Thursday, August 25, 2022. Monkeypox and COVID 19 continue to spread
while Joe Biden stares off into space in yet another senior moment,
Moqtada stomps his feet and much more.
The number of monkeypox cases in Los Angeles County doubled over the
past week, after Los Angeles Unified School District opened with
virtually no mitigation measures in place. A total of 7,885 COVID-19
cases were also registered in Los Angeles on August 22.
On the
first day of the school year, 50,000 LAUSD students failed to attend
classes. While there are number of factors driving high rates of
absenteeism, a majority of parents and students are doubtless concerned
about walking onto school sites which— for all intents and purposes—
have been converted into human petri dishes.
As of Tuesday, LA
County recorded 3,200 COVID cases a day. While this number represents a 7
percent decline over the previous week, experts are expected a sharp
increase in cases during the fall and winter seasons.
Moreover,
monkeypox is rapidly spreading among US children, with cases now
reported in North Carolina, New York, Georgia, Oregon, California and
other states. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) and other public health organizations have been desperate to claim
that monkeypox is a disease affecting gay men only, in actuality, the
disease affects individuals of all ages and sexual orientations and will
have a particularly devastating effect on students at school sites.
In response to these devastating developments, the district, city and
county governments in Los Angeles have been running a public relations
campaign to suppress the danger of both monkeypox and COVID-19. Each day
since their virtual Town Hall meeting on August 11,
the LACDPH (Los Angeles County Department of Health) has argued that
COVID-19 numbers have been steadily declining, in an effort to prop up
the policy of 'living with the virus' established by the Biden
administration and the CDC.
On the day of their Town Hall almost
two weeks ago, LA County officially reported 15 deaths from COVID-19.
The number of deaths for August 23, 2022 was 14. According to figures
from the New York Times, the number of deaths for Monday was actually 24. For the same day in 2021, the number of deaths was 19.
Since
the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been 3,386,161
reported cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, a number which is
almost certainly a vast undercount, and a total of 33,041 deaths. All of
these deaths would have been entirely preventable had there been a
rational policy in place to eliminate and eradicate the disease rather
than the decided approach of allowing the virus to spread unchecked,
prioritizing profits over lives.
Monkeypox has been around for
over 50 years and while there is still much to be learned about the
virus, much is also known, including that it spreads through direct
contact with infected rashes, scabs, or body fluids from a person with
monkeypox, touching objects, fabrics and surfaces that have been used by
someone with monkeypox and contact with respiratory secretions.
Where's the leadership?
Where's
Joe Biden? He's had COVID twice in recent weeks and now his wife has
as well. So where's the plan? He wasn't prepared for monkeypox despite
warnings. His answer? It appears to be a Doris Day song: "Que Sera
Sera."
You know, if you think back, when he
wanted the office, he had all this talk about what he would do. Does
the press ever stop their whoring long enough to remember that? For
example, this is from the Joe Biden campaign for president in 2020:
The Biden Plan to Combat Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Prepare for Future Global Health Threats
THE BIDEN PLAN TO COMBAT CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) AND PREPARE FOR FUTURE GLOBAL HEALTH THREATS
For more information on Joe’s leadership during the Coronavirus pandemic, please visit here.
For more information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the coronavirus, please visit here.
The American people deserve an
urgent, robust, and professional response to the growing public health
and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. That
is why Joe Biden is outlining a plan to mount:
- A decisive public health response
that ensures the wide availability of free testing; the elimination of
all cost barriers to preventive care and treatment for COVID-19; the
development of a vaccine; and the full deployment and operation of
necessary supplies, personnel, and facilities.
- A decisive economic response
that starts with emergency paid leave for all those affected by the
outbreak and gives all necessary help to workers, families, and small
businesses that are hit hard by this crisis. Make no mistake: this will
require an immediate set of ambitious and progressive economic measures,
and further decisive action to address the larger macro-economic shock
from this outbreak.
Biden believes we must spend whatever
it takes, without delay, to meet public health needs and deal with the
mounting economic consequences. The federal government must act swiftly
and aggressively to help protect and support our families, small
businesses, first responders and caregivers essential to help us face
this challenge, those who are most vulnerable to health and economic
impacts, and our broader communities – not to blame others or bail out
corporations.
