up the US created government that refuses to gain traction or popularity with the Iraqi people.  All this time later, it has still not taken root and Iraqis do not feel their government represents them.  For good reason.  Here's a video report on the most recent protests (over the hospital fire earlier this week and the corruption.)





Mustafa is not popular.  He was supposed to be a one term prime minister that would get sworn in, schedule early elections and then step aside quickly.  Then he got into office.  The addiciton to power -- and possibly the lure of corruption -- have him determined to be a life long politician.  And, really, who can blame him?  What's he going to do?  Go back to 'reporting' (writing opinion pieces passed off as reporting) for outlets like ARAB NEWS?


When he made his recent statements after the bombing the US carried out at the end of June, some who don't pay attention to Iraq were hailing him.  That would include Glenn Greenwald.  Glenn, you're too smart to act so foolishly.


First, if Mustafa wanted US troops out of Iraq, he would have exercised the exist clause which he can trigger as prime minister -- the exit clause to the agreement the US government and the Iraqi government entered into.


It doesn't require any input from the Iraqi Parliament.  Why is that?


Know the damn history.  So many idiots are betrayed by not knowing it.


Nouri al-Maliki couldn't sell the Parliament on an agreement.  The US grasped it and so did Nouri.  The UN mandate for the occupation of Iraq was running out.  The US needed its own mandate to stay -- a legal agreement between it and the Iraqi government.  Like the UK, they got one.  But they were idiots and got a yearly agreement.  Nouri rammed it through without Parliament the first year but suffered huge blowback and promised that he would get their permission for the next year.  He didn't.


That's why the SOFA was a three year agreement.  It was too much for Nouri politically -- and the US government wanted him as prime minister -- to keep going back yearly.


This applies to the current situation as well and why people need to know the history.


Mustafa's lying the same way Nouri did.  He needs US troops to stay in Iraq to protect him -- now from the militias, on top of everything else.  Especially true after they openly rejected him and circled his compound a few weeks ago.  


Nouri lied.  The US government lied.  To the Iraqi people, to the US citizens, to the world.


The 'withdrawal.'


It wasn't planned.


Nouri wanted US troops in Iraq.  To remain in Iraq.  He did not want to expend a lot of time and effort on selling 3,000 or less.  He told Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman -- as they both noted and as Lieberman testified before Congress -- in the summer of 2011 that he wanted approximately 20,000 at a minimum.  


And then the 'withdrawal' took place.


And then?


I was at the hearing where Leon Panetta testified as Secretary of Defense and explained that negotiations were ongoing.  Even while the 'withdrawal' was being sold by both governments and by the press, both sides thought an agreement would be reached by January.  Didn't happen in the end.  Because Barack Obama wouldn't guarantee the number of US troops Nouri wanted.


But while that went on, the discussions, you really didn't hear about it.  You were lied to and told that a "withdrawal" was taking place.  (Ted Koppel tried to get the real information out.)  


So you need to stop mistaking posturing statements from politicians as they seek re-election for truth.  


If Mustafa wanted US troops out of Iraq, the steps would have already been initiated for that to happen.


The upcoming meeting is taking place in an attempt to lift Mustafa's profile in Iraq.  It's part of his recent (and ongoing) meet leaders tour.  So far, that hasn't helped at all and he's openly mocked (even by ARAB NEWS) for his interaction with the leader of Egypt.  


The US government is assessing Mustafa's popularity currently and they are also assessing how well he might be able to deliver what the US government wants.  If they decide to bet on him, look for him to stand beside Joe Biden and issue some statement about US troops leaving.  


Such an announcement doesn't have to be true.  Believe it when US troops actually leave.  


But it will be an attempt by the US government to inflate Mustafa's standing in Iraq.


Tara Copp and Jaqueline Feldscher (DEFENSE ONE) report:

Officials shot down a report out of Baghdad on Thursday that the United States is preparing to withdraw its approximately 2,500 troops from Iraq. 

The push back follows a tweet from a BBC reporter saying that Brett McGurk, the National Security Council’s top official for the Middle East and North Africa, told Iraqi officials that American troops would leave the country. 

“This report is totally false,” a senior Biden administration official told Defense One. The BBC reporter later deleted her original tweet and said in a new post that U.S. officials said it was “not true,” denying the information she received from Iraqi sources.  

