Crazy Marjorie Taylor Greene. I wonder if her constituents plan on having her committed? They may need to:
United
States Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) says rioters were forced
to "commit crimes" during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The GOP congresswoman made the false claim during the latest episode of her Battleground podcast Wednesday.
Former GOP prosecutor Ron Filipkowski shared a clip of the episode via Twitter, writing,
Marge has a theory on 'what really happened on J6.' She says the FBI
'set up honeypots and traps to draw people in and take part in making
these people commit crimes, and then framing these people to set up a
narrative against a president.'
I don't know about you, but I
really don't want to hear Marjorie talking about her honeypot. Kids
could be listening! MTG is such a groomer. She's always trying to
sexualize the kids. Her former roll dawg is equally crazy:
Lauren
Boebert has come under fire after failing to take part in Wednesday's
vote on the debt ceiling deal negotiated by President Biden and Speaker
McCarthy, despite vowing to vote against it and stating "we can do better."
Some Republicans have
been fiercely critical of the deal, which, they argue, doesn't go far
enough in slashing federal spending. Boebert's failure to vote could see
her come under pressure from her political allies.
Boe-Boe was against the debt ceiling deal. Which is why she voted against it. Well . . . She meant to. She just couldn't make the vote. That's right, one job and she can't even do it. How do her constituents feel about that.
Thursday, June 1, 2023. Tara Reade's running a new con, Margaret
Kimberly plays Dolly Parton in 9 TO 5 -- who's been saying it -- we all
point to Tara and say in our best Lily Tomlin, "She's been saying it!",
the IMF wants to further hobble Iraq, and much more.
How do we deal with insanity?
I think in this country, we practice denial.
First
off, Margaret, your definition of defect is wrong as any person aware
of the many artists that defected to the US from the USSR could tell
you. Second, crazy Tara's the one using the term -- or did you not make
it through that video broadcast?
Tara Reade from her 'press conference' in Russia: As far as, like, going to another safe haven, I mean, there are many
Americans here [in Russia] -- and I don't want to out a bunch of Americans -- but there
are people here that are coming to Russia -- much like back in the day
when Soviet Union people defected over to the US. Now you have the
opposite,
So if you don't like people using the term, take it up with crazy herself.
Oh, look, it's Sabby Sabs, now our latter day Jerry Falwell.
Remember
The Clinton Chronicles? Yeah, that's the crazy Sabby Sabs is now
embracing and spreading -- and I didn't think my opinion of her could go
any lower.
Crazed Tara Reade departs to Russia
and wants to defect claiming her life is at risk, that people want to
kill her. Maybe the one behind you in the buffet line, Tara, but the
rest of us don't really care about you at all. She's in danger!
Danger! She must move to Russia! And then -- so brave -- she must risk
newfound safety in newfound motherland by holding a press
conference!!!!!
She's a fat lying con artist. Let's grasp that right away.
If you actually bothered to listen to that 'press conference,' it should have struck you as so familiar.
Tara
is a con artist and has been all of her life. That doesn't mean she
wasn't assaulted. It does mean she cons people and she's not a very
good con artist. She goes on RISING or whatever in 2020 and she's just
glad to be there and she's so safe and feels so good and this support is
just amazing and wonderful. Then she burns these same people after she
takes what she can get from them.
You may
remember Sabby Sabs joined Tara in trashing AOC recently for never
saying a word. If you don't remember it, you won't find Sabby's Tweet
because she deleted it after we pointed out here that AOC actually spoke
up in defense of Tara in real time.
That
is classic Tara Reade. People busted their rears to defend her and she
didn't care. She was and remains a joke and an ungrateful one at that.
I
love how she's got all these people cheering her on at her Twitter feed
and coming up behind their cheers are their comments about how Trump
needs a second term. Her new crowd does not oppose sexual assault.
They're all for it. But they hate Joe Biden. So 'survivor' Tara
'believe all women' Reade gets cozy with a crowd that believes no
women. That tells you the cess pool Tara bathes in.
In
fairness, a cess pool may be the only thing she can fit into, she just
keeps getting fatter and fatter. Where are they hosing her off at next
-- to be Pee Wee Herman about it.
Tara's
a user and a con artist. And that Sabby deleted her Tweet instead of
correcting it goes a long way towards explaining how she became the 21st
century Jerry Falwell hawking The Biden Body Count.