Public health emergencies require
disciplined, trustworthy leadership grounded in science. In a moment of
crisis, leadership requires listening to experts and communicating
credible information to the American public. We must move boldly,
smartly, and swiftly. Biden knows how to mount an effective crisis
response and elevate the voices of scientists, public health experts,
and first responders. He helped lead the Obama-Biden Administration’s
effective response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and the 2014 Ebola
epidemic. Biden also helped lead the response to the greatest economic
crisis since the Great Depression and ran point on implementation of the
Recovery Act. He knows how to get relief out the door to families, as
well as resources to state and local officials to deal with the
challenges they are facing.
And, even as we respond to this
crisis, we must prepare for the next one. As President, Biden will
establish and manage a permanent, professional, sufficiently resourced
public health and first responder system that protects the American
people by scaling up biomedical research, deploying rapid testing
capacity, ensuring robust nationwide disease surveillance, sustaining a
first class public health and first responder workforce, establishing a
flexible emergency budgeting authority, and mobilizing the world to
ensure greater sustained preparedness for future pandemics.
Congress has taken a step forward by
passing an initial bipartisan emergency plan to combat COVID-19. The
Trump Administration must now heed the calls of House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to put the health and
safety of the American people first. Much more needs to be done, now, to
bring our country together, respond to this emergency, and set the
groundwork for bold, long-term reforms, including ensuring quality,
affordable health care and a comprehensive paid leave program for every
American.
Biden will be ready on Day One of his
Administration to protect this country’s health and well-being. But he
is not waiting until then to communicate his views on what must be done
now to properly serve the American people. Biden believes the following
steps must immediately be taken. If Trump does not take them, Biden will
on Day One as President.
The Biden Plan calls for:
- Restoring trust, credibility, and common purpose.
- Mounting
an effective national emergency response that saves lives, protects
frontline workers, and minimizes the spread of COVID-19.
- Eliminating cost barriers for prevention of and care for COVID-19.
- Pursuing
decisive economic measures to help hard-hit workers, families, and small
businesses and to stabilize the American economy.
- Rallying the world to confront this crisis while laying the foundation for the future.
Biden understands that this is a
dynamic situation. The steps proposed below are a start. As the crisis
unfolds, Biden will build on this policy to address new challenges.
RESTORING TRUST, CREDIBILITY, AND COMMON PURPOSE
Stop the political theater and willful misinformation that has heightened confusion and discrimination.
Biden believes we must immediately put scientists and public health
leaders front and center in communication with the American people in
order to provide regular guidance and deliver timely public health
updates, including by immediately establishing daily, expert-led press
briefings. This communication is
essential to combating the dangerous epidemic of fear, chaos, and
stigmatization that can overtake communities faster than the virus. Acts
of racism and xenophobia against the Asian American and Pacific
Islander community must not be tolerated.
Ensure that public health decisions are made by public health
professionals and not politicians, and officials engaged in the response
do not fear retribution or public disparagement for performing their
jobs.
Immediately restore the White House National Security Council
Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which was
established by the Obama-Biden Administration and eliminated by the Trump Administration in 2018.
MOUNTING AN EFFECTIVE NATIONAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE THAT SAVES
LIVES, PROTECTS FRONTLINE WORKERS, AND MINIMIZES THE SPREAD OF COVID-19
Make Testing Widely Available and Free
Ensure that every person who needs a test can get one – and that testing for those who need it is free.
Individuals should also not have to pay anything out of their own
pockets for the visit at which the test is ordered, regardless of their
immigration status. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
must draw on advice from outside scientists to clarify the criteria for
testing, including consideration of prioritizing first responders and
health care workers so they can return to addressing the crisis.
Establish at least ten mobile testing sites and drive-through
facilities per state to speed testing and protect health care workers. Starting
in large cities and rapidly expanding beyond, the CDC must work with
private labs and manufacturers to ensure adequate production capacity,
quality control, training, and technical assistance. The number of tests
must be in the millions, not the thousands.
Provide a daily public White House report on how many tests have
been done by the CDC, state and local health authorities, and private
laboratories.
Expand CDC sentinel surveillance programs and other surveillance
programs so that we can offer tests not only only to those who ask but
also to those who may not know to ask,
especially vulnerable populations like nursing home patients and people
with underlying medical conditions. This must be done in collaboration
with private sector health care entities.
