A Oddity in Iraq/A Russian Casino?

[twa]

Things must be loosening up if the Russians are moving in :laugh:

http://www.lawksalih.com/php/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2390

American's Las Vegas-style casino opens in Iraqi Kurdistan

Sulaimaniyah, Not to be outdone by the establishment of the American University in Kurdistan autonomous region so called 'northern Iraq' in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, a ballsy Russian businessman, Vitaly Kouznetzov, has helped bring another, sexier, slice of American life to the Iraqi Kurds: he's brought a touch of Las Vegas to that same Kurdistan's cultural capital with the launch of an American-style casino.

Sulaimaniyah is located near the border with Iran (Iranian-Kurdistan), and has long been considered a bastion of liberalism in a part of the world known more for intolerance and chaotic bloodshed.

Public Radio International (PRI) interviewed Mr. Kouznetov today, and in it he explains to his bemused interviewer, Lisa Mullin, just how he has managed to open a casino in a Muslim country riven by civil strife and religion-inspired killing.

Money to be made?

Very good customers, he notes - just look at their cars. Good peoples, different people.

Not at all worried about security, huh?

Actually, security is very good, he says, much to Mullin's surprise. Of course everyone is armed. Everyone carries Kalashnikovs, but we have a room by the door where they can check them, one hour, two hours, however long they need.

Booze? Just beer. Well, that's better than nothing. We hear it's hot there.

Iraqi Kurdistan is a secular region, and the most secular city is Sulaimaniyah, the Kurdistan's cultural capital.

Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In the new Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan region. Kurdistan region has all the trappings of an independent state -- its own constitution, its own parliament, its own flag, its own army, its own border, its own border patrol, its own national anthem, its own education system, its own International airports, even its own stamp inked into the passports of visitors.

[Air Force Cane]

this has to be made up because every leftist knows that absolutely nothing positive ever happens in Iraq-

and that it is one unending series of bombs going off all over the country and that even though there are 27 million Iraqis- all of them are against the United States

[The 12th Commandment]

this has to be made up because every leftist knows that absolutely nothing positive ever happens in Iraq-

and that it is one unending series of bombs going off all over the country and that even though there are 27 million Iraqis- all of them are against the United States

I stopped believing in the boogey man when I was about ten. What's keeping ya'? But to play along, how can any true rightist look themselves in the mirror and call gambling something positive?

[jpillian]

Sulaimaniyah was always one of my favorite places to visit. Great great town. Only place I could ever find pomegranate chicken tikka. Yum, yum!

Also, as of 2003, home to Iraq's only golden arches.

(It was MaDonals, but hey, you'll take what you can get -- right? )

[twa]

Gambling is a expression of freedom,or at least thats how they always try to sell it down here in the Texas taliban area.

[The 12th Commandment]

Gambling is a expression of freedom,or at least thats how they always try to sell it down here in the Texas taliban area.

I like to gamble. And I think this is a good development. The Kurds are not in any way fundamentalists. I just take exception to that brush the size of a Mac truck that some people use to paint the left. It goes both ways and I was just trying to cleverly allude to that.