McGurk met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Thursday to discuss preparations for the next strategic talks between the United States and Iraq, which first happened in April, as well as “the mechanisms for the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq and the transition to a new phase of strategic cooperation,” according to a translation of a tweet from Al-Kadhimi’s office. 

Al-Kadhimi is expected to meet with Biden in Washington later this month.  


On the planned elections, Sura Ali (RUDAW) reports:

Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako said on Friday that Christians will not vote in Iraqi parliamentary elections because of concerns over militias and possible fraud, the latest boycott that could cast doubts on the legitimacy of the election. 

“I doubt that there will be transparent and fair elections as the ground is not prepared for that. There are militias and political money, so fraud will occur,” Sako said in an interview with Rudaw, adding that he expects the same people will stay in power. 

In this environment, he said Christians will not participate in the elections because they are “tired of it.”

“The Christian quota will be hijacked again,” he added.

Iraq will hold parliamentary elections in October, a year ahead of schedule. An early vote was one of the demands of anti-government protesters who took to the streets in 2019. But after assassinations of leading activists, the government’s failure to hold the murderers responsible, and rampant corruption, there have been numerous calls for boycotts. 

Some activists and journalists have called for a boycott campaign, saying the elections will be open to fraud and overtaken by militias that operate out of the control of the state. 


In Iraq, the people are still reeling from a fire that appears to be caused due to a lack of government oversight and regulation probably due to corruption.  Ruth Sherlock (NPR) notes, ''Flames swept through outbuildings of the al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in the southern city of Nasiryah on Monday that had been set up to isolate those sick with COVID-19. Patients became trapped inside, with rescue teams struggling to reach them in time."  This morning, Abdulrahman Zeyad and Samya Kullab (AP) report:

 

No beds, medicines running low and hospital wards prone to fire — Iraq’s doctors say they are losing the battle against the coronavirus. And they say that was true even before a devastating blaze killed scores of people in a COVID-19 isolation unit this week.

Infections in Iraq have surged to record highs in a third wave spurred by the more aggressive delta variant, and long-neglected hospitals suffering the effects of decades of war are overwhelmed with severely ill patients, many of them this time young people.

Doctors are going online to plea for donations of medicine and bottled oxygen, and relatives are taking to social media to find hospital beds for their stricken loved ones.

“Every morning, it’s the same chaos repeated, wards overwhelmed with patients,” said Sarmed Ahmed, a doctor at Baghdad’s Al-Kindi Hospital.

Widespread distrust of Iraq’s crumbling health care system only intensified after Monday’s blaze at the Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in the southern city of Nasiriyah, the country’s second catastrophic fire at a coronavirus ward in less than three months.


The following sites updated:





Posted by at

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Dionne Warwick

Do you know the way to . . . Toronto? The woman who asked us all if we knew the way to San Jose, Dionne Warwick, has a documentary that will be screening there. Jillian Morgan (REAL SCREEN) reports:

Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner’s Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over and Jagged, Alison Klayman’s HBO film about iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, are two of the feature documentaries set to screen at the 46th Toronto International Film Festival this fall.
The in-person and digital festival runs Sept. 9 to 18, with more than 100 films forming its official selection. The industry conference takes place Sept. 10 to 14.
Further programming announcements — including TIFF Docs — are expected to be announced in July and August.

Your favorite Dionne Warwick song? "Anyone Who Had A Heart," "Walk On By," "I Say A Little Prayer For You," "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again," "Don't Make Me Over," "Heartbreaker," "That's What Friends Are For," "You Really Started Something," "Love Power," "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" . . . .

So many beloved singles. And along with being a gifted singer . . . she now plans to enter the fragrance market:

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fragrance Creators Association announced today that DDD3 Inc., owned by the beloved entertainer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Dionne Warwick, has joined its membership of more than 60 large and small businesses spanning the fragrance supply chain. Ranking among the 40 biggest American music hit makers between 1955 and 1999, Warwick was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in early 2021 and has been presented with countless international awards and accolades. Formerly serving as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations, she has pioneered various humanitarian and social causes and is an advocate for music fairness. Her successful signature fragrance "Dionne" was launched to the public in 1986, and in response to popular demand she has plans to relaunch it into the marketplace.
"I am impressed with the work Farah and Fragrance Creators have done to honor the artistry and beauty of fragrance in our lives," said Warwick. "Fragrances are rich and complex creations—just like songs—each with a unique set of characters and story that combine to create experiences that evoke emotion and delight. I look forward to bringing my creativity and perspective to this dynamic organization."
"Ms. Warwick embodies the care and respect for others and the grit and grace that drives our association," said Farah K. Ahmed, President & CEO, Fragrance Creators. "She is a model of passion, perseverance, and entrepreneurship, further inspiring us to work collectively with our members to deliver meaningful advancements for people, perfume, and the planet."
"The heart of the fragrance industry is the creative artistry that helps to dream up every scent," said Robert Weinstein, Ph.D., President & CEO, Robertet USA and Chairman, Fragrance Creators Board of Directors. "As an artist, Ms. Warwick understands the importance of respecting our creators and cherishing our creations. She is a wonderful addition to the membership."
Fragrance Creators Association is the principal fragrance trade association. The organization leverages its network of over 1,000 multidisciplinary scientists as it represents the majority of fragrance manufacturing in the U.S. and Canada on a comprehensive array of issues. Fragrance Creators' diverse membership includes innovative companies that create, manufacture, and use fragrances and scents for home care, personal care, home design, fine fragrance, and industrial and institutional products as well as those that supply fragrance ingredients, including natural extracts and other raw materials that are used in perfumery and fragrance mixtures. Fragrance Creators established and administers the Congressional Fragrance Caucus, ensuring ongoing dialogue with members of Congress and staff. The association also produces The Fragrance Conservatory, the comprehensive digital resource for high-quality information about fragrance. Learn more about Fragrance Creators at fragrancecreators.org—for people, perfume, and the planet.
CONTACT:
Lia Dangelico
Director, Communications
ldangelico@fragrancecreators.org

 Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"



Thursday, July 15, 2021.  Iraqi anger continues over this week's fire, the Talabani political dynasty grows shakier, drama queen Moqtada al-Sadr wants to take his toys and go home, and much more.



RUPTLY features a video that they note is making the rounds on social media.



 

An Iraqi man who lost six of his family members in the Nassiriya hospital fire slammed the government and the ministry of health for the catastrophe that killed as many as 92 people in the Iraqi city. "The minister of health is good-for-nothing and the ministry of health is good-for-nothing, we the residents of al-Rifai are supposed to have our own hospital, and staff to attain to them, why do they send us to Nassiriya, why does this happen?" said Yunus Saleh Issa in Rifai on Wednesday. A clip of Yunus Saleh Issa went viral on social media platforms as it showed the agony of the Iraqi man having lost five of his family members, looking for the sixth. Dozens died in the fire at the coronavirus ward of a Nassiriya hospital. More than 100 others were also reportedly injured from the blaze that ripped through the hospital on Monday night which, according to an official investigation, happened when sparks from faulty wires made contact with an oxygen tank that then exploded. Authorities have launched an investigation. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held an emergency meeting with ministers and ordered the suspension and arrest of the hospital manager as well as the health and civil defence managers in Nassiriya. Initial police reports suggested that the blaze was likely caused by an oxygen tank explosion inside the COVID wards. --- SOT, Yunus Saleh Issa, Relative of six of the fire victims (Arabic): "I lost 6 members of my family, why is that? It is because of the government and the governor of Nassiriya, the civil defence, and the ministry of health, they caused the accident." SOT, Yunus Saleh Issa, Relative of six of the fire victims (Arabic): "The accident happened inside the bungalow for the isolation [of COVID patients] outside the hospital. The fire broke out at the gate, my brother was outside the gate, also my cousin was outside. They entered to save people but they were killed inside hospital. Now for more than 15 minutes the civil defence was not there." SOT, Yunus Saleh Issa, Relative of six of the fire victims (Arabic): "Why is our hospital a bungalow? You don't need anything to burn bungalows, this sun can set a bungalow on fire, why is our hospital a bungalow? SOT, Yunus Saleh Issa, Relative of six of the fire victims (Arabic): "Because the minister of health is good-for-nothing and the ministry of health is good-for-nothing, we the residents of al-Rifai are supposed to have our own hospital, and staff to attain to them, why do they send us to Nassiriya, why does this happen? Because they are corrupt, they are sharks. They transfer patients from more than 7 provinces Qala [Qalat Salih], al-Rifai, al-Dawayah, Amarah, Shatrah and Suq al-Shuyukh, they are all transferred to Nassiriya, those places should have their own hospitals, and they put all the patients in a bungalow of 60 meters." SOT, Yunus Saleh Issa, Relative of six of the fire victims (Arabic): "I tell you for sure, those who were in the hospital were about 500 patients, the government will say 50 or 100 and they will say the fire was cause by electrical fault, but this is not the truth, this was all planned, this was done to destroy the poor of the society." #Iraq #Nassiriya #NassiriyaHospitalFire