Task the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to help
establish a diagnosis code for COVID-19 on an emergency basis so that
surveillance can be done using claims data.
Surge Capacity for Prevention, Response, and Treatment
Task all relevant federal agencies to take immediate action to
ensure that America’s hospital capacity can meet the growing need,
including by:
- Preparing to stand up multi-hundred-bed temporary hospitals in any city on short notice by deploying existing Federal Medical Stations in the strategic national stockpile and preemptively defining potential locations for their use as needed.
- Directing the U.S. Department of
Defense (DOD) to prepare for potential deployment of military resources,
both the active and reserve components, and work with governors to
prepare for potential deployment of National Guard resources, to provide
medical facility capacity, logistical support, and additional medical
personnel if necessary. This includes activating the Medical Reserve
Corps, which consists of nearly 200,000 volunteer health care professionals
who stand ready to serve across America; training and deploying
additional surge capacity, including U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs/DOD medical equipment and U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) Disaster Assistance Medical Teams; and directing and
assisting existing hospitals to surge care for 20% more patients than
current capacity through flexible staffing, use of telemedicine support,
and delaying elective procedures.
- Instructing the CDC to establish
real-time dashboards tracking (1) hospital admissions related to
COVID-19, especially for ICUs and emergency departments, in concert with
the American Hospital Association and large hospital chains, for which
the HHS must ensure data is able to be shared, as needed; and (2) supply
chain information – including availability, allocation, and shipping –
for essential equipment and personal protective equipment, including in
the various places where there may be federal reserves. The strategic
national stockpile must be used to supplement any shortages that exist,
especially for essential medical supplies, like oxygen, ventilators, and
personal protective equipment.
- Ensuring that training, materials,
and resources reach federally qualified health centers, rural health
clinics, and safety-net hospitals, which are typically resource-poor and
care disproportionately for vulnerable populations that will bear the
brunt of COVID-19. This effort will lay the foundation for a deeper and
more lasting public health infrastructure for accessible national health
care for all.
Surge tele-emergency room, tele-ICU care, and telemedicine through
a concerted, coordinated effort by health care providers to enable
staff to manage additional patients and save beds for the very sick. Leverage existing efforts like Project ECHO to ensure health professionals have tele-mentoring and other training resources they need to make informed decisions.
Support older adults, vulnerable individuals, and people with disabilities.
Ensure essential home- and community-based services continue and
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid works to provide the waivers necessary
for those who rely on medication to have a sufficient supply.
Protect health care workers, first responders, assisted living staff, and other frontline workers.
- Give all frontline workers
high-quality and appropriate personal protective equipment – and enough
of it and appropriate training to use it – so they don’t become
infected. If our health care workers, first responders, and essential
workers like transportation and food workers cannot function, we cannot
protect and care for the public. The Biden Plan calls for issuing
guidance to states and localities to ensure first responders and public
health officials are prioritized to receive protective personal
equipment and launching an education campaign to inform the general
public about equipment that should be reserved for professionals.
- Direct the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) to keep frontline workers safe by issuing
an Emergency Temporary Standard that requires health care facilities to
implement comprehensive infectious disease exposure control plans;
increasing the number of OSHA investigators to improve oversight; and
working closely with state occupational safety and health agencies and
state and local governments, and the unions that represent their
employees, to ensure comprehensive protections for frontline workers.
Ensure first responders, including local fire departments and
Emergency Medical Services, can meet the staffing requirements needed to
respond and are trained to recognize the symptoms of COVID-19.
Accelerate the Development of Treatment and Vaccines
Ensure the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Biomedical
Advanced Research and Development Authority are swiftly accelerating the
development of rapid diagnostic tests, therapeutics and medicines, and
vaccines. NIH must be responsible
for the clinical trial networks and work closely with the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) on trial approvals.
Ensure the FDA is working with the NIH to prioritize review and
authorization for use of COVID-19 countermeasures and strengthen
regulatory science at the FDA to make certain it has the needed
resources to evaluate the safety and efficacy of new tools.
Provide Timely Information and Medical Advice and Guidance
Work with the CDC and HHS to ensure that health departments and
health providers across the country give every person access to an
advice line or interactive online advice
so they can make an informed decision about whether to seek care or to
stay at home. This will preserve the health care system for those who
are sick and prevent people who may not need to see a provider from
becoming needlessly exposed. Ensure all information provided to the
public is accessible to people with disabilities, including through
plain language materials and American sign language interpreters.
Instruct the CDC to provide clear, stepwise guidance and resources
about both containment and mitigation for local school districts,
health care facilities, higher education and school administrators, and
the general public. Right now, there
is little clarity for these groups about when to move toward social
distancing measures, like cancelling school, mass gatherings, and travel
and when to move to tele-work and distance learning models.
Ensure firefighters and other emergency responders are notified if they have been exposed to individuals infected with COVID-19.
Launching Urgent Public Health System Improvements for Now and the Future
Work with businesses to expand production of personal
protective equipment, including masks and gloves, and additional
products such as bleach and alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Incentivize
greater supplier production of these critically important medically
supplies, including committing, if necessary, to large scale volume
purchasing and removing all relevant trade barriers to their
acquisition.
Task the U.S. Department of Justice with combating price gouging for critical supplies.
Take steps in the aftermath of the crisis to produce
American-sourced and manufactured pharmaceutical and medical supply
products in order to reduce our
dependence on foreign sources that are unreliable in times of crisis.
The U.S. government should immediately work with the private sector to
map critical health care supplies; identify their points of origin;
examine the supply chain process; and create a strategic plan to build
redundancies and domestic capacity. The goal is to develop the next
generation of biomedical research and manufacturing excellence, bring
back U.S. manufacturing of medical products we depend on, and ensure we
are not vulnerable to supply chain disruptions, whether from another
pandemic, or because of political or trade disputes.
Establish and fund a U.S. Public Health Service Reserve Corps to
activate former Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers to
expand medical and public health capacity.
By creating the Reserve Corps, we will have a larger team of health
professionals to deploy across the nation to help train health care
systems in detection and response, educate the public, provide direct
patient care as needed, and support the public health infrastructure in
communities that are often under-resourced and struggling.
All
these plans and all basically in the trash now. His plan now is maybe
you'll get it, maybe you won't, the corporations own my ass and so I'm
just going to tell you to go to work and infect everyone.
He's an abject failure.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden pledged an additional $3 billion
in weapons to Ukraine, the largest single funding disbursement since
the start of the war six months ago. To date, the US has provided more
than $50 billion in weapons and other funding to Ukraine, including
long-range missile systems, high-end anti-ship missiles, helicopters and
other aircraft.
Six months since the start of the war, the
message is clear: Far from seeking to end the conflict, the US is doing
everything to expand and to prolong its new “forever war” against Russia
in Ukraine.
Wednesday’s announcement came after weeks of
extraordinary provocations, designed to goad the Kremlin into an
expansion of the conflict. Multiple Russian military bases in Crimea
were subject to major attacks by Ukraine. On Saturday, Daria Dugina, the
daughter of far-right nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, was
assassinated in central Moscow. All of these operations bear the imprint
“made in Washington.”
With these provocations, the US is seeking
to strengthen the forces inside the Russian state apparatus and
oligarchy that are calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to
retaliate. The aim is to force the Kremlin into a military response that
would create the necessary justification for a further escalation of
the war.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky
reaffirmed that the goal of his country’s involvement in the war is to
retake the Crimean Peninsula, declaring, “the war started with Crimea,
and it will end in Crimea.”
Zelensky’s statement revealed more
than it intended to. Indeed, the war with Russia began not in February
2022 but in February 2014. However, it did not start with Russia’s
annexation of Crimea in March, but rather with the February 2014 coup
that was orchestrated and funded by the imperialist powers. The coup
provoked not only Russia’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula, but
also an eight-year-long civil war in which Russian-backed separatists,
fighting against the imperialist-armed Ukrainian military, came to
control significant portions of East Ukraine.
Above
all, the 2014 coup formed the basis for the open transformation of
Ukraine into the launching pad for an imperialist war against Russia. In
the eight years between February 2014 and February 2022, the
imperialist powers spent tens of billions of dollars
to train, arm, expand and restructure the Ukrainian army. Neo-Nazi
forces in the Ukrainian state apparatus and military were built up and
armed as the principal shock troops of imperialism for the war against
both Russia and the working class in the region.
