Today I want to share with you some really neat functionality that is available to you inside Emacs. I want to share with you iMenu. What is iMenu? iMenu is essentially a menu that allows you to quickly navigate, jump to certain locations within a document. So for example, let me switch over to my desktop. Let me open up a org document. Now iMenu will work differently depending on what kind of document you're working in, but let me zoom in a little bit into this config.org. This is my Doom Emacs config file. And if you do meta x and type iMenu, you'll get a menu here that you could navigate through or search. You know, you could use the arrow keys to go up and down or you could just start searching for something like iMenu because I actually have an iMenu heading here in the document. And I could hit enter and it will navigate to that section here in the document. Now iMenu automatically populates itself depending on what kind of file you're working in. For example, let me do a split here. And if I go and navigate to my home directory, my dot bash rc, for example. And I do meta x iMenu. I'm not going to have much here. I'm going to have cdown, ex, and up. And what these are, these are actually functions that I actually have in this document.  So what iMenu populates in the menu or what they call major definitions. So what is a major definition? Well, in programming, if you define a function, that's a major definition, right? That's something that's very important in that document. So it gets listed in iMenu. If you're working in something like org mode or markdown or any kind of outlining tool, you know, anything like that, and then obviously the headings, right, the top level headings, the second level headings, those are typically will be populated inside iMenu. Let me close that split. Now inside Doom Emacs, they actually have a key binding already set for iMenu. It's space si. So if I do space si, it brings up iMenu. Actually, this is a different iMenu program. This is actually council dash iMenu. You can see it's got a few more headings. Just the top level headings. We get the top level headings. We also get some second level headings as well. So I actually like this much better than the standard iMenu program. So that's council dash iMenu. If you're using Doom Emacs, space si will bring that up. But honestly, there is a better way to implement iMenu. And I found this program over on GitHub, iMenu dash list. So what I did is I went ahead and installed iMenu dash list.  And I really like it. I've been playing around with it just for a couple of hours here today, but I think I'm going to keep it. And if I do space ti, this is a key binding, I set myself. You can see now I get this iMenu list in a sidebar, space ti will toggle that back off, space ti again. I can navigate the list. You can see I've got top level headings. I've got some second level headings, third level headings. Actually, you can actually fold these with the tab key, kind of like you can fold like the menus here. You know, inside a org mode document, the same kind of tab to fold works in the iMenu dash list. And of course, you can navigate the iMenu list. So typically, the default key bindings, if you're not using Evil mode, will be in for next line, P for previous line, your standard Emax key bindings. If you're using Evil mode like I am, J and K to go up and down, of course, you can search through the buffer as well. But you find something that you want to jump to. For example, maybe I want to jump to the clippy section here inside the document. And you can see it takes me directly to that over here in this buffer. Now it keeps the iMenu list sidebar up. But again, I have a key binding to toggle that. So I'm using space ti for toggle iMenu. But you could do anything for that. Let me search for the iMenu heading here and jump to that space ti to get out of that. So let me show you how to install the iMenu dash list program. Now remember, you don't have to install the standard iMenu program. It's just part of Emax. But iMenu list, let me show you how you install this, at least inside Doom Emax. So I do space period to do the find file command. Let me navigate over to the packages.el file. So packages.el is the file inside Doom Emax where you list all the third-party Emax programs that you want to install. And you can see I have this line right here, package exclamation space iMenu dash list. So it tells Doom Emax to install a program called iMenu dash list. And once that line is there, space hrr to restart Doom Emax. And it'll install any new packages that you've told it to install. And now if I do a space BP for previous buffer, I'll go back to this buffer. If I do a meta x and I search for iMenu dash list, it is there. Now I could hit enter on it and open the iMenu. But really what I want is I want to run this program here, iMenu dash list dash smart dash toggle. Because what that does is it toggles the iMenu, meaning if it's not showing, it shows the iMenu. If it is showing, it hides the iMenu. And I recommend just adding a key binding. That's what I did here.   And it would also get rid of the iMenu for you. Now you notice when I do space TI, the focus, right, the cursor actually jumps to the iMenu list. Which to me, that should be the default setting for iMenu list. But it's actually not. By default, when you open the iMenu list, the focus still stays in the document you're working in. Which is a little weird because then you have to do, you know, control www to get into the vertical split and that you actually want to work in. So they do have a setting though. You can see I've got this variable here, iMenu dash list dash focus dash after dash activation. That's a very long variable name, but it's very descriptive. You know exactly what it means. And you can see I set that to T for true. So when iMenu list is open, it switches the focus to the iMenu list. Now I think probably everyone, if you're going to install iMenu list, you definitely want that setting. There's a few other variables that you can play around with and set. But most of the other ones were things that I really didn't feel like I needed to play with. But you can read the iMenu list GitHub page. Not much to the program, but there are some settings that you can play with if you feel like you need to. So I'm going to go ahead and push my latest config.org for Do Me Max over to my .files repository on my GitLab. So you guys can check out some of this. There's really not much to this section, but if you want to just copy and paste some of the code that I've already got here, I'll put that on my .files repository probably in the next couple of minutes. Now before I go, I need to thank a few special people. I need to thank the producers of this episode. And of course I'm talking about Gabe James-Maxim, Homie Stubald-Matt, Mimit Mitchell-Paul-Royal-West, Armored Dragon, Bash Potato Chuck, Commander Ingrid George Lee, Marsdrom-Methos, Nate Erion-Paul, Peace Archimvedor, Polytech Realities 4 Less, Red Prophet Roland, Tools Devler-Williams, and a bit these guys. They're my high-steered patrons. Over on Patreon with these guys. This quick look at iMenu inside Emacs would not have been possible. The show is also brought to you by each and every one of these fine ladies and gentlemen. All these names you're seeing on the screen right now. These are all my supporters over on Patreon. I don't have any corporate sponsors. I depend on you guys to help support my work. Subscribe to DistroTube over on Patreon. All right, guys. Peace. iMenu's a great program, but a horrible name. Sounds like a crapple device.


This is a fantastic milestone for Project Stadia in its partnership with the National Centre for Spectator Sport Safety and Security at the University of Southern Mississippi. This is the third course that we've run with NCS-4, it's the halfway point of our program of sport security, safety and security training for senior law enforcement officials involved in delivering major events around the world. We continue to get great support from the Interpol community for these courses oversubscribed again and we've seen that as a trend throughout all the course. I think that's a real demonstration of the need internationally for training in this area and also I think that the value that's been delivered in terms of the partnership with NCS-4, we've got a number of repeat students, some have attended all three courses and some have attended two courses so they're well on the way to receiving professional certification in major event safety and security so it's very encouraging we're looking forward to continuing the program over the next 12 months.


