The Battle for Kirkuk Has Begun! – Balloon Juice
I haven’t been following this story much recently (and frankly, it’s been years since I studied it at all), but Kurdish nationalism has long been one of the few nationalisms for which I’ve ever had much sympathy. They’ve always seemed to have gotten a raw deal as populations of other states in the region, and I don’t really see any solution that’s likely to fix issues besides giving them their own. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely any of Iraq, Iran, Syria, or Turkey would be happy about letting them go even under the best of circumstances, and these aren’t the best of circumstances. Honestly, I’m not even sure how one would peacefully negotiate the independence of Kurdistan, and Donny Two Scoops definitely isn’t capable of doing so. But the Kurds done so much to fight Daesh and have in general been one of our few reliable allies in the region; frankly, not helping them out would be extraordinarily ungrateful.
That said, Adam’s assessment that this is foolish on everyone’s part seems pretty much correct – I don’t see why the Kurds couldn’t have waited until after Daesh was defeated to start seriously talking independence, and I don’t see why Baghdad couldn’t have done the same to respond.
Also, if you didn’t see Samantha Bee’s segment on the Peshmerga women, watch it now.
General Kurdish issues thrad
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