I
think Josephine Nobody or Ned Never Heard Of Before could win in 2024
just by promising to focus on the needs of the American people and stop
sending billions to Ukraine. There is no real support for this war of
choice. They deployed their whores to pimp this war. They tried to
hijack the Academy Awards (they did hijack the Grammys) to sell this
disaster. It didn't sell. The American people are not in favor of
sending billions of their dollars to Ukraine. This is the biggest theft
of tax dollars.
Joe Biden isn't fit to be
president. He supported war on Iraq and all these years later US forces
remain in Iraq. Yes, unlike the idiot Tulsi Gabbard, I will call him
out on the Iraq War. And I will never, ever forget her fake ass being
exposed in that debate where she was given a chance to call Joe out for
the Iraq War and she took a pass. And then several minutes later,
moderator Jake Tapper brought it back to her again to let her have
another shot and she took another pass. Just a fake ass, that's all she
is.
US troops in Iraq and Syria are on “high alert” for attacks by Iran-backed groups, a senior US commander said on Thursday.
US
President Joe Biden authorised military strikes on Tuesday against
bases the Defence Department said were being used by Iran-aligned groups
to attack the US-led coalition in Syria.
The strikes in oil-rich Deir Ezzor province "targeted infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps".
About six weeks ago, U.S. President Joe Biden boasted in the Washington Post
that the Middle East was “more stable and secure” than when he
inherited the region from his predecessor, Donald Trump. Among other
examples, Biden named Iraq, where rocket attacks against U.S. troops and
diplomats had diminished. While he’s correct that fewer Americans have
been targeted, this single metric alone is hardly enough to support his
claim of stability. By nearly every other measure, Iraq is less stable
today than in January 2021—and U.S. interests there more threatened.
It’s a remarkable turn of events. Just 10 months ago, Iraq improbably
appeared poised to form a government committed to diminishing the
destructive role played by Iran-backed militias and enforcing Iraqi
sovereignty against its bigger neighbor. Now, Iran’s political allies in
Iraq have the upper hand, the country’s fragile democracy is threatened
as never before, and, for the first time in a decade, violence even
among Shiite groups is a possibility.
But
ten months ago, Iraq held elections. And all this time later, still no
one named prime minister or president. I am saying this part (and have
said since August when the money exchanged hands), not FOREIGN POLICY,
the Joe Biden administration paid off Moqtada -- who they were backing
-- to cancel his public call for the elections to be boycotted. Moqtada
bloc won the most seats (not enough to form a government) and, month
after month, he failed at forming a government despite hype and praise
from the US press. Back to FOREIGN POLICY:
Then the Iran-backed Coordination Framework coalition—Sadr’s Shiite
rivals—played their ace card. To prevent Sadr, the Kurds, and Sunnis,
who had secured a majority of the seats in parliament, from selecting a
prime minister and cabinet, the Iran-backed opposition used their
control of the corrupt judiciary to move the goalposts. The Federal
Supreme Court ruled that now—for the first time—not just a simple
majority but a two-thirds supermajority would be needed to form a
government. Unable to reach that threshold, Sadr’s 73 members of
parliament resigned en masse in June, and their seats were reallocated
to Iran-aligned parties.
Who masterminded this judicial coup? None other than Nouri al-Maliki,
who served as premier from 2006 to 2014 and is best known for his
prodigious corruption and vicious sectarianism, which in no small part
contributed to the rise of the Islamic State. In January 2021, he reportedly narrowly escaped being sanctioned by the Trump administration. As kingmaker, Maliki would once again be pulling the strings.
Sadr and Maliki have been rivals for the mantle of Shiite leadership
in Iraq since at least 2008, when government forces led by Maliki
attacked and defeated Sadr’s Mahdi Army in the Battle of Basra. Given
this history of bad blood, Sadr responded to the Coordination
Framework’s July 25 nomination of a Maliki ally—Mohammed Shia
al-Sudani—for prime minister by directing his supporters to occupy the
parliament and prevent a vote for prime minister, which they duly did.
It was as if Sadr had taken a page from the Jan. 6, 2021,
insurrectionists in Washington.
What is
Joe Biden doing? Nothing. Congress keeps sending him letters. Trying
to remind him. But he's living one senior moment to the next,
wondering to himself, "Why did I walk into this room again?"
