KTFA Members "News and Views" Tuesday 5-16-17

5/16/2017

2 Comments

KTFA:



DELTA:  URGENT FROM IRAQI TV:

EXPECTED DECLARATION OF LIBERATION OF MOSUL ON FRIDAY!!!

Greenclan:  THANKS DELTA..........IMO........MOSUL friday 19th......RV sat 20th.......TRUMP ARRIVES sun 21st....we wait and see.

Pmac:  Friday liberation... Saturday... SUNDAY NIGHT...What did F26 say?  ...So next week is a whole new ball game huh??  

SMN:  Delta - thanks for the TV quote!  Let's see.... announcement on Friday to the world and the Iraqi citizens via the Mosque.  Saturday get organized (Iraqi's work slowly - He He), Sunday quite RV so ALL banks can make coordinated changes.  Monday Frank tells the world, the RV is complete.  Let's think now, is there anything else... oh yea!  Start counting to 72 - 78.  Bring it on!!!   Ooops, left out that on Monday President Donald Trump takes a well deserved bow!
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JJonesMX:  Getting closer... Blessings all..*JJ*

#BREAKING
#Iraq Joint Operations: "#ISIS only controls 12 KM square of #Mosul city and complete victory is very soon". https://t.co/nEDHyW5aEi

#Iraq Joint Operation
•679 #ISIS car bombs destroyed
•6661 IEDs defused
•217 vests defused
•47 drones destroyed

•76 car factory flattened https://t.co/txHkGaNk1p

#ISIS was very well prepared for the battle of #Mosul but #Iraqi forces well better and all of ISIS tactics couldn't stop forces. https://t.co/Nac6DCmRjo

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Iobey777:  Wow, Don! Looks like Iran is being favored once again! Some deals have been made behind closed doors...wonder if it means their Rial may be about to be revalued? Could it be?  And China has been a busy bee also!! Things are happening all over the world! Everyone is getting ready to "dance" with Iraq! IMO!

Don961:  Report: US May Waive Iran Sanctions in Coming Days

National   Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The administration of US President Donald Trump may issue waivers of some Iran nuclear-related sanctions in the coming days as it adheres, for now, to its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal, while carrying out a comprehensive review of its Iran policy.

The notification of the waivers might be issued as early as May 17, a day before Donald Trump is due to depart for Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy and Brussels on his first foreign trip as president, sources told Al-Monitor, while cautioning that the anticipated action and timing could change. That is also two days before Iran holds the presidential election.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has made reaching the Iran nuclear deal with six world powers a centerpiece of his reelection bid, but has come under criticism from political rivals that Iranians have not received the economic benefits from sanctions relief that the deal promised.

The Trump administration is conducting a National Security Council-led inter-agency review of its broader Iran policy. US officials said that until the review is completed, the administration will continue to adhere to terms of the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

"We are continuing to review the JCPOA," a State Department official, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor. "While that review in underway, we continue to implement our commitments."

Waivers of one set of US sanctions on Iran, under the Iran Freedom Counterproliferation Act, are set to expire 120 days after they were last issued by the Obama administration, and would need to be reissued the week of May 15 for the United States not to be in breach of the JCPOA. Waivers of some other US nuclear-related sanctions on Iran are not set to expire until after 180 days, so would not need to be reissued until a few weeks later.

"The Trump administration has made clear that at least until this review is completed, we will adhere to the JCPOA and will ensure that Iran is held strictly accountable to its requirements," the State Department official said.

"Once we have finalized our conclusions, we will meet the challenges Iran poses with clarity and conviction."

US officials have declined to offer a timeline for when the inter-agency review of US policy on Iran and the JCPOA will be completed.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson certified in an April 18 letter to Congress that Iran was adhering to the nuclear deal, which went into effect in January 2016, after years of negotiations.

***Foot-Stomping

But addressing reporters a day later, Tillerson harshly denounced Iran's alleged support for terrorism and its backing for the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria and resistance groups in the region.

The Trump administration intends to pursue a comprehensive policy toward Iran that addresses those "malign behaviors", he said.

"A comprehensive Iran policy requires that we address all of the threats posed by Iran, and it is clear there are many," Tillerson said April 19.
The JCPOA "completely ignored all of the other serious threats that Iran poses", Tillerson asserted.

But asked whether the United States should then break out of the deal, Tillerson said he did not think that would be constructive.

"We just don't see that that's a prudent way to be dealing with Iran, certainly not in the context of all of their other disruptive activities," he replied.

Trump himself took another swipe at the deal the next day.

"It was a terrible agreement; it shouldn't have been signed; it shouldn't have been negotiated the way it was negotiated," Trump, meeting at the White House with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, said on April 20.

And though his administration had just two days earlier formally certified Iran's compliance with the deal, Trump claimed Iran was not living up to the deal's "spirit".

"They are not living up to the spirit of the agreement, I can tell you that. And we are analyzing it very carefully, and we will have something to say about it in the not-too-distant future," he said.

