Asgore Adopts Noelle
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From what I've read, they lost the entire Kirkuk Province (although they barely put up a fight), they lost their border with Turkey, they've 'taken control' of the Peshmerga, and it appears the Iraqi Army is going to take over the entire enclave. This is (so far) a Curb stomp for the Iraqi Army; even if the Kurds haven't put up a real fight yet, the fact that they haven't put up a fight anywhere at all yet is definitely in Iraq's favor.
A procrastination in of itself
Except it’s not a curb stomp by the Iraqi army, because the Iraqi army didn’t win any of those victories.
The Iraqi government in Baghdad won those victories, they won that territory via political deal making, via splitting the Kurdish groups against each other.
That’s what your getting wrong here, you’re acting like the Iraqi army is fighting military engagements against the Kurdish armed forces and winning, that isn’t happening, the Baghdad government is fighting political battles against the Kurdish political leadership and winning.
Those are two very different things.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Beware the Crazy Man.
And the only reason Erbil even went for that is because no one except Israel had their back on the independence referendum, and the Iraqi Army had the full backing of Iran and its militias, which are a lot stronger than the uniformed army.
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
Is Baghdad really stupid enough to provoke their other majority minority group into conducting an insurgency? If they try to impose direct rule, it will end in an outright revolt.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Oh, bother.
Nationalism and racism don't really go hand in hand with rational thinking. Baghdad also probably smells blood in the water since the Kurds are divided. The entire reason they were able to gain ground recently was because the Kurds are divided.
That said, this may very well provoke the opposing Kurd factions to put aside their differences...or it may result in them blaming each other for their situation and make the divide even worse.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Or it might end up in one group selling out the other.
But seriously, what the hell is their end game in this? Ethnically cleansing the Kurds would just cause a fiasco and (considering the refugee issue it would bring) might cause the US/EU to step in. Just trying to control it directly means another rebellion on their hands.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Oh, bother.
The Iraqis probably think that the Kurds are too divided to oppose them on anything. And the sad thing is, they might be right about that.
edited 31st Oct '17 6:48:40 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised
I've read claims that the Kurdish government is de facto bankrupt. So depriving them from important income sources (like the oil fields in Kirkuk) would hurt them and future attempts at independence dearly.
Oh, bother.
The Kurds may be badass on the battlefield, but that doesn't get you very far if you're also broke and divided.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Talk on the current situation.
The Iraqi Supreme Court declared the Kurdish referendum to be illegal and unconstitutional, if it wasn't so obvious.
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/06122f54-ffe8-4f12-ba59-a2af0c116e18
Kurdish lawmakers are criticizing Baghdad for making irresponsible comments on making comparison of the referendum to IS atrocities.
Small bit, but Iraqi Kurds did not any big fuss on the Jerusalem announcement.
https://ph.news.yahoo.com/erdogan-says-turkey-launched-ground-operation-syria-004937445.html
Not sure on how this'll influence Kurdistan, but Turkey's carrying out anti-YPG ops while fighting IS fighters too.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1273151/middle-east
Tensions have simmered down a lot, especially when Kurdistan agreed to have Baghdad have a say in running their airports, which lifted the sanctions against the region.
It's kinda long, but the article explains it in full detail.
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/ffda9f02-4e77-4894-b2b4-a302ef3c8a68
All-Party Parliamentary Group officials made a visit to the region and were amazed at its stability, despite being in the frontlines against ISIL and the Iraqi security forces.
Partially added this, considering the Iranian Kurds:
In the wake of the SDF being targeted by Turkish forces, VICE got this Iraqi Kurdistan doc up.
WARNING: You need to login since it's rated +18.
We've got guys training the Iraqi Kurds.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
In the Iraqi part?
Eeyup. Nothing has changed in their job, as expected. Iraqi Kurdistan has its own stuff to deal with. A possible border conflict notwithstanding.
Although the thought of a Finno-Turkish proxy war is amusing.
Edited by TerminusEst on Oct 18th 2019 at 1:29:01 AM
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Assuming it’s the Utti Jaegers?
Never confirmed, but almost certainly along with others.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Wouldn't be surprised. Reminds me of JTF-2 since they're super hush hush that any mention of their name when getting a commendation is a controversy.
What are you talking about? The Kurds haven’t been curb stomped by the Iraqi army, I don’t think they’ve even had any large scale engagements.
As for why the lack of unity, it’s probabky because the leadership of Iraqi Kurdistan isn’t exactly the best around, the idea that the Kurdish people would be better off with autonomy under Baghdad than with independence under the Kurdish leadership isn’t totally out of line.
But if that autonomy is being threatened, Yeah things could get messy fast.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran