An Iraqi political group urged its government to seek diplomatic intervention from Russia to help Iraq exit the UN Chapter VII sanctions, instead of relying on Kuwait’s position.

“Russia is currently supervising the work of the committee that evaluates Iraq’s situation to stay subjected to the Chapter VII sanctions,” said Aliya Nusayef, spokesperson of the Free Iraqiya Bloc. “Since it is a permanent member in the Security Council, Russia can play a significant role in ending the UN authorization on Iraq.”

The Iraqi lawmaker believes that leaving the subject for Kuwait’s evaluation became unreasonable “since all persisting issues between the two countries have been resolved, saved for a number of issues that do not call for retaining sanctions.” “It is important that Russia is convinced to reconsider this issue rationally, especially since Iraq no longer pose a threat to international peace and security,” she added.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki is expected to visit Russia soon after receiving an official invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The Iraqi government is required to take diplomatic efforts in order to end the present situation that has been ongoing for over twenty years,” Nusayef said.

Stance on elections
Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi reiterated his stance of not running again for parliament, indicating that the end of his work is tied with the dissolution of the 2009 parliament. Al-Kharafi made these comments in a recent press statement, in which he indicated that he “referred a letter to HH the Amir about the inability of the Parliament to convene due to lack of quorum,” leaving the “final decision” for the state’s ruler to make. “Distancing from the parliament does not mean that I am giving up my responsibilities towards the nation,” he said, “we must serve Kuwait in all fields because we owe this country a lot.”

Al-Sawagh in a tight spot

MP Falah Al-Sawagh finds himself in a very tough situation these days as he tries to reach a middle ground between the oppositionists Islamic Constitutional Movement that he belongs to, and his Awazem tribe which objects calls given by the ICM and the Majority Bloc to adopt constitutional monarchy.

“Recent statements of the Awazem’s leader Falah bin Jame’a in which he rejected the concept of constitutional monarchy and elected Cabinet is a knockout blow for Al-Sawagh, whose dominant win in the 2012 parliament was contributed majorly by bin Jame’a's support for him,” said sources close to the Islamist lawmaker.

“If Al-Sawagh supports his ICM’s stance and announce support for the constitutional monarchy idea, he would risk losing support of the Awazem tribe who are known for shunning those that oppose their general direction,” added sources. On that regard, sources indicated that Al-Sawagh “received advices to avoid mentioning the constitutional monarchy subject, and instead focus on other demands such as rejecting the government’s step to refer the electoral law to the Constitutional Court.”

Meanwhile, Former MP and minister Ali Al-Baghli argued that the real reason behind the opposition’s rejection of the government’s step is “their panic upon realizing the true possibility of failing to return to the Parliament if the electoral law is changed.” Al-Baghli, a human rights activist and a regular columnist, announced his support for the government’s plan to verify the constitutionality of the five-constituencies system.

‘Kout’ restaurants

The Kout Food Group announced establishing new companies to operate international food chain branches in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iraq.

This was announced in a statement released by the Kuwaiti food company recently, which announces the decision to establish the ‘Kout Food Company for Facilities Management,’ in the UAE, the ‘Special Restaurants Company’ in Qatar, and the ‘Kout Food Company’ in Iraq.

The group explained to the Kuwait Stock Exchange that the new companies are specialized in “building and operating restaurants and food equipment, as well as representing international food companies as well as importing and exporting goods related to the company’s purpose of work”.

Charity violation

A Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor(MSAL) employee sent a letter to Undersecretary Mohammad Al-Kandari, accusing the Director of the Charity Organizations and Foundations Department of “making false claims in order to cover up for serious violations committed by two charity committees.”

According to the letter which was made available to the press, the employee said that the senior official “suspiciously denied” violations allegedly committed by the Khalidiya and Yarmouk committee of the Social Reform Society, which were detected during inspection operation at two places run by the committee. The staff member further indicates that the official ignored her request to investigate the issue based on evidence found to confirm the violations.