It was anticipated that any US sanctions waiver issued by the Trump administration this month would likely be accompanied by a similarly harsh "foot-stomping" such as those from Trump and Tillerson that followed the certification of Iranian compliance with the deal last month.

US officials are at least keeping in mind the May 19 Iranian elections, although it is unclear how much that vote might restrain the officials' comments on Iran.

Notably, Iran's Rouhani has recently hinted in the final days of the campaign that if he wins a second term, he might be willing to pursue negotiations with the United States on issues beyond the Iran nuclear deal, to try to get non-nuclear sanctions on Iran removed.

"I will engage myself in lifting all the non-nuclear sanctions during the coming four years and bring back the grandeur of Iran and the Iranian people," Rouhani, speaking at the third and final presidential debate, said.

The Trump administration is aware of the Iranian political calendar, a former US-Iran nuclear negotiator, Richard Nephew, said. But it is still likely to accompany any nod to Iran's compliance with the deal with harsh rhetoric about Iran's regional behavior.

"I think they [US officials] are sensitive to the fact that this is not a random week in May; that this is sensitive time for the Iranians politically," Nephew, now with Columbia University, said.

https://goo.gl/RLqjRJ

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HappyGolpher:  Back doc I just remembered I was wanting to ask you a question about the S Korea won. I didn't hear you talk much, about it. Is it possible it's currency would be internationally traded in the near future. Thank you for your time sir  

BACKDOC:  THE SOUTH KOREAN WON IS ALREADY AN INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY.

1117.04 to the dollar.    DOC


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AndySwan:  I just saw this on Breitbart, originally from the AP. Frank, you are amazing. I think the AP has been listening to KTFA conference calls. This is literally word for word from what Frank said last night.

U.S.-Backed Iraqi Forces Corner Islamic State in Mosul: ‘These Are Their Dying Breaths’

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/05/15/u-s-backed-iraqi-forces-close-islamic-state-mosque-stronghold-mosul-dying-breaths/
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Don961:  Iraqi military spokesman: only 12 square kilometers of Mosul under the control of Daesh

Tuesday, May 16th 2017 11:20

BAGHDAD (Reuters)

Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier-General Yahya Messenger said at a press conference on Tuesday, said Iraqi forces were able to reduce the area controlled by the organization Daesh to 12 square kilometers only.

US Colonel John Gourian, spokesman for the coalition, which supports the Iraqi forces in the war on al-Daesh said that the fighters of the organization completely trapped "and on the verge of total defeat" in the city.

http://www.youm7.com/story/201...../5/16/link

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Samson:  Zimbabwe : Gold reserves to anchor local currency

May 16, 2017   Minister Chidhakwa

Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau

Government is working on a plan to establish a gold reserve set to anchor the introduction of a local currency when the right time comes for the return to the Zimdollar, it has been learnt.

This comes at a time when the country is grappling with cash shortages and economists believe the issuance of a gold backed local currency would help stimulate economic activity.
Modelled around the $200 million Afreximbank facility, which is backing the current bond notes in circulation, economists believe the local currency will ease liquidity challenges and stimulate aggregate demand.

Plans to create a gold reserve involve investing in the efficient operations of Government’s gold mining firms, including Sabi, Elvington and Jena gold mines.

Sabi Gold Mine resumed operations recently with targets to produce about 25kg of gold per month after a five-year hiatus caused by working capital constraints.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa said the gold reserve would complement the Sovereign Wealth Fund, where a set of minerals would be reserved for future generations.

The legal processes that will give effect to the fund are still before Parliament.

“Naturally, in order to support the future introduction of our own currency, you want to have mineral resources that you hold in reserve,” said Cde Chidhakwa.

“We have discussed this matter with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and what we are doing now, because most of the gold that is currently held is in private hands, we need to get our own companies operating.”

Government has full or part control of Sabi, Jena and Elvington gold mines, which have not been operating in recent years due to lack of capital.

Effort has been expended to resuscitate the companies, which are at varying levels of fruition.

Once all the companies owned by Government start operating, Minister Chidhakwa said they would be required to set aside part of their gold output to be kept as reserve by the RBZ.

He said Jena Gold Mine would soon take delivery of mining equipment to bolster its resuscitation, while other options were being looked at to bring on stream Elvington Mine in Chegutu.

This follows delivery of $7 million worth of equipment to the Zvishavane based Sabi Gold Mine.

Confederations of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Busisa Moyo said a gold backed currency was a sound economic intervention.

“If it is along the lines of the Afreximbank facility, then it will give a lot of credibility to the currency because there is depressed demand for goods and products as people have no cash,” said Mr Moyo.

Demand, he said, should be at its highest owing to activities at the tobacco auction floors, but shortage of cash had dampened economic activity.

There are reports that some foreigners are taking advantage of liquidity constraints to bring in money and buy gold.

Some gold miners, including informal ones have in recent days been reported to be channelling their gold to the parallel market.

Minister Chidhakwa said contingent measures were being put in place to ensure that miners got their money as soon as they delivered to Fidelity Printers and Refiners.

http://www.herald.co.zw/gold-reserves-to-anchor-local-currency/