So
Tara burns her Democratic bridge -- not left, she was too stupid and
insipid to be left. So then she's on Tucker and other right-wing shows
and, golly gosh, thank you all for your support, I feel so safe and
trusted and I really appreciate you.
Did you
catch the damn 'press conference'? It was exactly like that -- again --
because the bad con artist just keeps playing the same con. Thank you,
Russia, for believing in me and I feel safe and welcomed and . . .
Spare
us. While the willful idiots like Sabby play along and indulge Tara's
crazy, those of us who can connect the dots caught on long ago.
The
kindest thing Ava and I ever did for Tara was not review her book.
Clearly, no one read it. It was one inconsistency after another.
Liars
get assaulted and liars get raped. The fact that she's a liar doesn't
mean that she wasn't assaulted. (Speaking of lies. I'm finding it hard
to believe that Tara -- grifter that she was -- lived in the 12th
district in 2020. She keeps insisting she wrote Nancy Pelosi about what
happened because Nancy was her Congress person. I want a former
address and a voters registration card before I believe that. She made
the claim in the video and did so in her lying voice that always tells
on her.)
Tara was a problem from day one.
I'm
not talking about her changing stories. A victim of assault can change
her or his story. It doesn't mean that they're lying. It most often
means that they don't feel comfortable discussing it -- for any number
of reasons.
I never found that a problem for her.
I did find her glaring stupidity a huge problem.
She is a geopolitical analyst -- she insists this week and that's got to be the funniest line of the week.
Listening
to her prattle on during her initial phase of discussing her assault --
as Tara told us how the world was -- was hearing a college freshman who
never cracked a book tell you the history of the United States. It was
a bunch of cliches and a bunch of mistakes. And it wasn't a left
perspective. It was a partisan perspective.
She
was Diane Chambers -- serving up words that don't really mean anything
and in no way demonstrate that she was educated but that can fool the
ones who don't know better or who are barely paying attention.
Then she was the Tucker fan and she had all of the 'insight' that only a Mother Tucker could provide.
And
now she's found Russia. In grad school, I wrote a paper about a
central American country that basically thrived by pitting the US and
the USSR against each other. Tara is now that country -- probably she's
a bit bigger than that country but she is that country.
Russia, watch out. She's going to turn on you like she does everyone else.
If
Joe Biden was giving kill orders, I kind of believe that the mother of
Navy Joan would be way, way, ahead of Tara on the list.
And in what world is Tara credible anymore?
I'm
serious. She's made herself a loon over the last years and she's not
believable. She herself is not believable. So there's no need to kill
her for something she says happened in the 90s that's already been
discussed at length.
She didn't get her fair
share of media! Because she's a damn fool. We said here, the minute
Alyssa Milano started Tweeting about Tara, that Alyssa was getting that
from Time's Up! and that Tara needed to do a lawsuit.
Tara and her co-horts did nothing. Many months later, we learn what a fraud Time's Up! actually was.
Tara
blew every chance because she was a stupid idiot. That's not fair.
She was working a con so she might have been too busy to pursue chances.
But she is a con artist.
And
her latest con is that she knows so much and is so valuable that Joe
Biden wants her dead and she's had to flee the country for her safety --
and probably to get away from several creditors, knowing Tara.
I'm
just not in the mood for this nonsense. I don't think any of us who
lived through the 90s are in the mood for this nonsense.
Joe Biden is not coming after Tara or sending people to get Tara.
No one really believes her anymore.
It
was always a tough case for her because no matter how many pictures
from the early 90s she floated to the press, she was still grossly obese
in the present and most people still confuse rape with sexual desire
and think you have to be attractive to be raped.
That was strike one.
Strike
two? How about all the predators she spent 2022 and 2023 cozying up
to? Amber Tamblyn is not someone whose integrity is in question. No
one's disputing her claims about James Woods -- except James Woods.
But
there's Tara "I'm an assault survivor" reTweeting James Woods. There's
Tara defending registered sex offender Scott Ritter (who went to
prison, who was convicted in a court of law -- after his third
arrest).
She's a con artist and that was part of her makeover for her right-wing self.
It's one strike after another on her.
Does that mean she wasn't assaulted?
No, it doesn't.
But
at this point, and now with the Russia defection, no one should waste
their breath on her anymore. She is a known liar and she lies
repeatedly. It does go to character and, yes, after awhile her actions
and her lies bring into question whether anything she says is truthful.
As a witness, she's no longer believable and no one should waste their time on her.
And
the 'gift' there for Tara is, since no one believes her, she can stop
fretting that someone's trying to kill her and stop pretending she's a
'whistle-blower.'
She's Russia's problem now. Sadly, we still have Sabby Sabbs.
Not a Sam Seder fan, but we'll note this clip of THE MAJORITY REPORT.
In his rundown of Ron DeSantis' latest problems, Mike noted the War Criminal remarks from FOX "NEWS" (see "Butt exercises and Ron DeSantis").
Meanwhile, Margaret Griffiths (ANTI-WAR.COM) notes, "During May in Iraq, at least 53 people were killed, and 29 more were wounded in violent incidents. In April,
at least 47 people were killed, and 65 more were wounded." At least.
In part, "at least" due to the fact that when noting the Turkish
governments attacks on Iraq, she only figures in guerillas. The
Yazidis, for example, aren't part of the count. Unless the Turkish
government has labeled them "guerillas" and then she'll count them.
THE NATIONAL, presumably with a straight face, offers, "Iraq needs fiscal discipline and wide-ranging structural reforms to reduce its economic vulnerabilities as foreign exchange market volatility
and a drop in crude production continue to slow its growth momentum,
the International Monetary Fund has said." What Iraq needs is not
"fiscal discipline," it needs to end corruption. Iraq is not short of
money, it brings in billions. And then, due to government corruption,
that money never goes to helping the people. REUTERS notes,
"Iraq's May oil revenue was $7.3 billion with an average price per
barrel of $71.30, the ministry said in a statement." There are
countries that never see that amount of income. Iraq sees it but never
gets improved due to the theft that takes place. The IMF always
preaches the same strategy and it doesn't work and it's not going to
work in Iraq. Hopefully, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani will be
heeded this time and not ignored. He earlier called out these efforts
to hobble Iraq.
Iraq's shrunken and conflict-scarred
Christian community is launching a new television channel as part of
efforts to save their dying language, spoken for more than 2,000 years.
Syriac, an ancient dialect of Aramaic, has
traditionally been the language spoken by Christians in Iraq and
neighbouring Syria, mostly in homes but also in some schools and during
church services.
However, Syriac-speaking communities in
the two countries have declined over the years, owing to decades of
conflict driving many to seek homes in safer countries. In Iraq, the
Christian population is thought to have fallen by more than two-thirds
in just over two decades.
"It's true that we speak Syriac at home,
but unfortunately I feel that our language is disappearing slowly but
surely," said Mariam Albert, a news presenter on the Syriac-language
Al-Syriania television channel.
Iraq's government launched the channel in
April to help keep the language alive. It has around 40 staff and offers
a variety of programming, from cinema to art and history.
Meanwhile, some are bothered by the kingdom of Jordan's decision to allow
the Baath Party to participate in the political process. In Iraq,
Saddam Hussein was the figurehead for the Baath Party. The Baath Party
always existed outside of Iraq -- it was a pan-Arab movement. In Iraq
and Syria, it took hold. In other Arab countries, it might not have
dominated but it was politically active. THE CRADLE notes:
The Iraq’s Islamic Dawa Party described the decision of the Jordanian
authorities to allow the Baath Party to resume political activities in
Jordan as a “hostile and provocative act,” Iraqi Shafaq Newsreported on 26 May.
The Shia Dawa Party’s political office said in a statement that, “The
Iraqis were surprised, shocked, and outraged by the news of the
Jordanian government’s permission for the (Saddam’s Ba’ath) party to
engage in political activity.”
On May 14, the Independent Electoral Commission in the Kingdom of
Jordan approved the political participation of 27 new political parties,
including the Arab Socialist Baath Party, whose Iraqi branch was led by
long-time Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi political parties have expressed indignation after the Baath party’s licence was renewed in neighbouring Jordan.
The Iraqi Islamic Al-Dawa party, which is the party of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, expressed “shock and outrage” at Amman’s move.
Jordan’s Independent
Electoral Commission on 14 May approved the political participation of
27 political parties, including the Arab Socialist Baath Party, after
changes to its electoral law required all existing political groups to
be re-licensed to resume political activities in the country.