Hello, everyone. Welcome to the July 2018 update for Project Gogan. I'm your project manager, Gerard Moroni. So the agenda for today is to just remind you what Gogan's about, what have we done in the last month, feedback from you, and important dates. So the goal of Gogan is to deliver smart contracts for the Carolina platform. And coming out of this project, what we're going to be delivering will be a computational layer where you run smart contracts, as well as tools, training, and documentation to help you use the technology that we're going to deliver. So the last month we've been doing a lot of work on prototypes and models for the sidechains, chimeric ledgers, and multi-currency. And this is the next step after research before we go into code. And one of the benefits of doing this is it provides additional evidence and proof for the academic submissions that we're going to be making for these important research areas. For Plutus, we've managed to further simplify the design of Plutus core, language, and increased confidence in its safety and security by mathematical proofs. We largely completed the Haskell library for processing Plutus core together with a reference virtual machine. We've also refined innovative proposals that would bring powerful and secure smart contracts to UTXO ledgers. For Marlowe, the results of the first phase of Marlowe development have been accepted for a peer review paper, and we're delighted about that. We started to formalize the behavior of Marlowe using fear-improvers, and have completed first results verifying the correct behavior with respect to contract termination. We improved the performance of the decision procedure by re-implementing in SMT-Z3 rather than ILP. For Yelly, we've launched our testnet, and we've spent a lot of time on this testnet to provide really detailed and comprehensive documentation and materials going to help you to understand the technology and how to use it. And that has included us going to Oxford in the UK to meet with the runtime verification team and record a series of interviews and presentations about the technologies surrounding Yelly. So we're hoping that you'll enjoy that on the testnet. In addition to that, the team at runtime verification have been working with us on things like the LLVM backend, the Plutus 2.0 Yelly compiler, as well as gas model improvements for the LLVM itself. For end users and external developers, we have a product manager who's joined the team, and he's focusing heavily on how to best deliver an outcome that will benefit the end users of the smart contracts and the external developers. So we want to create great technology. We want to make sure that we create the right great technology for the people who we want to use it. That's very important to our work and something we're focusing heavily on right now. In terms of integration, we've baselined our architecture on integration design, and like I said, we've been creating the models and prototypes for the Chimeric ledger and multi-currency, and the sidechains will follow into your course. And as I said, the outcome of that will be something that we can use when we go to start making changes to the code itself. For technical document and education, like I mentioned, we've been focusing heavily on providing additional content and training for you for the LE testnet, and that's based on our experience for KAVM where you asked for more. So we've listened to and hopefully what we've delivered is something that you will enjoy and find informative, and if there's something else that you want to have us deliver, then we're more than happy to do so. For quality assurance, we've been expanding how we test things, and we're hoping that's going to give you a much better experience, but if you do find any problems, please feel free to let us know we're more than happy to help. For marketing and external communications, we've been focusing heavily on promoting LE and the testnet in multiple channels. We've done a press release, and we're now in the process of starting our post-launch campaign, and I'll talk a bit more about that later on. So feedback from you, you're very happy with the quick turnaround we had to website changes and bulk fixes for KAVM, so we're going to make sure that we maintain that high standard. You asked for information about the status of testnets, so we started off with something very fundamental and simple, which is a red amber green status for each testnet, which you can now see on the testnet site. That will tell you if the testnet is up and running, if it's stopped, or maybe it's slow because of high volume of traffic. We've built an education machine for LE, and we're hoping that's going to make, as I said, the experience of using LE and the LE testnet better. We're in the process of completing work now that will allow you to connect to the LE testnet using Web3JS and WebSockets, so we're hoping that's going to make the experience of using the testnets and understanding what you can do with it a little bit easier for you. We've already listened to what you said in the last week, and we're hearing that you enjoy using the testnet, but you want more tutorials on LE, so we're thinking about that. There's been questions about cross-chain smart contract calls, which I'll be discussing with the team next week, as well as proofs. So proofs for smart contracts are very, very important, and we're going to look at how we can provide you with some more information about what that means and how it works. And then, like I said a bit earlier, our marketing and external comp scenes are starting to campaign to create greater awareness and to get more feedback from you as a community about LE itself. So what's that going to mean? Well, it's going to mean things like meetups, live chats, hackathons, and a lot of other things to engage with you, so we're really looking forward to that. So important dates. Well, on the 28th of May, we launched a KAVM testnet, when we said we would. On the 30th of July, we launched the LE testnet, again, when we said we would, and you can see the location there where the testnets can be found. And we'd love to hear from you, so please take some time to check out the site. And if you have any problems, there's a location where you can find out how to send a support request. We'd be happy to help. So we have two testnets now demonstrating the smart contracting capability we're going to provide for the account-based ledger. We have more tests coming up, and I don't want to tell you right now what that's going to be exactly, because I want you to come back. So there will be a testnet number three, and then just all I can say is stay tuned and you'll find out more soon. That's about all for now. We're at a very important stage now with Gogan in terms of what we've delivered. We've got two testnets out there with virtual machines where you can start to really start to experience what kind of smart contracting capability we're going to make available to you. The next few months we're going to see more testnets and an acceleration of the process of integrating parts of the work that's been done so far into Cardano Core. And I'll let you know more about that next month. But also next month what I'm going to start doing is bringing somebody from the team in to talk with us here to find out more about what they do, how they work, and how we deliver technologies here at IOHK. So I'm hoping that will give you more of an insight into how IOHK works and the whole process of creating technology. So thanks so much for your time, and looking forward to talking to you again next month. Bye-bye.


Nigel, a quick game against Mickey. Opening did not go according to plan? No, I basically didn't get what I wanted. I was just hoping to get an edge in the Queen's Gambit. But he found a good way to play, which in fact has not been played many times. I've just discovered that. And it just seems to equalize actually. And I wasn't very happy because I had a long think and then managed to get a disadvantage quite quickly. I made a poor choice and then at the end I really had to repeat the position otherwise I was going to be, I think, substantially worse. So yeah, not terribly pleased. Obviously a draw against a strong player like Michael Adams is not a disaster. But the thing is, in order to do well here to get in the money, you really need plus five. To make the most of the white pieces? And I've only got one white left. So yeah, I'm going to have to win another game at some point. Today was an opportunity and I just didn't make anything of it. So look, a draw in itself is not a bad result. But I would like to have played more and to have done something. But it's the way it turned out. Right, the final position where the repetition was made, were you afraid that he might not go for the repetition? Or was that the best choice for both of you? I was concerned because he had the two bishops, in particular the bishop on b7 was very, very active. So I just thought in the end game I had potential to be very seriously worse. And that was the last thing I wanted. Middle game, it's better because I can get some threats against his king. But the moment we have an exchange of pieces and his rook comes into the game, I'm just worse in this position. So yeah, it wasn't my greatest day. In fact, the last two days have not been great. I had a very interesting game against Peters Fiddler yesterday where he missed an extremely beautiful win, which was in fact very, very hard to see. Nowadays, of course, when everybody's watching with the engines, every Tom Dick and Harry says, oh, why didn't he play this?  Define on the board. And if somebody prods you at the time and says why to play and win, you might find it. But there is nobody pushing you at the time and saying, oh, it's plus five for white. Right. And a lot of audience does not get that. I mean, this trick that you're talking about was queen e6 and then going bishop e5. The thing was the first bishop sacrifice was the difficult one because it's actually putting the bishop on a square where it was defended the move before. And it's a quiet sacrifice.  But it was a combination of these sacrifices, which in fact, you know, better players like David Smerdan, he remarked on the Internet that this is a really devilish tactic. And it was well disguised. Right. And today we've been seeing a lot of draws on top boards, early quick draws, in fact, quite a few of them. Players don't seem to be wanting to take too much risk at the stage of the tournament. Can you explain that to us a little bit? I think it's one of those things that if you're in contention at this point with very few rounds left, a loss really sets you back. But I think actually one of the things is that players are very evenly matched and it's just not that easy to win games in this situation. I mean, there are just so many strong players here. So, you know, the cream has risen to the top and there are perhaps fewer decisive results. So, yeah, there were a couple of disappointing games. In fact, the Bulgarian game was not exactly a thriller today. My game was disappointing. I mean, it was not prearranged by any stretch of the imagination. But it happens. Sometimes it goes that way. Absolutely well too. Very crucial rounds to go. We wish you all the best. Thank you.


