Ski Resort For Iraq?

A snowHead

It’s early days, but an investment and construction boom underway in the largely unreported, relatively peaceful northern part of Iraq, has led to a wave of development proposals, including the country’s first modern ski area. Neighbouring Iran contains about 20 ski areas and has a long history of winter sports dating back to the era of the Shahs and the first half of the 20th century. Despite the image of both nations as desert countries, the list of the world’s 20 highest ski areas includes several in Iran...
The many ranges of the Zagros mountains extend along southern and western Iran and into northern Iraq. Many peaks exceed 3000m (9,000ft), with the highest point being Zard Kuh at 4548m (14,921 ft).

The rumours of a ski resort for Iraq come on a wave of development projects in the relatively peaceful Kurdistan sector in the north of the country, which has been protected by a no-fly zone since 1991. Although this “nation within a country” still has many deprivations for most of the population, foreign investment and money from wealthy Iraquis is going in to new malls, housing developments, casinos and mosques at levels measured in the billions of dollars..

A New York Times article "Pointing to Stability, Kurds in Iraq Lure Investors," on 27th June 2007 notes that The Kurdistan Regional Government is investing $325 million in a modern terminal at the Erbil International Airport to handle, officials hope, millions of passengers a year, and a three-mile runway that will be big enough for the new double-decker Airbus A380.

“We’re not saying Kurdistan is heaven,” Herish Muharam, chairman of the Kurdish government’s Board of Investment told the NYT. “But we’re telling investors that Kurdistan can be that heaven.”

source: www.snow24.com

A snowHead

The parents of our three soldiers killed yesterday in Iraq will be pleased to hear that.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

boredsurfin, Perhaps it does show that normality and investment is returning to Iraq, but then perhaps not.

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From the NY Times article:

"Two truck-bomb attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents in May against Kurdish government targets, including one in the center of Erbil, severely unnerved residents and the elected leadership, not only because they were so deadly — at least 69 people were killed — but because the last major suicide attack in the region happened two years ago.

The Kurds are anticipating an increase in insurgent activity as the country approaches a referendum on the question of whether Kurdistan can annex oil-rich Kirkuk and a swath of disputed territory in northern Iraq, a move opposed by many Sunni Arabs and Shiites. The Constitution calls for a vote by the end of the year, but no date has been set yet.

As jarring as the latest attacks may have been, they did not appear to derail any development projects, according to several government officials and private investors.

Kurdistan’s boosters point to the region’s homogeneity, as well as a strong military and a well-developed intelligence network as effective buttresses against rampant violence. “It’s relatively secure,” said Mr. Layton, an American who has worked for many years in Kurdistan. “It’s not perfect, but I’d much rather walk down the streets of Erbil than walk down the streets of Detroit, New York, Washington and Chicago.”

Still, he is not taking any chances. As he spoke, bodyguards were posted outside his office. And behind his desk chair, next to an umbrella, a Kalashnikov leaned against the wall. "

All I can say is Mr. Layton is delusional if he thinks that 69 people dying by truck bomb, and his need for bodyguards and a Kalashnikov give him a stronger sense of security than walking the streets of New York.

Either that or he stands to profit considerably from providing these sound bites of safety. rolling eyes

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Give it time. Iraq will stabilize.

Despite a few hiccups along the way, global democracy is trending relentlessly upward.

Roughly 1% of the world lived in a democracy in 1900.
It hit circa 30% in 1950.
And around 55% in 2000.

By 2050, almost all the world will be democratic, including Iraq. They will engage in jaw, not war.

In the long-term, Iraqi skiing is more likely to be curtailed by global warming rather than conflict.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Whitegold, Will Middlesbrough have won the FA cup by then?

After all it is free

In 2050, will a democratically elected government be allowed to take office in Palestine?

Support democracy unless the vote goes the wrong way!

Maybe by 2050 the UK will have a democratically-elected government which actually takes some notice of what the electorate wants it to do. But then again, probably not. If the EU carries on as it is, the UK will have no need for an elected government.