Dawa
is usually identified with former prime minister and forever thug Nouri
al-Maliki but, yes, the present prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Saudani
is also a leader of Dawa. He differs from Nouri in at least one regard
-- Mohammed never fled Iraq. Unlike the cowards before him, he didn't
flee the country and didn't have to wait for the US military to invade
in 2003 in order to return to Iraq.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
whose rule has grown increasingly authoritarian during his two decades
in power, won 52 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s runoff election,
securing another term.
At the end of his next term, he will have been at the top of the Turkish government for a quarter-century.
During
his rule, Mr Erdogan restricted press freedom, imprisoned journalists,
and used the LGBT+ community as a cudgel in the culture war to attract
socially conservative voters as his chaotic economic policies have sent
the Lira into a tailspin.
Rep.
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) favorite rapper – [. . .] – has a new
song out protesting Target for selling Pride merchandise, and Greene
shared the bizarre video on Twitter.
The
video for the song “Boycott Target” (featuring fellow conservative
rappers [. . .]) opens with a shot of Blow wearing a basketball jersey
and shorts with the letters “USA” emblazoned on both, drawing attention
to his crotch as Jimmy Levy pushes him in a red Target shopping cart
while carrying Pride-themed bottles of Stella Rosa.
Despite her longstanding hatred of men wearing women’s clothes, she was “literally lol’ing” at her boyfriend doing drag.
And then the video, which appears to have been at least partly shot in a Target store, gets weirder.
Not
advancing the names of transphobe liars -- he lies about scars on
children from surgeries that did not happen. It's cute that he also
slams Caitlyn Jenner. Like Glenn Greenwald, she thought she got a pass
for being a conservative. No, Caitlyn, these people hate you. Sorry if
that shocks you. Anyone with a brain could have told you that -- and
several in this community have warned you about that in posts. You're
an idiot. You were an idiot before you transitioned as well. Poor
Caitlyn. I don't think anything will or can ever make up for CAN'T STOP
THE MUSIC.
On the day in which Americans remember the US troops who have fallen in combat, MTG tweeted a message celebrating that solemn. Attached to that tweet was an image of an American flag.
Upon closer examination, though, it appeared as though the flag in question had only 18 stars on it.
This, of course, sparked outrage from the touchy political wings of the internet.
Surely, these people on the internet emoted, that was a strategic political statement meant to drum up possible support for Rep. Greene’s ongoing calls for a “national divorce.”
18 stars. Hmm. Guess literacy is important after all.
Marjoie's not the only idiot, however, that can't understand the basics. TCM also appears to struggle.
The notion that a bunch of bad films -- with actors and directors who
did not serve -- is somehow celebrating Memorial Day is laughable. But
leave it to TCM to take the whole thing in an even dumber and dishonest
direction.
Among the films aired in their glorification of death and destruction?
IN WHICH WE SERVE.
Some
of you may be confused because -- like most war films -- this is a
minor offering that few -- even film scholars -- especially fans of good
films -- have ever heard of.
Noel Coward directed it. That should raise a flag right there.
No, we're not referring to his sexuality. We're referring to his citizenship. He was British.
The
film itself is nothing impressive. But pretending it was a 'big
statement' allowed it to beat out CASABLANCA among the New York Film
Critics Circle.
CASABLANCA, of course, stars American
Humphrey Bogart as the main character, Rick, an American stuck in
Casablanca and profiting from the war around him.
How many Americans, TCM, were featured in the cast of IN WHICH WE SERVE?
Zero.
It's
not about an American battle. It's a play that Noel Coward has updated
for the film to include an actual British event. No Americans in the
cast, no Americans at the actual events.
Can TCM
explain to us how this bad movie has a damn thing to do with Memorial
Day? Repeating, Memorial Day is a federal holiday -- a US holiday -- to
honor those Americans who served in war. Americans. Not British people
in British battles.
Maybe the fact that none of the hosts served in the US military is why they didn't grasp that Memorial Day is a US-only holiday?
Next up, TCM celebrates July 4th by airing 1971's THE TROJAN WOMEN.
Wednesday, May 31, 2023. The hate merchants in charge of the GOP are
getting crazier and crazier, Lauren Boebert either doesn't understand
the concept of legislative sessions or has no idea that Nancy Pelosi was
a Speaker of the House long before Lauren squeaked into Congress, Ron
DeSantis continues his failing campaign for president, Iraq still can't
produce a budget for 2023, and much more.
Starting
with the illiterate in the House, Lauren Boebert. Someone strung some
sentences together and put Lauren's name to it so we'll hold her
accountable for what CRAIG PRESS printed.
She wants her constituents to know she's serving them. She's had this
bill and that bill passed and . . . Wait, what new laws has she
authored?
Oh.
That's right.
None.
We
called Bernie Sanders out for this we'll damn well call Lauren for
this. Anyone can get a bill through -- especially through a House their
party controls. But Lauren can't draft any legislation that gets
approved by the Senate because she's a whack job. The crazy wants you
to know, "The numbers don't lie." They don't. But Lauren does.
She's not helping anyone with her lies.
She then wants to say:
Additionally, in our first 100 days, our strong
Republican majority has passed more bills and have had more bills signed
into law than Nancy Pelosi’s Democrat majority did in its first 100
days.
Again, bills, not
laws. But let's stop a moment. How stupid is Lauren? I know she's
illiterate and I know she has a fit when her child calls 911 because
he's in fear of his life -- so she's as bad a mother as she is a member
of Congress. But how stupid is she? What is the bottom on her
stupidity?
More than Nancy in her first 100 days?
Which first 100?
Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the house in 2007, in 2008, in 2009, in 2010, in 2011, in 2019, in 2020, in 2021 and in 2022.
Idiot
Lauren does realize that, right? So is she claiming this happened in
2007 or in 2009 or in 2011 or in 2021? Which legislative period?
Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert has hit out at the debt ceiling deal negotiated between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden, describing it as a "gift" to the Democrats.
Boebert, who is one of several Republican figures
who have said they will not support the deal in Wednesday's crucial
vote, said that the lack of concessions from Biden's "radical" plans
means that the president has come out on top in the negotiations.
[. . .] Boebert said the bill would allow funding for the Inflation Reduction
Act, viewed by many across political lines as a revised version of the
Green New Deal, which the GOP had strongly opposed. The congresswoman
said not enough concessions were made with regard to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to help streamline the approval of
projects such as roads and pipelines.
Oh, well. At least she's still piss cop, right?
Staying
with the topic of Republican failures, Ron DeSantis. Jonathan Turley's
crush just can't get it together to save his life or his falterning
campaign for president. Madison Hall (BUSINESS INSIDER) explains:
In December 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led all listed Republican candidates in a Monmouth University poll.
At the time, DeSantis had 39% support compared to President Donald Trump's 26%.
New polling from Monmouth University shows that Trump now leads the governor by 24 percentage points.
Republican Rep. Greg
Steube claimed on a podcast that presidential candidate Gov. Ron
DeSantis threatened to primary members of Congress if they endorsed
former President Donald Trump over him.
Steube,
who represents Florida's 17th Congressional District, relitigated his
apparent feelings of contempt for Florida's governor on Monday on Donald
Trump Jr.'s podcast, "Triggered With Don Jr."
The congressman, who previously endorsed Trump for president, said in
April that DeSantis never responded to Steube's attempts to discuss political issues.
And
in that article, you can find a photo of his man-wife Casey. She
really does look like a man in drag. And as Ron goes after
African-Americans and LGBTQ+ members, let's remember he's targeting
families and individuals and, no, this nonsense of 'family is off
limits' just doesn't damn well apply. He's destroying lives in Florida
so it's not at all out of bounds to note that the person he crawls into
bed with has the body of a man -- including the adam's apple.
More anti-LGBTQ+ legislation continues to arise within the United
States and conservative pressure is starting to dictate what students
learn within public education. Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, ushered in
by Governor Ron DeSantis, has already impacted school curricula within the Sunshine State, prohibiting education surrounding gender and identity, including LGBTQ+ education.
An increase in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation means a decrease in education
around gender, identity, and sexual health resources for LGBTQ+
students. Unfortunately, this could change the downward trend of HIV
infection rates for young gay and bisexual men. Research
shows that proper sexual education exponentially decreases HIV
infection rates. However, if students in public schools lose access to
sexual education resources, infection rates could increase, undoing the
work implemented by effective public health measures.
According to the CDC, 1.2 million people are living with HIV in this
country. And 1 in 8 people aren’t aware that they have the illness and
HIV status awareness is low within younger demographics, representing
15% of new infections in 2021. So much progress has been made, but it’s
evident that the GOP are nowhere near aware of the massive
ramifications, including for queer health, that their legislation could
have.
Now we should remember these crazy and crazed hate merchants are defending children. That's what they say anyway.