Earlier this week, a fire broke out in the Covid-19 ward of al-Hussein Hospital, a teaching hospital in the province of Dhi Qar.  The fire is the second one to break out in less than three months. Like the fire in late April, this week's fire took place at a facility that did not have a fire sprinkler system and also did not even have a fire alarm. Over 100 died in the April fire and the official count for this week's fire puts over a hundred injured with at least 92 dead.  Again, no fire sprinkler system, no fire alarm -- and a similar fire less than three months ago has not led the government to increase oversight, enforce existing regulations or, really, do much of anything.  THE NATIONAL's Mina Aldbroubi notes the official count for this week's fire is 92 dead and "nearly 70 injured" and, for the April fire, 82 dead and 110 wounded.  


From ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (NPR):


RENAD MANSOUR: It shows you that, at the end of the day, it's the people who are the ultimate victims of corruption.

SHERLOCK: Renad Mansour is a senior fellow in the Middle East program of the Chatham House think tank in the U.K. He says chronic corruption in Iraq's ministries is resulting in underfunded, badly managed and fundamentally unsafe government services.

MANSOUR: You have a political elite that have become incredibly wealthy through politically sanctioned corruption, but haven't done much to building a state, to building a country that could provide the very basic services for their people.

SHERLOCK: Iraq's prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, has called for an investigation into the fire, and he's ordered the arrest of the health directors of the province and hospital where the fire happened. Meanwhile, in the last week, there have been nearly 60,000 new coronavirus cases and only about one percent of Iraq's population is fully vaccinated.



The Iraqi people are justifiably upset over this latest fire.  






Bill Van Auken (WSWS) observes:


The outrage provoked by the entirely preventable fire has been intensified by the fact that this is the second such massive criminal tragedy in the space of barely three months. On April 24, a similar fire ravaged the COVID intensive care unit of the Ibn al-Khatib hospital in a poor neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad, killing 82 people, including patients on ventilators, and injuring another 110. That fire was triggered by an accident causing improperly stored oxygen tanks to explode and, as in the blaze in Nasiriyah, the hospital had no fire protection system and its shoddy construction allowed flames to spread rapidly. At the time, investigators had warned that the same conditions that led to the Baghdad hospital fire existed throughout the country.

President Barham Salih issued a statement Tuesday declaring that the two hospital fires were “the product of persistent corruption and mismanagement that undervalues the lives of Iraqis and prevents reforms of institutions.” Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has responded, just as last April, with the suspension of various officials and similar denunciations of corruption. He held a crisis meeting Tuesday that included the head of the Iraqi armed forces and other senior security officials to consider what a tweet from his office described as “the causes and repercussions” of the Nasiriyah disaster. The presence of his security aides indicated that the “repercussions” are foremost on his mind, with Iraqi society increasingly resembling a powder keg.

While endemic corruption has unquestionably devastated Iraq’s hospitals along with every other area of basic services, the horrific inferno in Nasiriyah, like the one before it in Baghdad, is another price paid by the Iraqi people for the systematic destruction of the country’s healthcare system and infrastructure by US imperialism.


Corruption is entrenched in post-US invasion Iraq (in a system the US government created and oversaw).  Sura Ali (RUDAW) reports that an official in the Ministry of Electricity appeared before a judge this week and was sentenced for corruption:

 

The Supreme Judicial Council said Raad Qassem Mohammed, in his position of director general of the department of economics, contracts and investment in the Ministry of Electricity, “received sums of money in exchange for facilitating contract transactions between the Ministry of Electricity and the Ministry of Industry to supply equipment belonging to his ministry last year in Baghdad.”