Jimmy K here, Metal Voice. Look at this. The Metal Voice shirts are now on sale. Just go to the video description to find out on how you can purchase one. Metal! Welcome to the Metal Voice. Today on the show, we got two. Colin, who do we got today? Two for the price of one. Two Dirk Snyders. Two Dirk Snyders. Oh, Sven and... Yeah, here we go. Yeah. So, lots of exciting stuff going on in your UDO world. Yes, exactly. So, it's July 17th, the new album We Are One, which is... Wow, it's orchestrated. I hear bagpipes. I hear choirs. Tell us about the concept of orchestra and the concept of the story, please. Oh, okay. We're trying to start.  We did two shows with the orchestra already, one in Wacken, it was 2015, right? And then it was only 75 minutes, but the reaction was already amazing.  But the whole feeling, the energy was very loud. I mean, they're louder than us. So, but anyway. Yeah, and then we did another show in 2018. But that was two and a half hours long. So, that was like... I also tried to explain this a little bit, you know, there was like maybe 40% of metal audience and the rest was the audience for the brass orchestra. So, and then this is also not a joke. I mean, there was like older people like me. But, and they were really standing up and clapping and singing, you know. And I think these people, they don't have anything to do with this kind of music, with metal. So, and about after this concert, and yeah, we were sitting together having beer, wine, whatever. And we were talking about why we have to continue. And maybe, maybe then the idea was born to make an album together, you know. But making an album together can be very easy. Take the best songs of UDO and put an orchestra on it. No, wrong. And then we said, no, if we want to do this, we create new songs, we write new songs, especially also already thinking that has to be together with the orchestra. Yeah, and then we start watching songs. And yeah, we had a meeting then with them. There should be these two guys there doing the arrangements for the orchestra. They were selecting the 30 songs in a way. And then they said, yeah, this fit, this fit and this not. And then here we go. We start working on everything. And then we gave them, yeah, let's say the demo stuff. It was not really perfect. No, it was basic ideas.  And then there were songs where we thought, hey, should we really give it to them? Like we strike back, could be a bit fast for an orchestra. And then one of the guys who does the arrangements, Guido Renard, he was listening to that. And I think it wasn't Berlin when we played them the ideas. He was like, that's my song. I want to do that. I need to do that. That's great. And total fans of, you know, like this double bass playing fast guitar stuff, twin solos and stuff like that. So they were, yeah, burning for songs like that. And everything continued from there. Then we had several more meetings, sending files back and forth. And they showed us their ideas of how they arranged the orchestra. And I think we were really surprised when the first arrangement came. It was like, wow, they hit, it was right on the point. And that was definitely, yes, it worked. So, but anyway, also, there are a lot of rock and roll and heavy metal. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's, of course, something. This is the armed, armed forces orchestra, right? Yes. Yeah. Ah, that explains it. Very interesting. Yeah. And then so in a way that took, sir, it took a year, nearly a year before everything was done, you know? So there was a lot of work. I can just add to that. I love Navy Metal Knight, your previous albums with the orchestra, because you can tell that it was, the orchestra added, it wasn't a compliment to existing songs. And I'm listening to this album too. I mean, I can't stop listening to this album. It's amazing because it's a joint effort. A lot of times when you see metal bands with an orchestra, it's kind of background. This is in Tegel. It's together. Yeah. That was definitely also the whole thing, you know? Yeah, that was our mission, you know, to get this. And, you know, that was, yeah, when we sat down in Ellsberg in Germany after this concert, we said, hey, imagine if we would start writing songs, especially written for this kind of music.  And that's what came out. Yeah. Everybody is super happy with the result. But Peter Baltas, but Peter Baltas as well. I mean, can you explain the connection there? Peter, Peter, Peter Baltas. Oh, yeah. Let's just try to make a joke. No way. Yeah. I mean, I thought I was mispronouncing his name there for a sec. Go ahead. This was not planned. I mean, let's say Stephen Kaufman was planned from the beginning on. He was helping us out on the last concert on the guitar. And then that was definitely when he was sitting also with us together. And then we were talking about that people maybe want to do an album. And he said, oh, I want to be the sound engineer. I have some ideas. You know, he was also really for him before that was the best concert in his life. You know, really, oh, that's really old, old, old Stephen Kaufman. And he was like, wow, this is something, you know? Yeah. And then I said, okay, no problem. I mean, I never had any problems with Stephen Kaufman. So, yeah. And then one day I was in Germany. He said, yeah, you have to do some demo vocals in the studio. And yeah, then I said, okay, I'll come then. And then I came into the studio, but he didn't tell me that before. And Peter Wojtos was saying there. Surprise. A surprise. What a surprise. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, Peter was there. He was doing some stuff with Stephen about his projects. I mean, Peter, after he left except he, I don't know, he's doing so many things. Yeah. And then he said he was talking, of course, a lot of things. But this is a different story. And yeah, and yeah. And Peter said, yeah, you're doing a very interesting project. I heard something of this. I have also some ideas. If you don't mind, I said, hey, Peter, no problem. I mean, we never had a problem. I never had a problem with Peter. And yeah. And then they came up, Stephen and Peter, they came up with really good ideas. So, you know, I'm not the guy to say, no, nobody can come up with some ideas. I mean, for this project was most important thing that we have really, really good stuff. You know, and that for me, it doesn't matter who was writing the songs or whatever. That was the most important thing. I mean, of course, with Peter and Stephen, it's not so far away from me. It's like, yeah, it was not so far away from everything. So, yeah. And then, yeah, so that was the thing or the story where Peter was enjoying the whole thing, you know. So, and he was really happy to do something like this. And also, Stephen, I think, is also really happy. Yeah. Stephen did a great job. I mean, he was mixing in the end. I don't want to do this. You know, it was like, no, it's too much. And yeah. So, and yeah, and then we had enough songs and then the whole thing starts. Well, Mission Accomplished Guy, because the sound is unbelievable. The songs are unbelievable. Who's the female singer that is doing such a great job on this album? She was doing already, I don't know, 40 shows with the orchestra. She was singing there. And yeah, and then my wish was to have a, I want to do it. And then, yeah, Guido. I think Guido was the guy who was one of the guys who writes the arrangements. He was calling us and saying, hey, I got an idea. I know Manuela Markowitz. That's her name. And she lives in Hamburg, Germany. And yeah, as my dad said, she's their live voice basically for some songs, not for all the songs, but she comes up on stage for some songs here and there. And he said, maybe you want to have a listen to her voice. Maybe that fits to the sort of songs we have. And we got some demos from her. And yeah, we were blown away by her voice. She's such a great singer and I think she will have a great career. And yeah, she was enjoying the project and yeah, was really, really good to work with her. And also one song was written for her and the orchestra is Blindfold. She did this alone. So that means, you know, the whole thing is not only UDO and the orchestra is like a more project. You know, also the orchestra has three instrumental songs on this album. Of course, there's some guitar playing, also some drums, whatever. But you know, the whole thing is like, for example, it starts with the song Pandemonium with vocals, really heavy stuff. And it ends up also heavy, but without singing. Yeah, we also do a little bit of rapping. A little bit of rapping, I noticed on chat. What is it, on we, here we go again, a little bit of UDO rap. Oh, yeah, but that was like when I did the demo vocals. My son was calling me and said, are you sure you want to do this? In the beginning it was more rap, you know. Don't ask me why. I mean, it was just coming, you know. I was, I was singing through to the demo. And it's the song is from the new guitar player, by the way, Fabian Dahmer, or called D Dahmer, whatever. And yeah, and that was like, yes, that's good. Then it was quite funny because I think you did the first demo and we had that. But then there was something where I said, we need to re-record that, but you were in Ibiza, I believe. And then our producer called me and said, hey, do you have the chance to go into the studio and do some demo vocals? And I said, of course, I'm not far away from Stefan, so I could drive there easily. So he's have the full song and demo vocals. And yeah, I did that. I drove home and a couple of days later, our producer called me and said, so you know, you're going to do this song together with your dad now. And I said, no. So yeah, we ended up doing a vocal duet on this song. And I think it's very, very interesting. And I was like, yeah, you're sure you want to do that? Yeah, but you know, it's like, it's like a test. It's like a test for me, you know, when I stop. You have a new career. You have a new career going. And then he's switching over from the drum to the vocal. That's all I have to say. No, let's see. Yeah, you never say never. You guys, guys, what about metal heart? Okay, you're playing metal heart or you were supposed to play metal heart. You know, it's an entirety, right? At the festivals. Is that going to still happen? Yeah, yeah, no. I mean, a vacuum is not happening. You see nothing is happening this year. And so we are definitely already confirmed for next year on vacuum on 2021 with the orchestra. We will see if we do it. We have to do it at 30, 36, 36 years of metal heart. Yeah, so it doesn't matter. Minus a year. Well, maybe you guys could get the the armed forces orchestra and perform at a drive-in or something like Doros doing. And a few others. That's a bit weird. You know, the stage would be there would need to be very big. So we could fit 85 people on a stage and that would be something interesting. You know, I mean, we were think we have lots of offers, you know, at the moment to do these drive-in concerts, but we are spread out over Europe. You know, we come from three different countries and there's like, you know, we can't travel and we can't even come together to practice or whatever. You know, we haven't played together until December, which I think wouldn't be the problem. But anyway, you know, they just can't leave their country and it's tough.  