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Upgradable

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Everything posted by Upgradable

  1. That would be terrific! However, all we know for sure is that they have been closed for the holy day and then for the weekend.
  2. I can't figure out how to cross my fingers and give a thumbs up at the same time. Thanks for posting!!!
  3. I haven't heard anything substantially postive at all. Only statement I read says that Iraq hasn't tried very hard to locate missing Kuwaiti people or archives. Has there been any confirmation (solid intel) that the reparation payments have been set/made? Is this still an impediment to Iraq RV/RI?
  4. I hate it when they do this!! They take a possible ground rocking news item and put it under the shadow of potential misinformation.
  5. This is terrific news!!! Last hurdle for formation of GOI!!
  6. BAGHDAD, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Iraq's Kurds are demanding greater control over their oil resources in return for supporting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's new coalition government after nine months of political intrigue triggered by an inconclusive parliamentary election in March. In a previously undisclosed August-dated Kurdish communique published by the Iraq Oil Report, Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani pressed Baghdad to drop its opposition to KRG contracts with foreign oil companies, agreements the federal government deems illegal. This dispute reflects the Kurds' efforts to bolster their authority over their semi-autonomous enclave spread across three provinces in northeastern Iraq, which many dream of transforming into an independent Kurdish homeland. The Kurdistan Alliance has 57 seats in the 325-member Parliament, which makes its support vital for Maliki, the incumbent prime minister, to forge a new administration and secure himself a second term. But state control of Iraq's oil, with reserves upgraded in October from 115 billion barrels to 143.1 billion barrels, is seen as essential by Baghdad if the country is to succeed in its ambitious reconstruction program. Maliki is unlikely to surrender much to the Kurds in this regard without having to face the ire of other political and ethnic groupings that depend on oil for their prosperity. The KRG has been locked in a dispute with the federal government for four years after it started signing contracts with foreign oil companies as a planned hydrocarbons law, to regulate revenue-sharing and control of oil and gas fields, bogged down in Parliament. All told, the KRG signed 37 contracts but these have become mired in the dispute over who gets the export revenues. Some oil has been smuggled into neighboring Turkey but most has gone to Iran. Iraq Oil Report observed that, according to political insiders familiar with the negotiations, "a final agreement that would sanction the KRG contracts won't be reached until the government is fully formed and Parliament revisits legislation to govern the oil sector, which has been stalled since 2008." Another factor pitting the Kurds against Baghdad is the potentially explosive issue of who controls the Kirkuk oil fields. The Kurds claim the city of Kirkuk and its environs are historically theirs, since the formed the Kurdish governate during Ottoman rule that ended after World War I. Kirkuk contains about one-third of Iraq's oil reserves. The rest lies in the Shiite-dominated south, along with an estimated 100 billion barrels of oil in unexplored reservoirs. During Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, he drove Kurds out of Kirkuk and implanted Arabs to undermine rebellious Kurds, who fought Baathist rule for decades until Saddam was toppled in the 2003 U.S. invasion. The government has decreed that a census should be taken to determine Kirkuk's ethnic makeup and its status. But the danger of major bloodletting between Kurds and Arabs is so great that no census has been conducted and there's little expectation one will be in the near future. Maliki has battled hard to ensure federal control over the energy sector, which provides around 90 percent of Iraq's revenue. His refusal to make concessions to the Kurds on the oil issue has effectively locked up prospective exports of 150,000 barrels a day. KRG Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami said Kurdish fields could produce exports of 1 million barrels a day within a few years. But the KRG's main weakness is that it's landlocked and without direct access to the pipelines running from Kirkuk to Turkey's Ceyhan terminal on the eastern Mediterranean. Maliki has until Dec. 26 to form his new government. But the complex and sensitive energy issues remain a potential roadblock. Important oil-related issues remain unresolved because of political squabbles. Until they're settled they will remain a source of conflict within the political process that will impede Iraq's efforts to rebuild. Meantime, the KRG has said it seeking to build up its own armed forces. The KRG is dominated by the Kurds' two major parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Between them they control some 80,000 seasoned fighters. Whether that's the Kurds' way of pressuring Maliki over the oil issue isn't entirely clear. But the threat of the Kurds going their own way spells danger for Iraq. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/12/16/Kurds-play-oil-card-in-coalition-talks/UPI-81491292533348/
  7. GREAT POST, RV4!!! I am a fact girl, but I go about finding them in an unusual way. I first go through the new rumors, and especially the chats (I love those!). Then I will read through the news stories to try to ferret out the origin of the rumors. I will do a lot of research on my own, use my own noodle to try to make a whole picture of the parts, and only then do I tend to respond to the threads. Sometimes, okay... frequently, my research brings up more questions for me, and I end up posting threads on those. This is a complex issue with multiple ways to approach each rumor, but one of the perspectives I try to hold onto is that we investors are insignificant in the way these events play out! Neither Iraq, Kuwait, the CBI, or the UNSC give one hoot about what is best for us. So we have to quit looking at things from our perspectives and try to put ourselves into their heads and positions. This is a tough call!! We are all colored by our own upbringing and moral codes. Good luck to all of you, and I hope that, whatever the outcome of this ride, we will leave here better than we entered!!!
  8. Follow this link: Hopefully the info you find there will help you. Best wishes to you.
  9. PLEASE STOP THIS!!! THIS IS THE FOURTH TIME YOU'VE POSTED THIS IN OTHER PEOPLE'S THEADS! GO READ THE LOP FORUM!!!!!
  10. Just an anti-American view of what transpired at the UNSC mtg. No news, just grumbling about not liking the color of the draperies.
  11. The Kurds still aren't happy, parts of the Iraqiya have broken away from the main, and now the appointment of parlimentary committees will be postponed until after the approval of ministers (which I hear may still not be set). Doesn't that seem like a lot to get aligned by Monday? And Shabibi has always said he would not RV/RI without a seated GOI.
  12. I posted this this morning, and got no feedback at all. Is this one of the critical issues holding up the GOI? Then Visioiraqi followed up with this article. I must confess that I had a hard time with it. The Iraqi translations still make my head whirl, and I'm not sure I'm getting the gist of what they are saying. But I was mollified when he made another post thatthe political blocs agreed, however there was no source listed on this last news item. I've been fearing all along that the one thing that was still left under Iraqi control, formation of the GOI, was going to be the biggest roadblock to the finish line! What do we then expect to transpire during the parlimentary meeting on Saturday?
  13. I think this is old info, and has been found to be a very simplistic and misleading explanation of the economic plan of approach Iraq will be taking. The ultimate manner of the re-fillintheblank has still not been disclosed. In fact, if you follow the reference link on the bottom of the XE.com page, you get this, which is dated February 2010.
  14. Again, we're talking about two different banks here with the same initials. According to the article, the Kuwaiti owned bank is the Credit Bank of Iraq, while Shabibi heads the Central Bank of Iraq.
  15. Is this different than the Central Bank of Iraq, headed by Shabibi, that will be instrumental in establishing the new RV?
  16. You didn't give me a plus. I'm gonna pout now
  17. YIPEE!! "pointing out that there are some issues need to be more dialogue" This is the only area for potential concern.
  18. Just crossing fingers that the formal announcement of government slots is made on time with no glitches. I can't imagine RV will happen before the Government of Iraq is formally seated.
  19. Where is the RV-O-METER? Who controls it?
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