In addition to the jail time, Baghdad’s Anti-Corruption Criminal Court ordered him to pay a fine of 10 million dinars.


The criminal roots of the fire are not helping current prime minister Mustafa al-Kahdimi as he attempts to court the Iraqi people for votes in elections expected to be held in October.  


The fire is a sign of the corruption ingrained in the Iraqi government.  It's the outrage over this corruption that fuels The October Revolution (protest movement kicked off in October of 2019 and still going).  That revolution toppled Mustafa's predecessor as prime minister.  The October Revolution is a predominately Shi'ite wave that demands a government that serves the Iraqi people.  The response to it?  Popular support among Iraqis but hate from the Iraqi militias which have targeted the activists at protests and has assassinated activists repeatedly outside protests. Though Mustafa gives photo-ops and statements insisting that he cares and that he is trying to end these attacks, no one has yet to go to prison for killing an activist.  Mustafa Saadoun (AL-MONITOR) reports:


A prominent Iraqi activist in recent protests, Ali al-Makdam was declared “kidnapped” July 10 and then found dumped on a highway south of Baghdad 36 hours into his disappearance. He was subsequently admitted to the hospital for treatment.

While the party that kidnapped Makdam is unknown at this time, so is the modality, as surveillance cameras have failed to document what happened. Still, his disappearance reenergized a campaign led by a group of Iraqi activists — a campaign that had been ongoing for weeks previous to Makdam's kidnapping — to halt impunity for perpetrators of violations.

The campaign seeks to pressure the Iraqi government into holding accountable the killers of protesters and activists as well as those who committed acts of violence during the military operations to liberate Iraqi cities from the Islamic State years ago.

Maan al-Jizani, a journalist and an activist involved in this campaign, told Al-Monitor, “The campaign to end impunity aims to formulate a direct Iraqi national discourse that attempts to diagnose and summarize the Iraqi problem by linking it to a legal and moral defect that has led impunity to prevail and prosper in Iraq. This led to the spread of corruption, violence and failure within state institutions that were left unable to manage the country properly and effectively."

Jizani added, “It is a voluntary campaign, not a political one, and the volunteers do not aspire to any political role, as their involvement in such efforts stems from a moral and national responsibility that requires Iraqis to have a primary and effective role in helping their country and strengthening their institutions. A prolonged culture of impunity will always keep Iraq and Iraqis in a closed cycle of chaos, violence and corruption. And this is what is actually happening since 2003 until now."

On the Twitter account of the National Campaign to End Impunity in Iraq, activists are focusing on supporting the protests through activities outside of Iraq carried out by a group of Iraqis residing in the United States and Europe in order to help their peers inside the country.

 

All these issues are intertwined -- corruption, lack of oversight, impunity for killers and the lack of dependable basic services (such as electricity) -- and they would appear to hinder any re-election effort on the part of Mustafa.  However, he does appear to catch breaks, from time to time, not of his own making.  For example?


A lot of shake ups are going on in the country.  Even in the KRG with a political dynasty.  The Talbanai family.  Dead patriarch Jalal Talabani was married to Hiro Talabani and they had sons who had and have political ambitions.  The Talabani family's chief rival is the Barzani family.  The Talabani's head/control the PUK political party and the Barzanis head/control the KDP -- those are the two major political parties in the Kurdistan Region.  The PUK has been on the wane since Jalal had his stroke while holding the title of President of Iraq.  Instead of explaining to the Iraqi people that Jalal could neither speak or move any of his limbs, the Talabani family lied to the Iraqi people and insisted he had recovered. December 17, 2012, Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Cenre Hospital for his stroke  (see the December 18th snapshot) and, three days later,  Thursday, December 20, 2012th, he was moved to Germany.   To silence those who questioned whether Jalal was coherent or even alive, the family posed his limbs and then had photos taken to make it appear that Jalal was aware of his surroundings and interacting.  The staged photos were a joke and led to many WEEKEND AT BERNIE memes that still turn up from time to time.

Determined to hold on to the post, the Talabani family put their own desires ahead of the needs of the Iraqi people.  When Jalal finally returned to Iraq, nearly 18 months after his stroke, his posed photos did not fool anyone.  The lie that they perpetrated on the Iraqi people hurt them and allowed new political party Goran to move ahead of the PUK in the next election cycle.


The family continues to struggle.  Amberin Zaman (AL-MONITOR) reports:



The power struggle within Iraqi Kurdish Talabani dynasty sharply escalated late Tuesday as dozens of gunmen stormed the offices of a fledgling media outlet owned by Lahur Sheikh Jangi Talabani, the embattled co-leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), prompting fears of protracted instability, and potentially conflict, in Iraqi Kurdistan, a critical ally of the United States. 

Nearly 50 armed men in masks and military garb broke equipment and shut down the offices of iPLUS in Sulaimaniyah, the administrative capital of the PUK, iPLUS said in a statement.  

The PUK is the second-largest party in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and shares power with its chief rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Zhyan News, another media outlet affiliated with Talabani, was also raided. Zhyan called it a “coup” against its owner in a tweet. 

The raid came as PUK co-leader Bafel Talabani initiated a series of moves aimed at toppling his cousin and grabbing full control of the party. The PUK was founded by Bafel Talabani's father, Jalal Talabani, the charismatic former president of Iraq who along with KDP chief Massoud Barzani long were the main leaders of Iraq’s Kurdish nationalist movement. Jalal Talabani died four years ago.

Bafel Talabani claimed earlier that a poisonous substance used in an attempt on his life — he did not say when or where — was found at the headquarters of the intelligence service. He offered no further details of the alleged plot. But he was clearly pointing fingers at Lahur Talabani and setting the stage for his overthrow. 

Over the past week, and allegedly with the KDP’s encouragement, Bafel Talabani ousted the heads of the PUK’s counterterrorism and intelligence forces, both led by Lahur Talabani, and installed loyalists in their stead. Bafel Talabani's younger brother, Qubad, who serves as deputy prime minister in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), overtly backed the move. Several key PUK veterans, including Kosrat Rasoul Ali and Mala Bakhtiar — who once vied for power themselves — rallied around Bafel Talabani as well.  

Bafel Talabani, 48, is seen as mercurial and unpredictable, whilst Lahur Talabani, 45, is viewed as a pragmatist who enjoys good relations with Iran and the United States alike. The pair are believed to have butted heads over power and money, with Lahur Talabani and his siblings allegedly monopolizing the spoils of smuggling and other commercial activities in PUK-controlled territory, which shares a long border with Iran.  

The power play unleashed a flurry of speculation that Iran, the most influential foreign actor in PUK-run territory, and Turkey, which holds greater sway in KDP-run land to the north, were somehow involved. This was spurred in part by unsubstantiated claims that Lahur Talabani’s operatives helped the Trump administration kill Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. However, it would not be in Iran’s interests to see Bafel Talabani grow too strong either.  

 
With the PUK continuing to struggle, others are also folding.  Moqtada al-Sadr?  Still alive -- despite his drama queen moment last week where he declared that he would be killed shortly.  Are the 'threats' why he's dropping out?  Or is it the voices inside his head?  REUTERS notes:

Populist Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Thursday he will not take part in Iraq’s next election in October, and he will not support any parties.

Sadr’s Sairoon electoral won the 2018 parliamentary election, gaining 54 seats.


That must have been really hard for REUTERS to publish.  Less than two weeks ago, they were astroturfing their latest blow job of Moqtada.  He was groovy and powerful and sitting pretty.  We noted that wasn't the case and, guess what, we were right.  Moqtada's support has decreased dramatically since 2019.  It's apparent to anyone paying attention.  REUTERS missed it -- seems like they miss a lot these days, doesn't it?


 Halgurd Sherwani (KURDISTAN 24) notes:      

The cleric also said his ministers were withdrawing from the Iraqi government under current Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, citing a dysfunctional political system and “international conspiracy” against Iraq on which he did not elaborate.

Observers had expected the Sadr movement to be the biggest winner in the planned Oct. 10 vote as in 2018 when they won a majority of seats in the parliament.


At the end of the month, Mustafa al-Kadhimi  is supposed to visit the US and meet with President Joe Biden.  ADDED: ARAB NEWS reports:


Iraq and the US discussed Thursday “the mechanisms for the withdrawal of combat forces” during a meeting of senior officials. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi met with US National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk to discuss these mechanism and the “transition to a new phase of strategic cooperation that develops the relationship between the two countries and enhances Iraq’s security and sovereignty,” a statement released by Kadhimi’s office said. 



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