You cannot put to orchestra always like two meters in between.  What's your opinion on drive-ins? Just as Udo, just as the band, would you do it? Of course, we would like to do it. I think it's a funny experience. I think it's a bit awkward to see the people flashing their lights, you know, putting on their horns, but this could also be great feedback, you know, and from what I saw, most of the people are sitting out of the windows anyway or maybe even in front of the car. And then there were, I saw one German band, they made them do a circle pit with cars, which is also totally awesome, you know, so I would love to see that. But as I said, you know, we have a bass player coming from Slovenia and our guitarist is living in Ukraine and especially Ukraine, he could leave the country, I think, but the question is, can he enter again? You know, so therefore it's just impossible. I think it would be a cool once in a lifetime event. But to be honest, I'm not very keen.  It's like, you know, but we did something creative. We are working on a new Udo record. So use the time. Now we have, we are not with pressure. Now we can really slow working on a new album and also good. Do something. Everybody is in the same boat. There's a lot of people, they're dying to get back out on the road, but it's just not happening and they're taking a time, like you said, to make sure the albums come out there perfect. Yeah, but I mean, you know, for us, it's not so funny. You know, our South American tour is now also 2021. America and Canada, but we were planned for middle of November, December, New York Christmas next year.   So everything, it's a shame, but there's nothing you can do. And it's going to be interesting anyway.  So I think there's also like, you know, fighting for dates, you know, next year is going to be overbooked because all the bands want to go out on the same time. I think also about this thing, we will see which clubs and stuff like that. That's also a big problem. Yeah, yeah. What about the other thing? What about opening up for, David Reese opened up for you on a few dates for a lot of dates. What about bringing that to North America? That'd be very cool. Bringing Reese and UDO to America. Yeah, we are up for it. I don't have a problem. I mean, I'm really good friends with David, you know. We had a lot of fun on this tour. So, I mean, yeah, it was very interesting and yeah, a nice tour. A nice tour, yeah, very, very nice. Very good guy to talk to and good guy to spend time with. And yeah, that would be fun. Why not? Yeah, throw it in there. Nope. You guys are more accept than accept. That's what I think. Okay. No comment. No comment. Hopefully all the fans are saving their money because like you said, when it hits and the floodgates are open, it will be inundated with lots and lots of choices. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's gonna be very, very interesting times next year.  That's also a big question. And same with small venues. And if the smaller bands don't have the opportunity to book a small venue, you know, it's all, it's all colliding. So that's very, very tough and yeah, exciting times. No, no, did you miss, did you miss, were you happy being with Peter again? Did you miss him for all these years that you haven't been with him? I mean, it was a lot of fun, you know, to talk to him. And I mean, I never had any problems with Peter, you know. I mean, it was like, we saw it just yesterday, you know, after 15 years. I saw him after 15 years the first time and then also talking to him after 15 years. Yeah, I mean, but Peter in the band or what you said, to be the bass player in UDO?  That's for sure. You know, I would enjoy it as he's an amazing bassist. But yeah. Yeah, but he's doing so many projects. He's so busy. Yeah, he's really busy. And we were not really talking about this, you know. I said, hey, maybe that will be great. I have you now at the bass player, bass player at UDO. Yeah. So he's not in the band. He's not in the band. He's just a songwriter.  Yeah, no, I mean, if you do some stuff and maybe ask me to sing a song on his album or whatever he's doing, I think I heard he's doing a solo album. No problem. But to play in the band together again. It would be strange as well as we formed a very strong five-band piece, you know, a five-piece band out of the way around. And this is a very strong team, you know, and everybody is getting along very well. So that would be a bit strange to, you know, not just say, hey, but Peter's playing now because he's Peter, you know. Yeah, for sure. You would rip apart something we build up, you know, and as you might know, we were looking for the right people for, you know, some time now. And now it works perfectly and everybody is playing, yeah, doing amazing jobs. You know, everybody is so good on their instruments and we just formed a good band. And that would be strange. Yeah, that's, you know what, that's pretty much it. I mean, is there anything else you guys like to add in regards to what you're doing? I mean, check out the We Are One album, which is coming out on July 17. Yes, definitely. Yeah, we are looking forward to your reactions. We can't wait to put it out and check it out online. Alan? I just want to say this album is unbelievable. It's already my favorite from this year. We do a top 10 list at the end of the year. So I'm anxious to see where it's going to place, but it's going to be very hard to beat because of like you said, the strong songwriting, the great production, there's a lot going on. There's bagpipes even. Hey, what more do you want? Right? Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. It was a pleasure to speak to you.


Good afternoon and welcome. My name is Lisa Grande, and I am the head of the United States Institute of Peace, which was established by the U.S. Congress in 1984 as a national public, nonpartisan institution dedicated to helping prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict abroad. We are honored at USIP to extend a very warm welcome to His Excellency, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Iraq, Dr. Farad Hussein. We also wish to express our gratitude to His Excellency, the Charger de Ferre, Dr. Salwan Sinjiri, and the team at the Embassy of Iraq and Washington for their partnership in support of today's discussion. This year marks 20 years since Iraq embarked on a process of transition toward democracy, a time that has had high moments and many challenges. In October of last year, Iraq ushered in a new government under His Excellency, Prime Minister Mohammad Shia El-Sudani, that has an opportunity to set a path for continuing positive change. Your Excellency, we look forward this afternoon to your thoughts and to your guidance on the priorities of Iraq's new government, including your commitment to strengthening governance, developing the economy, combating climate change, and countering the threat of possible ISIL resurgence. USIP is very proud to have been working on the ground in Iraq in close collaboration with the government and civil society these past 20 years. And Excellency, if you allow, we hope to stay for another 20. It is now my distinct privilege to introduce His Excellency, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hussein. Prior to his current appointment, His Excellency served with distinction as the Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2020. His Excellency is a distinguished Iraqi leader, having held executive positions in both the Iraqi Federal and Kurdistan Regional Governments. He has served as the Chief of Staff of the Kurdistan Regional Presidency and as a member of the Cabinet in the Kurdistan Regional Government. His Excellency was an alternate member of the Iraqi Government Council in 2004 and a very distinguished official in the Ministry of Education. Excellency, it's a pleasure to host you again at the United States Institute of Peace and with your permission, may we invite you to the floor. May I take this notes, book? So, good afternoon everybody. Thank you very much for having me here and for having so many friends I see. Really, I am delighted to see so many friends in this meeting, in this gathering. It is a while ago and I am happy to be here to discuss some issues with you. And thank you for your organizations, being in Iraq and being active in Iraq. And we will continue our cooperation. We will continue our cooperation because what you are doing is great. Ladies and gentlemen, we are here each time to talk about and to discuss matters related to the ties, the relationships between Washington and Baghdad. Of course, if we are going back to the diplomatic ties, it goes back to history between Baghdad and Washington. But my generation and many others who are sitting here, we started before 2003. We were part of the opposition fighting the dictatorship. And we were searching, going around the world, telling our stories. Some people, they were listening to us. Others, they were ignoring. Sometimes we were demanding and, of course, most of the time they were rejecting our demands. We were knocking all the doors. I remember I came here in 1992 to Washington D.C. I knocked the doors in the State Department. It was good somebody received us and they listened to us. We were talking about the genocide in Iraq, what happened in Iraq, violation of human rights. We were talking about the suffering of Iraqi people then. But there were few listening to us. After the invasion in Kuwait, many countries, many politicians, many governments, many leaders, many intellectuals, media, they were ready to listen. Perhaps the Kuwaitis, they were managing their cases better than the Iraqis who were in opposition. How about that gift? Give us the chances to talk about the suffering of Iraqi people. Iraq was also under embargo. Iraqi people, they were suffering. And I am talking about this because some people now when they see problems in the Iraqi society, issues related to economy, issues related to politics, they are comparing it with the past. But those who have seen the past and they were part of the past, they know this comparison is wrong. We were not free then. We couldn't think. Even thinking was not allowed. And thank God we became free because the dictatorship has been removed with your support, with the support of the American people and many other nations.  