Jared Michael Boyce, a recently arrested member of the white
nationalist anti-LGBTQ+ organization Patriot Front, has pleaded guilty
to possessing images of child sexual abuse. He had previously accused
LGBTQ+ people of “grooming children” and advocated for hanging
pedophiles and Jews.
FBI agents reportedly found 22 images of child pornography
on Boyce’s phone. The images included “children from toddlers to
prepubescents performing sexual acts” and also minors “exposing their
genitals,” court documents said.
Boyce admitted that the images belonged to him, the court documents
added. He also told investigators that he had had “sexually-themed
conversations about children” in an online chatroom, had transferred
images of child sex abuse, and had sent an explicit photo of his
genitals to a 16-year-old girl.
He pleaded guilty to nine felony counts of sexual exploitation of a
minor and a misdemeanor of dealing in harmful material to a minor, KSL-TV reported.
Though he faced up to 30 years in prison for the crimes, on Tuesday, a
judge sentenced him only to a year in prison and three years probation.
Boyce was one of 31 Patriot Front members arrested last June for plotting a riot at a northern Idaho Pride event.
The group had crowded into a U-Haul truck that was pulled over by
police. The white supremacists were clad in identical khaki pants, dark
blue shirts and masks and carried homemade riot gear. They were charged
with misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot.
These
are the children of professor and professional transphobe Jonathan
Turley, the children of Turley breast fed by Ron DeSantis who had to
breast feed them because his wife's boobs were too small.
Poor GOP, so many crazies in their party. Take Tara Reade. Or let Russia take her.
Tara is back in the news.
Tara
started out a Democrat. But then she became a raging transphobe.
Though she billed herself as an "actress," she wasn't. She stepped
forward in 2019 to state that Joe Biden made her uncomfortable when she
worked at his Senate office. Then in 2020, she stated that he had
harassed her and this became his inserting his finger into her private
area. Back then, she stupidly refused to do FOX "NEWS" or anyone who
would have her and the reason was her principles.
Said
principles flew out the window rather quickly and she began making
transphobic and homophobic statements as she went on Tucker Carlson's
program, began reTweeting Scott Ritter (Republican and convicted
pedophile who went to prison for it and is a registered sex offender) --
that last bit is when she lost support and even the WE BELIEVE TARA
Twitter account stopped promoting her.
Now
she's in Russia. Apparently she no longer works for Kim Iversen -- but
will she still continue to reTweet her buddy Marjorie Taylor Greene?
Tara
thinks she can say she's defected, request Russian citizenship and
still be an American citizen. It does not work that way. If you say
you're defecting, then you're giving up your citizenship.
Poor dumb Tara.
And
dumb people and homophobic people and transphobic people can be
assaulted. So this doesn't mean Tara wasn't assaulted by Joe. It does
mean that most of us no longer give a damn one way or the other. When
you cozy up to a registered sex offender, most of us who would have
defended you now won't waste our breaths.
In 2021, Tara became the Republican Party's problem. Now she's Russia's problem.
Negotiations on Iraq’s budget bill
for 2023 have been deferred after the parliament's deputy speaker
suspended the legislature's finance committee over legal irregularities
the and bypassing of a joint agreement between the Iraqi federal
government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"Our committee has been suspended as per a
document from the deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, because our
committee members are now 24, while according to law the number should
not exceed 23," Jamal Kochar, Iraqi lawmaker from the Kurdistan Islamic
Union (KIU) bloc and member of the Iraqi parliament's finance committee
told The New Arab in a phone interview.
"A political agreement is needed before
negotiations on Iraq's budget bill for 2023 resumes. The bill has been
stuck at the finance committee because the political agreement between
the Iraqi government and the KRG has been violated."
The finance committee on Saturday
announced some amendments to the budget bill, including a condition that
the Kurdish region must first deliver 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to
the federal authorities, along with non-oil revenues, before it can
receive a share of nearly 12 per cent from the federal budget.
The Kurdistan Region’s finance minister on Sunday said that the finance
committee in the Iraqi parliament does not have the right to add or
remove articles from bills, adding that the new amendments to the draft
budget law aim to ruin Baghdad-Erbil ties.
The Iraqi parliament’s finance committee on Thursday amended two
articles of the bill that relate to the Kurdistan Region, prompting the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG| to slam the amendments as
“unconstitutional,” labeling them a violation of the previous agreements
between Erbil and Baghdad.
