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PM Maliki of Iraq filled 8 new positions of government on Sunday, including the important energy minister and the trade minister. Progress is progress.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden congratulated Maliki on the approval of the ministers during a call on Sunday, the White House said in a statement.
Other reports tell us that US trade officials are now coming to Iraq to set up trade. This can hardly happen as long as the dinar remains unlisted at the IMF. It has to be a tradable currency in order to have trade. This involves two things. First, it has to be listed so that dinars can be wired to banks around the world in payment of imports. Secondly, it has to have some real value, or else it will be near impossible for dinars to be used in purchasing foreign goods.
So these are good signs of progress.
Meanwhile, apparently PM Maliki was wounded in an assassination attempt last Wednesday. He was not seriously injured and was attending meetings by Friday. The situation is volatile, and any assassination attempt is likely to shake up any politician and motivate him to action. Along with the mounting anger and the protests scheduled for Feb. 25, it is clear that the Iraqis are being pushed into completing the formation of the government.
There is talk that one way or another Maliki will be removed from power. Allawi apparently missed a scheduled meeting with Maliki in order to spend time talking with Barzani. No one knows why, but it looks suspicious. Barzani is the current President of the Kurdistan Region and is the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. I suspect they were discussing the possibility of a "no confidence" vote against Maliki and replacing him with Allawi. Presumably, Allawi would then keep all of the current cabinet of ministers and immediately fill the remaining posts without further delay.
Maliki is becoming increasingly unpopular, and it is no stretch of imagination to see how he might fill the role of Babylon's King Belshazzar, who was overthrown on the night of the fall of the city.
We should continue to watch the situation, knowing that Iraq is a type of the worldwide Babylonian system. What happens in Iraq will tell us what is about to happen worldwide to the banking system in the West. The interim between these two events (Iraq and banking system in general) will probably be our final time of serious preparation, both materially and spiritually.