And we were, of course, expecting that many other nations will help us. Take it easy. Mr. Ambassador, you are welcome. The process of democracy started in 2003. But to be frank with you, there were many mistakes. So the question is not about changing the regime. The question was when we are thinking about 20 years ago because we are approaching the date of the change of the regime. And it was 20 years ago. The question was not about changing the regime in the beginning. And then after 2003 it was about actually the mistakes that we did, the mistakes that the Americans did, the political leadership in Iraq did. We made many mistakes. But also changing the regime affected the whole area, the whole Middle East area. So there were resistance against this process, this change. The resistance and rejecting the process of change, there was also the area, the whole region. They were against this change. So they started to intervene in Iraqi internal affairs. And of course, the American army was not there in the beginning as the armies of other countries under the umbrella of a resolution from Security Council. So that created also a legal problem for Iraqi people, but also for the Americans. When the Americans, at the end, called themselves or Security Council called the Americans as an occupation forces, then it was difficult. It became a problem. It started as a solution, but it became a problem, a problem for the Iraqis, but also a problem for the American. Occupation force or forces is difficult to accept. It's difficult to recognize it. And from then, problems started. But also the terrorists, they were very active against this process, process of having a new system, democratic system, freedom in Iraq. Al Qaeda started and led to other terrorist groups. And then it became ISIS. So after the change, Iraq was once again, as before, engaged in fight. Before there was, there were, in various stages, internal fights and external wars. And now, once again, Iraqi government, Iraqi people, they were facing a new challenge, and that was the fight against Al Qaeda and later on against ISIS. Being in fighting, in the fight against various groups and having wars with various countries, destroyed the infrastructure. The economic infrastructure in Iraq has been totally destroyed. Imagine for 50 years, a society being in war. What does it mean? Even the values which existed in the society, religious value, political value, tribal values, has been damaged, as well as economic infrastructure has been damaged. Schools, education has been destroyed. I remember when I was supervising Ministry of Education in 2003, 2004, I was going around the country. But in Baghdad, and then in Baghdad, if you talk about Baghdad, you have got Kargh and Rasafah. Kargh was more, at that time, more developed than Rasafah. I was going to the schools. The building has been destroyed. The education was not there. So that was Baghdad. What about small towns, villages? So education has been destroyed. Healthcare has been destroyed. Economy has been destroyed. Social life, in fact, has been destroyed. And then after 2003, a new government. But the new government was forcing, as I said, the fights against Al Qaeda first and then ISIS. In 2014, it was possible for ISIS to control one-third of the country. They reached, in fact, south of Baghdad, and they were threatening the airport. And they reached Mahmour in Erbil. So two capitals. The capital of the country and capital of the region was under threat of ISIS. And we were there. So many nations came to help us. And the United States, once again, was there. Together, we were fighting with many other countries around the world, but also some neighboring countries. We were able to defeat the so-called Islamic states of ISIS. And then after 2017, for the first time, Iraq was, let's say, the security in Iraq was there and peaceful. We could enjoy peace in Iraq. This is 2017. But financially, there were many damages because wars and fighting affected the infrastructure. It affected also the financial system. The Iraqi economy and Iraqi income is depending heavily on one sector. And that's the oil sector. In fact, 88% to 90% of the income is coming from oil. So when the price of oil is going high, then financially, you are in a good shape. When it goes down, then you have got a lot of problems. That happens during the fight against ISIS. And that happened also in 2020 when we were suffering all from COVID-19. And as a result of the COVID, but also as a result of quarrel between OPEC and members of OPEC Plus, the price of oil went down to $20. This is the beginning of 2020. So once again, we started suffering because of this, the low oil process. Now we have got a new government. I wanted to mention this history, because many of us, they are dealing only with today. Their problems has not to do only with today. The problem has got roots. Roots in the political system, roots in the economy, roots in the social system in Iraq, roots because of the wars, different kinds of wars. However, now the situation is completely different. First, security-wise, it's going well. The terrorists, they are not anymore that threat to Iraqi society, neither to Iraqi political system. They are there, here and there. Sometimes they are attacking an area. Sometimes they are killing some officers. But they are not a threat to the society as such. Still, we must be careful about that. We must be aware, because it is not only about the fighters. It is about the ideology. This ideology produces fighters. So how to defeat the ideology, that's a different question. To defeat a terrorist is easier than to defeat the ideology. But we need to work hard. We need an intellectual attack to defeat this ideology, which is dangerous for the humanity, but it's also dangerous for the political system. So security-wise, it's going well. For a while in Baghdad, there were 20 attacks in one day. But now it's different. Allow me to say something about democratic process. We Iraqis, those who studied the history and followed the political changes in Iraq, we see that almost until 2003, all Iraqi leaders has been killed, all of them, has been killed. Well, the Pope visited Baghdad and Iraq. The president of Iraq then invited His Holiness and with former prime ministers. I was looking just. There were six prime ministers, former prime ministers, sitting there. And I felt happy, because this is the first time I see that the leaders of Iraq, they were leaders. They were prime ministers.  And they are there. This is changing the culture, changing the political culture. I felt more free. I thought, we must be satisfied with what happens. The old generation who fought against dictatorship, they felt different, I may say, than the new generation. I expect the new generation, of course. They are comparing their situation not with the past. They are comparing the situation, and they have access to social media with young people in Sweden, with young people in the United States, in France, in Germany. So the comparison is different for them. Well, we old generation, we compare the situation with the past. And we are happy with this freedom. However, do we have problems? Political problems, the answer is yes. Do we have shortages? The answer is yes. Is our democracy good? The answer is that we have good sides of our political system, but also many bad sides. Is there corruption? The answer is yes. All these problems and others, we have it. But at the same time, we have got a plan. We are discussing this. This government has been formed after one and a half year or one year, actually. Right, Kakbilal? After one year of having caretaker government, and I was part of caretaker government, the other government, Mr. Adil Abdul Mahdi's government, so I was in all these cabinets. I can compare it. Compare this government with the others. In the first place, this government was born after lengthy discussions among the political parties and political leaders. Almost all Shia political parties, except Sadri's, are included in this government. Almost all Sunni political parties, except some small organizations, they are included in this government. The main two Kurdish political parties, Kurdistan Neuropathic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan are included in this government. So it is a government of coalition, coalition of all these political parties. And from various components, so you have got the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds, and the Christian, by the way. But this government is also depending on a clear program, which has been written by all these political parties. We were negotiating for months to reach an agreement to form. And when we reach this agreement, and the government has been formed, the government translated the political agreement into political or government program. So there is a program. And there is timetable, and there are priorities in the program. And at the same time, there is follow up by the political leaders. Once in a week or once in two weeks, we have meetings discussing the general lines of the work of the government and the prime minister and the speaker of the parliament is part of that meeting. So we have got the mechanism or the tools to help the government, in this case, to help the prime minister. And this government has got, as a result of this coalition, support of about 280 members of the parliament. So we have got 329. But 280 members of the parliament are members of those political parties. And they are in the government, so that means the government has got powerful support in the parliament. We are here to talk about these subjects, but also to strengthen our relationship with the United States. Perhaps there are some voices. This is democracy, as you have got some voices in the Congress against the United States. Yes. But in general, this is the strategy of this government to strengthen the relationship with other countries, including United States, and to have a balanced ties with neighboring countries and try to express the foreign policy and try to formulate the foreign policy on the basis of Iraqi interests, which has to do with the security, economy, politics, and a strategical relationship. We had good meetings here, and we are going to have more meetings. The main topics this time was about the economy, financial system, about energy. And when we are talking about energy, we are talking about oil, gas, electricity, as well as politics in the region. Our delegation is very much satisfied with the talks that we had, and we feel that. And we feel it, we see it, we hear it. There is a lot of support for Iraq, and a lot of support for Iraqi government and for the process of democracy in Iraq. I am glad to be here and to discuss these topics and these subjects with you all. And once again, really, I am happy to see so many friends in this place. Thank you very much for inviting me. I didn't use this. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, thank you, Your Excellency. This was great. Good afternoon to you, those who are here, and good evening to those who are joining us from Iraq and overseas. Oh, from Iraq. Yeah, this is live streamed, so we have audience watching. Well, thank you. It's an honor to be here on the stage with His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuat Hussain. My name is Saran Hamasahid. I'm Director of Middle East Programs here at USIP. We have really the pleasure of hosting Dr. Hussain back here at USIP, and it's an honor.  And in that context, I think it is important for the sake of the conversation and the time that we have remaining in the next half hour or so. I hope that we can cover as much ground as possible. There are a number of important topics that we'd like to discuss, and there is the priority of the government. There is the purpose of the visit and the outcome of this visit, but also over the longer term, where Iraq has gone, progressed, and where it can go in the future. I have a few questions that I'll start with, but for our audience and for those who are watching online, please feel free to join us through asking questions. Those in the room have received question cards, and my colleagues will be collecting them and relaying them to me. For those who are watching us and joining us online, you can put questions in the question box under the live stream on the USIP web page. For those who are watching us live on Facebook, you can post your comments and questions there. And those who are watching us and joining us via Twitter, you can use the hashtag Iraq USIP, and we'll get to your questions, hopefully. So your Excellency, I've been looking at some of your recent interviews, and I like how you put your remarks in the various engagements about how Iraq is now and this government is conducting its business and pursuing its priorities in a time of important changes inside Iraq, important changes in the region, and important changes in the global stage. And I hope that we can cover some angles there, and you've already given us quite a good baseline to build upon. So if we actually focus on the purpose of the current visit, it is a refreshing that's probably for the first time that nobody's chasing you and saying, are troops staying or not staying? The focus is on other areas of cooperation between the United States and Iraq. And as you were coming, the Iraqi people were nervous and looking forward to the results of your visit in terms of what will that do to what was a situation of rapidly and volatility changing value of the Iraqi DNR. I promise you I'll not take you through the mechanics of that promise, but as you are wrapping up some of your meetings this week, can you share us a little bit more specifics in terms of what the visit has achieved in this collaboration? You already mentioned this has been positive and the delegation is satisfied. Can you share more with us in terms of the specifics of the outcomes of those meetings? Once again, thank you very much for having me here and for your question. You see, we are still planning to have more meetings here, so we are not yet finished. But talking about the meetings that we had, I must say we felt, I'm talking about our delegation, that there is a big understanding and support to what we have done in Iraq and what this government has done. And as the question related to monetary policy, the implementation of the regulations of the central bank has been in contact and cooperation with the treasury and with the federal bank. In fact, what happened a few weeks ago had to do with the system which has been implemented by the central bank. It has been implemented on the basis of an agreement with the treasury. And protecting the process of dealing with the dollars and Iraqi currency, Dina. And at the end, I think it is in the benefit of the Iraqi financial system and Iraqi economy. And we have seen it after a while, a short, we had for a period of perhaps two weeks or 10 days kind of currency crisis, but now it's finished. I think this support and understanding from American government side politically, but also understanding the measures that has been taken by Iraqi government and supporting that affected the currency market inside Iraq. So I think we are now in different stage than two weeks ago. And we passed that stage. That doesn't mean we don't have some problems which has to do with the area itself. I mean, when I'm talking about the area, I mean countries surrounding us. It is obvious that because of the war and because of the high price of oil and because of the inflations many societies, especially societies surrounding us, surrounding Iraq, are suffering. So when you have a market and when dollar has been used in the market, of course, there will be some people, they are trying to get dollars from Iraqi market, but at the same time, we must be clear. Iraqi country, as I said, the Iraqi economy is depending heavily on oil. So that means we are importing almost everything else. So we are importing almost everything else Iraqi society is consuming, is a consuming society because we are consuming every kind of products that we buy from other countries and we don't produce. That means agriculture products, industry products, medicine, almost everything, we are buying it. And when we are talking about buying all these products and importing all these products, we need dollar. So we use dollar in our trade, we use dollar. So we need dollar. So some people, they are thinking the dollars which is coming from here to Iraqi market is disappearing. Of course, it's disappearing because we are buying. We have trade relationship with China, we have trade relationship with Turkey, we have trade relations with Iran, we have trade relations with Europe, we have trade relations with the United States, with many other countries. Of course, with all these countries, when we buy, we pay and we pay in dollars. So dollars has been used for Iraqi economy in principle. Not dollar has been, let's say smuggled not other countries because really this is painful for Iraqi people and Iraqi government to talk only about smuggling dollars. There are, of course, some people, they are smuggling dollars. As they are smuggling all many other products. At the end, dollar is a product. When it comes to the market, so some people, they are buying it, some people, they are selling it. But dollar in principle in Iraq has been used for trade with other countries because we are buying almost everything except oil from other countries. So then can we now say, hopefully, that the meetings of the delegation, the satisfaction of the delegation, the support that you are seeing from the United States and different agencies that you've met, and the explanation that also Prime Minister Sudani in his 100 day press conference laid out that the government is working on taking steps would lay to rest all the conspiracy theories that the United States is trying to undermine the Sudani government. That is not what you're feeling, that's not what you're finding. That was a problem, some political parties or some people, they were talking about a complot against Mohammed Shia Sudani's government. But when you discuss these matters in a rational way and when you understand and when you collect all the information, then you know that it is not about being against it, it is about having or organizing their relationship, in fact. And I might say this visit is different than others because we are talking about economic ties in various fields. And this is the healthiest relationship between two countries when you are talking about helping each other, understanding each other, supporting each other, and not talking about fights, military support, but we are talking about supporting the Iraqi economy. So this is a very healthy relationship with the United States. That's great to hear. So if we, in the context that you laid out, obviously the United States has been continuously involved and engaged in Iraq for the past 20 years, the fact that you're here and you had these senior level meetings with Secretary Blinken and with others, shows that there are strong areas of common interest. Can you share with us a little bit more about what are some of the specifics of their areas of common interest and collaboration between the United States and Iraq? I see we have common interest. The climate change is affecting here, affecting Iraq, affecting the region. And so we can work together and helping each other. Terrorism in general, we can work together and helping each other, but investing in the Iraqi gas. And I may say, almost everybody knows that Iraq is an oil country, but Iraq can be a gas country. So investing in the Iraqi gas and producing Iraqi gas is not only in the benefit of the Iraqis and Iraqi economy. It can be in the benefit of many other countries, including Western countries. So Iraq has got huge reserve of oil, but also gas. Having strong economy in Iraq, it will be in the benefit of many countries surrounding Iraq, but also in the benefit of many Western countries. And American companies, they can play a role and they can invest in the Iraqi economy. That will be in the mutual interest of both sides. So there are many areas which can be in the interest of both sides. Great, so if I may transition back to domestic Iraq, within Iraq, government formed after a difficult year of an attempt at forming the government. It's been 100 years or a little bit more. There has been some areas of progress. Obviously, as you mentioned, the parties forming the coalition that is supporting this government agreed on a government program that has key priorities passing the budget and national gas and oil law and other priorities. But also there is a pressure. You have a key actor like Said Muqtada Sardar who is outside the political process. You have an Iraqi population rising by a million every year or there about. So the economic pressure is rising. The patients of the people have been really running out. But I know your government is hard at work in multi-direction to address Iraq's challenges. Among those priorities