“The Federal Supreme Court decision No. 35 prevents the parliament from
changing the texts in the budget bills sent by the government,” KRG
Finance Minister Awat Sheikh Janab said.
According to Janab, the federal court decision specifies that the
finance committee maintains the right to change the numbers in the bill
or transfer them between articles and paragraphs, but the committee
cannot add or remove any paragraph from the bill.
“Those who truly want Kurds to remain in Baghdad, and those who value
the brotherhood between Kurds and Arabs, are worried. This does not seek
to help the closeness between the [Kurdistan] Region and Baghdad, but
to ruin the relations between the Region and Baghdad,” Janab said.
The budget. It was a big deal May 18th when the United Nations Security Council heard testimony on Iraq (see the May 19th snapshot).
UN Special Representative for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert: Madam President, the resources needed to turn certain Government
goals into realities, such as adequate public service delivery, should
be unlocked with the passage of a federal budget. This is yet to happen
and, these days, all eyes are on Iraq’s Council of Representatives.
Needless to say: agreement on a functioning budget, sooner rather
than later, is critical. Including for the timely organization of the
long-awaited Provincial Council Elections, now announced for no later
than 20 December this year.
The United
Kingdom's Political Coordinator Fergus Eckersley: The UK remains
committed to supporting the Iraqi Government and the
implementation of its ambitious reform agenda. In particular, passing a
budget will be a crucial step in delivering the Government’s priorities
including on economic reform and energy diversification.
Khanim Latif, founder and director of Asuda for Combating
Violence against Women: Finally, we call on the Iraqi Government to allocate a budget for and
fully implement the Yazidi Survivors Law adopted in March 2021.[9]
The
only one not speaking of the budget that day to the Security Council?
US Acting Deputy Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Jeffrey
DeLaurentis.
Every one else thought it was a necessary
and worth noting. Eleven days later and the budget it yet again put on
hold. It's supposed to be passed before the year starts. That means
the budget is 151 days late.
Iraq's too late -- the whole world
is -- to address climate change. They're using a fix though, for
farming, that's actually going to do even more damage. Timour Azhari and Ahmed Saeed (REUTERS) report:
Watered by sprinklers fitted to wells dug more than 100 meters under
the sun-bleached earth, his land now produces double what it did
compared to when he relied on ancient methods that flood fields with
river water, he said.
“It’s a golden year, a golden season,” said Salah, wearing a
traditional white robe and reflective sunglasses as he walked his field
and noted the benefits: less money and water spent, as well as a bigger
and quality harvest.
Iraq’s government says this officially supported shift has allowed the
country to double areas cultivated with wheat this year to some 8.5
million dunams (850,000 hectares) compared to roughly 4 million (400,000
hectares) last year.
Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Al-Khuzai said that has
translated into a harvest of around 4 million tons of wheat — the
largest in years and 80 percent of the needs of a country with a 43
million population who eat bread at almost every meal. The shift in
methods is driven by necessity: Iraq’s two main rivers, along which
civilization emerged thousands of years ago, have lost more than half of
their flow due to reduced rainfall, overuse and upstream dams.
Drilling the desert for water could provide immediate relief in a
country that the UN says is among the five nations most vulnerable to
climate change in the world, and where climate-induced migration has
already begun. However, heavy use of the wells could bleed desert
aquifers dry, agricultural experts and environmentalists warn. Some
farmers have already noted a drop in the water table.
Depleting
the aquifers is not an answer, nor is it sustainable. It will leave
Iraq in a much worse situation than it currently is. And let's remember
that currently, Iraq -- if you'd stop the government corruption -- has
more than enough money to import wheat. If climate models do encourage
others to finally address climate change, oil revenues will drop for
Iraq. So five, ten years from now, Iraq could find itself with depleted
aquifers and with low oil revenues. This is not sustainable and it is
not an answer.
BP returned to Iraq in 2009
after a 35-year absence and was awarded a significant interest in the
country’s largest oil field near British-occupied Basra
BP has pumped 262m barrels of Iraqi oil since 2011
Sir John Sawers, the UK’s first special representative to Iraq after invasion, has banked £1.1m since joining BP’s board in 2015
Other UK oil “supermajor” Shell also won Iraq contract in 2009 as lead operator developing “super-giant” Majnoon oil field
BP
has pumped oil worth £15.4bn in Iraq since 2011 when it began
production in the country for the first time in nearly four decades, new
analysis shows.
