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AshInLA

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About AshInLA

  • Birthday December 25

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  1. Correct me if I'm wrong but this is the 2012 budget. That was released last year. I thinker are waiting for the 2013 budget. I could be wrong though. Wouldn't be the first time
  2. Obviously I'm not Acepup...but "The Dude" is Jeff Bridge's character in the movie The Big Lebowski
  3. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-29/starwood-hotels-plans-return-to-iraq-20-years-after-gulf-war.html Starwood Hotels Plans Return to Iraq 20 Years After Gulf War By Zainab Fattah and Tamara Walid - Apr 29, 2012 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT), owner of the luxury St. Regis and W brands, plans to re- enter the Iraqi market, almost 20 years after exiting as a result of the Gulf War. Starwood signed agreements to operate two hotels in Erbil, Iraq, Guido De Wilde, senior vice president for the Middle East, said in an interview in Dubai today. The hotelier will operate a 250-room Four Points by Sheraton and a Sheraton property with 221 rooms and 39 suites in 2015. Starwood opened two hotels in Iraq in 1982, in Basra and Baghdad, that were closed following the eruption of the Gulf War in 1990. Erbil is Iraq’s fourth-largest city with a population of around 1.3 million. It is also the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, which is generally perceived as safer region for business. “Now we are going back mainly into the autonomous regions,” De Wilde said. “We saw the opportunities for new hotels that opened there like Rotana, which are doing extremely well. There are positive elements there: oil, gas and stability.” The company is looking to operate properties again in Baghdad and Basra once the security situation improves, he said. Iraq holds the world’s fifth-largest oil reserves and a population bigger than Saudi Arabia’s. The country’s economy will probably grow to the equivalent of $3,528 per person this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. Dubai, Saudi Arabia Starwood will also open a Sheraton in Dubai, one of seven sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates, mid-next year, he said. The property will be located on Sheikh Zayed Road, one of the emirate’s busiest commercial streets, and will have 660 rooms, he added. The company also plans to open a Sheraton hotel in Saudi Arabia and two in Pakistan. With 50 properties under management in the Middle East, the company intends to start more than 30 hotels in the region over the next few years. The hospitality company last week posted a more than fourfold increase in first-quarter earnings. Net income rose to $128 million, or 65 cents a share, from $28 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said. To contact the reporters on this story: Zainab Fattah in Dubai at zfattah@bloomberg.net; Tamara Walid in Dubai at twalid@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@bloomberg.net; Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net ®2012 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I think this is a good sign!
  4. Ok I could be very wrong on this but isn't deleting the zeros a lop? I really really hope not.
  5. It's 50 pages long but here is the summary (given in the report I did not summarize it) : Summary Relations among major political factions have worsened substantially since late 2011, threatening Iraq’s stability and the perception of the achievements of the long U.S. intervention in Iraq. Sunni Arabs, always fearful that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would seek unchallenged power for Shiite factions allied with him, accuse him of an outright power grab as he seeks to purge the highest-ranking Sunni Arabs from government and to cripple attempts by Sunni-inhabited provinces to achieve greater autonomy. Iraq’s Kurds have also become increasingly distrustful of Maliki over territorial, political, and economic issues, and have begun to similarly accuse him of authoritarian practices. The political crisis threatens to undo the relatively peaceful political competition and formation of cross-sectarian alliances that had emerged since 2007 after several years of sectarian conflict. Some Sunni insurgent groups apparently seek to undermine Maliki by conducting high-profile attacks intended to reignite sectarian conflict. The political rift has stalled the movement on national oil laws that had occurred during August- November 2011. The political crisis has also renewed outside criticism that Iraq’s factions lack focus on governance, or on improving key services, such as electricity. The splits and dysfunctions within Iraq’s government that have widened since mid-December 2011 have called into question the legacy of U.S. involvement. In line with the letter of the November 2008 bilateral U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement, President Obama announced on October 21, 2011 that U.S. negotiations with Iraqi leaders failed to extend the agreement to allow for the presence any U.S. forces after 2011. The U.S. proposal to retain troops was based on lingering U.S. doubts over the ability of Iraqi leaders and security forces to preserve the earlier gains. However, as U.S. troops withdrew (completing the withdrawal on December 18, 2011), Administration officials asserted publicly that Iraq’s governing and security capacity is sufficient to continue to build a stable and democratic Iraq without a major U.S. military presence. Iraq’s security forces number over 650,000 members, increasingly well armed and well trained— observations the Administration says justifies selling Iraq such sophisticated equipment as U.S. F- 16 aircraft. The view of the Administration is that the United States is able to engage Iraq extensively without U.S. troops there, in order to help consolidate security, political, and economic progress and to help Iraq resist Iranian influence. The Administration states that U.S. training for Iraq’s security forces is continuing, using programs for Iraq similar to those with other countries in which there is no U.S. troop presence. About 16,000 U.S. personnel, including contractors, remain in Iraq under State Department authority to exert U.S. influence. Perhaps because Iraqi leaders are increasingly emerging from U.S. tutelage, the State Department said in February 2012 that it is considering a significant reduction in U.S. personnel in Iraq. Some experts argue that, even though the U.S. civilian presence in Iraq remains large and active, Iraq is realigning itself in the region. Some see it moving closer to Iran, and they cite Iraq’s reluctance to call for Iran’s ally, Bashar Al Assad of Syria, to yield power amid major unrest. Others see Iraq trying to reestablish its historic role as a major player in the Arab world, and to do so Iraq has been trying to assuage fears of Sunni Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iraq took a large step toward returning to the Arab fold by hosting an Arab League summit on March 27-29, 2012. Link: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS21968.pdf
  6. I'm reading this as you are getting motion sick from this roller coaster ride. I'm right there with you. Someone please pass me a Dramamine and tell Shabibi tea time is over. Time to work and rv!
  7. I think it's sad that people resort to violence to "keep order."
  8. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/19/iraq-oil-idUSL6E8FJFWT20120419 They want to out produce Saudi Arabia...then I say make your money at least what theirs is!
  9. so much hostility in these posts. I know what would fix that....AN RV!! Oh please Iraq, Please hurry up!!!!
  10. I was thinking the same thing. I haven't found it though. Maybe it's hiding or they changed their minds on the date to release the budget...like they do on every other thing.
  11. Hi sorry to be a pain but I posted this yesterday. However, it is important enough to read twice.
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