in the government program, which take the top priority and what can you give us a sense of timeline in terms of those priorities? What are you tackling first? You see, the first priority is being able as a government to provide more service to our people. There is a lack of service in some areas and in some fields. So providing services is one of the priority. And the government is paying a lot of attention to invest more in electricity and to find sources so that we can be more independent in this field. And to be independent in this field, that means we need more gas. And to have gas, we can invest in our gas fields. So one of the reason why we are paying a lot of attention to invest in gas and to produce gas is to be independent in this field, which I mentioned electricity. But to be independent also, it means to provide more service to Iraqi cities and Iraqi people. So this is one of their priority. Having good network for electricity is very important for Iraqi society. I know we are facing various problems and I know we cannot solve this problem in a very short time. We need time. And perhaps in summer, we are going to face some difficulties. These are facts. But then, there is a plan there. Producing gas, it takes perhaps two years, two, three years. So you are talking about timetable. But we must start and we are going to start. The other priorities has to do with rebuilding our economy in a different way. As I mentioned, our economy is heavily depending on oil and oil income. So without diversifying the sources of our income, we will stay prisoners of oil price. And that's very dangerous. So to diversify our economy, that means we are going to pay more attention to other sectors. Traditional sectors such as agriculture and tourism, these are two pillars which we can depend on and build our economy. But there are many other sectors. Digital economy is important for Iraq, important for the economy, but it is also important for fighting corruption. Corruption is one of the priority of this government, fighting corruption. We are suffering from corruption. As we suffered from ISIS, it is very strange to compare corruption with ISIS. But believe me, it is a fight and a very tough fight. Fighting corrupt people is not so easy. Sometimes it's more difficult than fighting ISIS. However, this government is determined to fight corrupt people and to fight corruption. But to fight corruption, we need also to change the whole system from cash economy to a different economy, to a digital economy. That will help, because part of the corrosion has to do with the fact that the economy until now, perhaps 70% is cash economy. Fighting corruption, we need to reform the bank system, the whole bank system in Iraq. As you know, the bank system that didn't exist, private sector, before 2003. Everything was in the hand of the central government. And the public sector was running the whole economy. In fact, until now, the public sector, because we are depending heavily on oil, so it is the public sector is running the economy. So the other priority has to do with establishing because it is new in Iraq, private sector and alternative economy. So these are all priorities of this government and the coming government, because I am realistic. I have been, as I said, in various cabinets. I know that some of these plans, they were there in the past, but some of them it needs time to be implemented. So there are many priorities for these governments in the economic field, providing services, health care, education, electricity, all these are on the agenda. Well, great. So the stabilizing the currency and addressing the currency exchange is a key pillar of that. The next opportunity, passing a budget, is an important opportunity to help. Budget we are already, we are discussing the draft of the budget law. We hope that we will reach an agreement among ourselves in the first place.  So definitely an important opportunity to start the changing the structure of the economy as you mentioned. And you already answered my other question, which was in most of my meetings in Iraq, the people say corruption is more dangerous than ISIS, and you've already addressed that question and confirmed the same view. But if we project forward, definitely the government is trying hard. It has a strong coalition behind it. It has the opportunity to do real change. But also, as the government formed, there was all talk about this government, how long this government will be in place. Is it one year? Is it will be the early elections? There's no talk about provincial elections. There is the elections in the Kurdistan region. So looking ahead, what elections do you anticipate will happen this year? We discussed already in this framework of political leaders, the draft of the election law. The law which we finished the discussion and is going within a short time to the parliament is a combination of local election and national election. But that doesn't mean the national election will happen this year. I guess that the local election, anyhow, that's according to our plan. We want to have local election this year at the end of the year. It depends on many other issues, practical issue, but the law is already discussed and it goes these days to the parliament as for the election. So provincial elections, Kurdistan region elections are the two ones to be on the lookout. The Kurdistan region election, the government there has took their decision to have the election, but there are some differences among the political parties and we hope that they will reach an agreement of having election in Kurdistan because it's important to have that election. So speaking of the Kurdistan region, one of the questions from the audience is, while the Sudan government has good relations with the KRG, the federal Supreme Court continues to undermine Erbil Baghdad's relations, what can Prime Minister Sudan and his cabinet do to maintain the spirit of cooperation which the US government has called for? I'm not talking about the decision of the federal court, but I'm talking about the good relationship between Baghdad and Erbil. We have got some issues and I'm sure we are going to solve it. As for the budget law, there were good talks, negotiations between both teams from both sides and the paragraphs which has to do with KRG has been agreed upon. And we are going to start discussions about oil and gas law. Both teams, they will meet within two weeks, I think, one week in Baghdad and there will be the raft of oil law and according to the program of the government, oil law must be there within six months. So that means when we will finish our discussion, I mean both sides, the federal government and regional government of Kurdistan, the oil law, oil and gas law will be sent to the parliament. And I think many problems which we had around oil policy, central oil policy or federal oil policy or regional oil policy, it will be solved within this framework, within a new law because at the end, the oil policy in Iraq was depending on a law which belongs to Saddam's period while the constitution is demanding a different issue. So the constitution is clear and we are going to develop a law which depends on the articles related to oil and gas in the constitution. There will be another law which will be discussed soon which has to do with the federal court. So a new law will be in the parliament about federal court and that means when there will be a law, there will be a new federal court. Okay. Well, thank you. We have about five minutes left, so I want to switch gears to... You got these questions from the... Yes, yes, I... It's not yours. No, no, no. Some of them are, but some of them are from here. So in switch gears to the regional and global stage, in the past 10 days, you've hosted the Russian foreign minister, I think the deputy foreign minister of Iran, the Saudi foreign minister... Moroccans. Moroccans, so definitely back then... When I will be back, I will host others. Yes, I was going to ask when the Chinese foreign minister will come, but in the... So looking at... So it is really good to see... I will host Iran and foreign minister. Yeah. Okay. So looking at... It's really great to see Iraq as a hub of diplomacy in the region and this is part of Iraq regaining its ties with the region, getting to a leading role. So there are a few questions that have come up that relate to Iran and to the region and to the global dimension. So maybe one of them is, again, a question from... If I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly, Daria from Task News Agency, basically asking your excellency earlier this week, just before your visit to DC, you said that Iraqi delegation was planning to discuss with the U.S. side the cooperation between Iraq and Russian companies in the context of sanctions against Moscow. I wonder if this topic was discussed. If so, what are the results of these conversations? As you know, we have got many Russian companies, especially in oilfield, in Iraq, and they are there since a long time. They are there. We have... Historically, we have got good ties with Moscow and these Russian companies are there. And, of course, some of them are investing, but others, they are working for us. So we have got an issue about the payment. How can we pay them? And this is really a problem. It is a problem because, at the end, if we pay, then we will... Our financial system has to do with, at the end, with the international system. And the international system, there are many sanctions against dealing with the Russian side. So our financial system is linked and our bank system is linked with the European, with the American, with many others. So dealing with the Russian financially, that means you will be against these sanctions. And that means we are going to create a problem for our bank system. And, of course, our task, our responsibility, is to protect our banks, Central Bank and other banks. We discussed this matter with Lavrov, the foreign minister. And, of course, we are following American policy. We are discussing this matter with the American side. But we know that it is not so easy. As I said, our priority and our first task is to protect our banks. When we will be back, if the Russian will approach us and discuss this matter, we are going to make it clear for them why it is difficult for us. They have got their money, but their money also in some other countries. They've got their money and they left it in the banks, another country. So if we can reach an agreement with the Russian side so that we can protect our bank system, and we will do that, because we recognize that we must pay back to the Russian. But the question is when? And about when we are going to discuss it with the Russian? Well, we have about a minute left, but I think this is a couple of angles that I would like to make sure we cover. Iraq clearly is at the center of diplomatic activism in the region with all these visits and what the government is doing to reconnect, hosting the Gulf Cup. Congratulations on both the successful organization and the Iraqi team winning. So there's an optimism is coming through if you have an objective and deep look at Iraq. But also in this multipolar world that people now describe, and there is competition, rivalry, whichever word we choose, Iraq is in demand. It has a special relationship with the United States, a strategic framework agreement, but also there is competition that the Russians are in the region, the Chinese are in the region, they have investments in Iraq. And in the past year that we have seen both collaboration, but also more direct military intervention by Iran, striking inside Iraq, inside the Kurdistan region, more Turkish military operations, water. Well, these things that you have mentioned are questions or? No, no, no, no, I'm coming to the question. In this context, in this difficult context of pressure and also common interest, how is Iraq making its choices navigating these competing countries and priorities? You see, we are thinking about our interest in the first place. So security interest, economic interest, political interest in strategical interest, and then we are building our relationship on the basis of this interest.  