The new information comes on the 20-year anniversary of the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, which was judged to be illegal
by the UN. However, neither US president George W Bush nor British
prime minister Tony Blair, the leaders who prosecuted the war, have been
subjects of a criminal investigation.
The invasion began in March 2003 and unleashed a catastrophic humanitarian disaster with an estimated 655,000 Iraqis killed in the first three years of conflict, or 2.5% of the population.
It was widely denounced as a war for oil on the part of the US and UK: Iraq holds the world’s fifth largest
proven oil reserves. Iraq had no connection to the September 11th
terrorist attacks which had taken place 18 months before and initiated
the so-called “War on Terror”.
The data on BP’s post-invasion production in Iraq comes from the company’s annual reports and was calculated using the average annual price for a barrel of oil for each year of production.
From 2011-22, BP pumped 262m barrels of Iraqi oil.
Alan Greenspan, the consummate Washington insider
and long-time head of the US central bank, has backed the position taken
by many anti-war critics - that the invasion of Iraq was motivated by oil.
His
claim comes in his newly published autobiography, The Age of
Turbulence, in which he also castigates George Bush's administration for
making "grave mistakes" in economic policy.
Sounding
more like an activist than a lifelong Republican who worked alongside
six US presidents, Mr Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman,
said in an interview with the Guardian that the invasion of Iraq was
aimed at protecting Middle East oil reserves: "I thought the issue of
weapons of mass destruction as the excuse was utterly beside the point."
Mr Greenspan said it was clear to him that Saddam
Hussein had wanted to control the Straits of Hormuz and so control
Middle East oil shipments through the vital route out of the Gulf. He
said that had Saddam been able to do that it would have been
"devastating to the west" as the former Iraqi president could have just
shut off 5m barrels a day and brought "the industrial world to its
knees".
In the book Mr Greenspan writes:
"Whatever their publicised angst over Saddam Hussain's 'weapons of mass
destruction', American and British authorities were also concerned about
violence in the area that harbours a resource indispensable for the
functioning of the world economy. I am saddened that it is politically
inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely
about oil."
Asked to explain his remark, he said: "From a rational point of view, I
cannot understand why we don't name what is evident and indeed a wholly
defensible pre-emptive position."
NAOMIKLEIN:
Well, I’m just wondering if it troubles Mr. Greenspan at all that wars
over resources in other countries are actually illegal. Mr. Greenspan
has praised the rule of law, the importance of the rule of law, in his
book. But in his statements about the reasons why this has not been
publicly discussed, he has said that it’s not politically expedient at
this moment. But it’s not just that it’s not politically expedient, Mr.
Greenspan. Are you aware that, according to the Hague Regulations and
the Geneva Conventions, it is illegal for one country to invade another
over its natural resources?
ALANGREENSPAN:
No. What I was saying is that the issue which, as you know, most people
who were pressing for the war were concerned with were weapons of mass
destruction. I personally believed that Saddam was behaving in a way
that he probably very well had, almost certainly had, weapons of mass
destruction. I was surprised, as most, that he didn’t. But what I was
saying is that my reason for being pleased to see Saddam out of office
had nothing to do with the weapons of mass destruction. It had to do
with the potential threat that he could create to the rest of the world.
NAOMIKLEIN:
Yes, I realize that, but he was not simply deposed. The U.S. invaded
Iraq, occupied it and took control over its resources. And under
international law, that it is illegal to wage wars to gain access to
other countries’, sovereign countries’, natural resources.
ALANGREENSPAN:
Yes. No, I’m fully aware of the fact that that is a highly, terribly
important issue. And as I said in other commentaries, I have always
thought the issue of what essentially amounts to what is often called
preemptive, preventive action on the part of some countries to secure
resources or something else like that, it’s an issue that goes back to
the Cold War, when we had the very difficult moral dilemma of what do
you do when you think a missile is coming in our direction and you’re
not sure whether it’s an accident or not an accident. And that is a
problem which I think is a deep moral problem in civilized society. And
the issue is one which I don’t think we’re going to resolve very easily.
And as you point out, yes, I am a believer in the rule of law, and I
think it is a critical issue, not only for domestic economies, but for
the world economy as a whole.
It was
not about liberation. It was not about freedom. It was not about
compassion or caring or humanitarian issues. It was about oil.