Congress
is urging the administration of US President Joe Biden to enhance
engagement with Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government over "a
range" of ongoing disputes, while condemning Iran's "blatant violations
of Iraqi sovereignty".
Iraq
and the Kurdistan Regional Government's escalating disputes over
natural resources have threatened Washington's investment in "supporting
a stable, sovereign and democratic Iraq free from malign foreign
influence", Michael McCaul, Republican leader of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, said in a letter to Secretary of State Antony
Blinken.
The natural resources dispute has been exacerbated by infighting among Iraq's political parties, which have failed to form a government since elections in October last year.
"Meanwhile, the Iraqi people suffer, lacking a government that
represents their interests and unable to reap the full benefits of
revenues from Iraq’s oil, gas and other natural resources," Mr McCaul
wrote.
Joe reads the letter, stares off
into space for a second, looks up and says, "Tapioca.'' Then he
wanders off down the hall smacking his lips and wondering where he is?
The deep political deadlock in Iraq has entered its 10th month with
no solution in sight and fears there could be a violent escalation.
Why it matters: Many
are concerned the political crisis — the longest in Iraq since the 2003
U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein — will lead to a flare-up
of armed conflict on the streets between supporters of the different
parties.
- A civil war in Iraq could lead to a larger conflict in the region with neighboring countries weighing in.
State
of play: Iraq held early elections in October 2021 in response to a
nationwide, pro-reform protest movement that began in late 2019.
- Since the vote, a political deadlock, mainly among Shiite parties, has prevented the formation of a new government.
Last October's elections made Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Sadrist movement the largest bloc in Parliament.
- His rivals — the Coordination Framework
grouping of Shiite parties, which includes Iran-backed former Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki — have thwarted al-Sadr’s efforts to form a
coalition government with leading Sunni and Kurdish parties.
- The Framework, for example, has been able to prevent enough MPs from attending parliament to vote on forming a new government.
- Al-Sadr has ordered his own MPs to resign and blocked the Framework from nominating its own prime minister.
- Both camps, which command heavily armed militias, also organized protests in the capital Baghdad in recent weeks.
The
stalemate continues, all these months later. Moqtada stomps his feet
and insists that the Parliament dissolve itself. It says no. Moqtada
stomps his feet and demands the judiciary dissolve the Parliament. The
judiciary says only Parliament has the power to dissolve itself.
Moqtada continues to stomp his feet. And Iraqis are getting so tired of
him, ten months later he's failed to form a government and now he's
preventing others from doing so. They're tired of the fat man and his
cult.
With the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court finally resuming its activities after suspending them due to a protest by supporters of controversial cleric and political agitator Muqtada al-Sadr,
questions have been raised about the Shia leader’s own credentials
after he tried to force Iraq’s highest court to overturn last year’s
election result.
With Sadr raising doubts over the legality
of the elections he himself had won, there are signs that Iraq’s
disparate political forces are manoeuvring to seal a deal that will finally see a government formed 10 months after the vote.
Kurdish groups and Sunni coalitions are moving closer to overtly Iran-sponsored parties in a move that may sideline Sadr and dampen his rising star once again.
Sadr may be marginalised after Supreme Court gambit fails
With feelings of public fury and apathy at
the Iraqi political process growing rapidly and in equal measure, there
are signs that the players involved in last year’s elections are
starting to cut deals that will not only bring about a new government
but will also marginalise the election winner.
Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the
Sadrist-led Sairoun coalition that won last year’s poorly attended vote,
may find that he will face significant blowback from the risky gamble
he took over the summer to have all his deputies resign their
parliamentary seats, effectively ceding them to his erstwhile rivals in
the Coordination Framework.
His most recent gambit last Wednesday was
to threaten and then blockade the Federal Supreme Court, demanding that
Iraq’s most powerful judges issue a ruling to order new elections and to
overturn October’s result – which was almost entirely in Sadr’s favour
and gifted him more than 50 seats in parliament.
Initially, the Supreme Court announced that it would cease its activities
and close its offices as it could not conduct its business while being
besieged by Sadrist protesters. However, the Shia leader has now called
on his followers to withdraw from Iraq’s highest court, leading to it
announcing it is once more open for judicial business.
The following sites updated:
