“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
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And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
I always predicted that the moment the ‘coalition’ would pull out of Kurdistan, the Iraqi Kurds would declare independence. It didn’t happen, despite the Kurdish ‘pre-state’ having basically everything it takes to ‘succeed’. I think opposition by other countries with Kurdish populations may explain why it didn’t happen.
Is Kurdish secession in the US's interest? I'd have thought it wouldn't make a blinding bit of difference. Big Oil will continue to do business, although Kurds may be a little better disposed towards US oil interests than 'mainland' Iraq's?
The Kurd's were always part of the "humanitarian" reason d'etre for "intervention" in the region (all the way back to Gulf War I and "no-fly zones'). A Kurdish State takes all THAT off the table. Nobody will care if Sunni's and Shiites kill each other.
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I always predicted that the moment the ‘coalition’ would pull out of Kurdistan, the Iraqi Kurds would declare independence. It didn’t happen, despite the Kurdish ‘pre-state’ having basically everything it takes to ‘succeed’. I think opposition by other countries with Kurdish populations may explain why it didn’t happen.
Grrr. '[...] pull out of Iraq [...]', of course.
I suspect that with the emergence of ISIS, there's little to prevent it once the Kurds are armed and supplied directly by the Americans.
Is Kurdish secession in the US's interest? I'd have thought it wouldn't make a blinding bit of difference. Big Oil will continue to do business, although Kurds may be a little better disposed towards US oil interests than 'mainland' Iraq's?
The Kurd's were always part of the "humanitarian" reason d'etre for "intervention" in the region (all the way back to Gulf War I and "no-fly zones'). A Kurdish State takes all THAT off the table. Nobody will care if Sunni's and Shiites kill each other.
Even if they did (Peshmerga- DPK/PUK) lean socialist/ communist.
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