But of course, in our political fields, there are many actors, many political parties, they've got their ideology, they're standing against other countries. But for us as government, in the first place, we are establishing our relationship on the basis of the Iraqi interest. Geography is playing a role in our relationship. History is playing a role. Culture is playing a role. But economic ties is playing also a role. So when we are looking to the geography, we are protecting our geography, we are not running away from our geography. So we want to have good ties with Turkey, with Iran, with all neighboring countries. And the fact that if we look to the history of Iraq, most of the time, especially during Ba'fati system and Saddam system was in quarrel with everybody, with Iran, with Turkey. Sometimes he reached when I'm talking about he because he was the only man who decides. So he reached good agreement and cooperation with Iran and later on he was attacking them. He had good cooperation and working together with the equities later on he attacked them. He had good cooperation with the Saudis, later on he had political conflict with them. With the Turks, with the Jordanian. So he was in conflict with everybody. We are just changing this equation. We are going to be in good shape we are trying to be in good relationship with all countries surrounding us. And we are doing that. And we are benefiting from this. Internationally, you cannot ignore China. I'm not talking about policy, foreign policy of another country. I'm talking about Iraq. How can you ignore China? China is one of the powerful countries in the world. Chinese economy is so important for the world. Chinese are in Africa almost everywhere. Chinese are in Middle East almost everywhere. Their companies, they are very active inside Iraq. Our trade relationship with China is about $20 billion. They are importing oil from Iraq. They in India they are importing the main importers of oil from Iraq. So of course our economic interest, political interest, strategical interest, also culture in the region. We want to have good ties and we have good ties with all these countries. But that doesn't mean when we have good ties and good relation with these countries it will be used or we will be used against others. We are doing the same. We are aware of the tension between Washington and Iran but we have good, very strong relations with both. And we are not against using this relationship against the other or the other relationship against the United States. We are frank with the Iranians. We are telling them about our good and historical relation with the United States. And we are telling them that our country Iraq, the society, politics, economy is in need for this. In fact, we are telling both sides that the tension between both countries is not good anyhow for us. So sometimes we are encouraging both sides to continue dialogue, to continue negotiation and we were happy about the process of the negotiation in Vienna. And we hope that once again they will start to talk in Vienna. Well, thank you, your Excellency. Unfortunately, we have come to the end of our time. Otherwise you would continue asking. I have a good set of questions from the audience that I'm sorry that we couldn't get to them for the short of time. We need to get His Excellency to his next meeting. But I was also part of hoping, part of this active diplomacy of energy, of diplomatic energy coming to Baghdad right before your visit is also you're playing that role of a bridge, not only for Iraq's interests, but also regionally and globally Iraq's rise to that level. So a new conclusion, I would really like to thank you again for coming back to USIP. I would like to thank the government of Iraq for your partnership in country, to the embassy for your partnership here. We look forward to building on that. I would like to thank you all for joining us here in the room in this Friday afternoon. I thank those who joined us online at this late hour, wherever you are, it must be late. That all shows that how much there's appreciation for Iraq. So thank you so very much. I would like to ask our folks in the room to just hold in your seats for a few minutes until the delegation has left and join me in a round of applause. If you allow me because I want to say hello to many friends here. So I will stay in the room without. Okay, we have another meeting to need to get you to, but of course we respect your time. But join me in a round of applause for his excellency for the candid discussion.


Learning how to use a writing tool is one of the most important motor tasks that children can learn. And it's also one of the most challenging. So there are many typical things that you'll see as a child is learning to use a writing tool. One of those is going to be the way they grasp the pencil or marker or crayon. So it's going to start out as a fisted grasp with their palm the side of their hand down towards the paper and they'll just scribble. And then from that it should emerge into more of a thumb down fisted grasp still. And then from this it will go to a more mature tripod grasp, which is basically the thumb and the first two fingers grasping the writing tool securely and using finger movements to control the writing tool rather than whole arm movements. Now usually by the time a child is four they already have a pretty well established tripod grasp. But if they don't there are some tricks that you can help you can do and provide them with tools that will help them develop that tripod grasp.  So this is just them placing all of their fingers on the crayon or writing tool and again using those whole arm movements which don't allow for a lot of precise letter formation and drawing. So what you want to do to try and correct that is just to give them something smaller to write with. So you can break their crayons or give them small pencils anything tiny to try and really limit the ability to grasp that writing tool with a full fist or all fingers. So this little small crayon will really help support them in getting that thumb and the first two fingers on the writing tool to help develop their fine motor skills.


Iki tuni and forgetable, riding a bike, wanna sell my mic, kukuju off the top of the dome, you know what I do. Okay, you don't rehearse, nye mbe tukweli, kuna mwa kenye. Bujya shomi yo, handumendi kana ink. No, guys, you didn't try to ink. I don't even write. Ah, yeah. What do you have in store for us this 2019? Actually for 2019, tukuna a lot. So we're just dipping our foot in the water to see this kind of new direction that you're gonna take, like feel good music. So I have a new song with motif, motif de dan. Yeah, so we're working on a video. So we have a couple of collabo lined up as well, so like with some big shots, so to speak. So we're trying to, you know, elevate and move into a new direction, not just that hardcore music that people are used to before. We're trying to change it and, you know, more mellow, more subtle, more bounce. Yeah, more feel good. Excuse, hi, come back. Yeah, the bounce. More of this, guys, more of this 2019. More of the bounce.  I just wanna say kuwale wa tu wa nani support since day one. I love you guys, man. And come away, nimsani pia. Na jokuna a lot of negativity right now, like wasani wa kenya, blah, blah, blah. So keep doing your thing. Never give up, yeah? Sisi water to na hasu, we're trying to get there. Na kuna wa tu pia, ona to motivate when we see them doing bigger things. Wa tu kumaki na calligraph, yeah? Like wa tu tuliku wa now, yeah? And now they're... Sorry. That's the only song? Sorry. That's the only song? Sorry. Sorry. You're doing a stick. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, unge drop. Oh, yeah. So kenya na takatu kusia mani, bigger things are coming, yeah? That's it. A kuna long talk, like we learned in Mekwambia. The process right now is if we nail something, we go ahead and do it. So by the way, watch out for Mbili. I have a new song with Motif the Dawn. It's called Mbili, mbili, ah, mbili, mbili, ah. So it's coming out. We're shooting the video next week. So probably trakuwa pakuilunch, what do you think? I have so many questions. Mbili like, like... Like two of them. Like wa tu wa wili, mbili, mbili, mbili, mbili, mbili. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So everything I say, wana say mbili. Atama demo me kam. Mbili. Atama slingsime kam. Mbili. Atama beersime kam. Mbili. See, you like it already? Kidogonda sa iniwa. Of course. Chesomuches. Hokonata lantha. You can say. Aki guy, aki. Hey. Doka uge. Hey, thanks. Oh, thank you for coming. Chesomuches. I love her. Thank you guys. I think I'm having way too much fun today. Kuna kitu. Niawa toi kubaba. Ni baby fever. Damn my omate. I love her. By the way, guys. Atani nasokshout. Guys, please. Valentine's has consequences, okay? Please don't procreate if you're not ready to. They're going to want to go to group of schools and play the violin. Can you afford? Please just be safe. This Valentine's. Niawa. At the Bounce 254 Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Hashtag is Bounce Nation.  Chesakama wewe.


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