As structural crises reach their peak, intertwining national economic arteries with the geography of raging regional conflicts, governments find themselves devoid of the luxury to choose softer solutions. The Prime Minister, faced with a heavy legacy of financial bottlenecks that have plagued the nation, is compelled to make a bitter choice, culminating in the difficult and seismic decision to instruct the Central Bank to raise the exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar. This decision, while causing a violent tremor in the markets and immediate shockwaves in the streets, as well as intense reactions within the parliamentary sphere, is not a mere political luxury or a passing measure; rather it is a manifestation of the harsh reality and a test of the lesser evil in the face of an imminent collapse. The true crises of nations emerge when their management reaches a crossroads that leaves no room for compromise, making significant decisions feel akin to swallowing poison.
When the Iraqi government found itself in a genuine predicament, compounded by accumulated crises, it was confronted with limited options: removing zeros from the Iraqi currency, paying employee salaries every 45 days, devaluing the dinar against the dollar, or raising the dollar's exchange rate. Under these circumstances, the Prime Minister opted for the third solution as an attempt to address the financial crisis and stem the drain of cash reserves exacerbated by the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran. However, this approach, while aimed at rescuing the public treasury, comes at the expense of the poor and middle classes, who alone bear the brunt of inflation and the decline in purchasing power.
The collapse of the Iraqi market cannot be understood apart from the sociological and psychological fabric of society; decades of sudden crises, devastating wars, and successive economic shocks have led the Iraqi individual to live perpetually under the weight of a lingering feeling that "the axe has fallen on their head" without prior warning. These repeated shocks have instilled in the Iraqi collective consciousness a profound anxiety and chronic fear of the future, transforming the survival psychology of citizens into a state of continuous caution; everyone strives to secure tomorrow and convert what they have into safe havens (like dollars and gold), even at the cost of their daily sustenance. The real danger lies in the fact that this collective fear is not isolated from the engineered system of corruption; crises have not merely been natural fluctuations, but rather the "axe" wielded by influential powers and mafias that dominate the financial market. These networks, devoid of any human or ethical principles in their dealings and driven by absolute greed and blind ambition, have exploited the community's terror and existential anxiety to fabricate crises, manipulate exchange rates, and create artificial discrepancies between supply and demand. Thus, the ordinary citizen finds themselves trapped between their constant fear for their fate and mafias that capitalize on this fear to accumulate wealth over the ruins of a poor and middle class struggling under an unbearable reality.
The management of the state and market regulation cannot be addressed through lofty slogans or transient paper decisions; it necessitates the imposition of firm sovereignty and intelligent power capable of dismantling networks of illicit profiteering. Herein lies the greatest and most complex dilemma; the government is not engaged in an isolated or classical economic battle with traders solely concerned with profit, but rather collides with a complex network intertwining the interests of the parallel market and currency mafias with a highly sensitive file concerning "monopolizing weapons in the hands of the state." The enormous and fantastical profits arising from manipulating exchange rate differentials, smuggling hard currency, and controlling the free market’s arteries are not mere commercial figures; they represent financial lifelines that nourish and perpetuate the influence of armed factions and militias beyond the rule of law. Therefore, whenever the government takes any genuine steps towards market regulation or curtailing manipulation sources, it directly touches the financial nerve of that system. This organic intertwining of political finance and weaponry renders any true economic reform a challenging test for state authority, compelling it to confront an unavoidable comprehensive battle, as the continuation of this situation clearly implies the dominance of de facto powers over the legitimacy of the state and its institutions.
Over the past years, governments have become addicted to crisis recycling and buying time through fragile settlements, yet the outcomes have proven disappointing for hopes of stability. Thus, it becomes evident that the policy of moving forward has exhausted its purposes; confrontation—be it legal, financial, or political—has become a necessary station to unveil the conflict's cards and distinguish truths from lies. Maintaining matters in a state of perpetual collapse entrenches the state’s incapacity, and the earthquake of confrontation must inevitably occur sooner or later to rebuild the foundations of the political and economic game on solid grounds that protect the homeland and its citizens.
As reported by sotaliraq.com.
