While fighting has been limited in Iraqi Kurdistan so far, the losses continue to pile up for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, as they continue to retreat in the face of an aggressive offensive by the Iraqi military into contested parts of Kurdish territory.
On Monday, this saw Iraq seizing Kirkuk with barely a shot fired. Tuesday, Iraq seized more oil fields near Kirkuk, and also the important towns of Khanaqin and Sinjar. There were reports of some exchanges of artillery fire, and potentially as many as 11 killed.
The territory seized includes areas with Kurdish and Yazidi populations, but which are outside of the official Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area. It’s not clear yet if Iraq’s offensive, intended to stop Kurdish secession, will also include a push into KRG territory.
Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder Abadi seems to believe that the point has already been proven, declaring last month’s referendum “finished and has become a thing of the past.” 92% of Kurds voted in favor of declaring independence from Iraq, and that’s an ambition that’s not likely to disappear just because of a single military push.
Kurdish President Massoud Barzani maintains that the referendum “won’t be in vain,” though it isn’t clear what their next move will be, having lost territory, and seeing their airports and border crossings closed.
Another foolish U.S. “ally” thrown to the wolves. You’d think the idiots would learn after awhile.
In this case, the Kurds, master betrayers and side changers themselves, merely got a taste of the medicine they historically gave anyone foolish or desperate enough to trust them.
Presumably by “the Kurds” you mean some specific subset of the 30-45 million people called by that name as an ethnic/tribal designation? Or are you just generalizing as an ethno/racial bigot?
Hard to say what he means, he actually talks about iraq as if it were an organic nation but he does not believe Kurds exist as a nation…
When you’re desperate and oppressed you don’t ask where the guns are coming from. Just look at the Palestinians. Are you gonna piss on their entire cause just because some of them took hand outs from the Saudi’s; asshole.
There are rare exceptions even for this allowance, such as the Nazis in WW2 or ISIS in the present day. It should have been clear to anyone with basic human intelligence & intuition that even in desperation it is unacceptable to hitch your national cause to such an all-encompassing evil and absolutism – not to mention that in the case of the Nazis it should have seemed inevitable they would quickly move on to liquidating some of those collaborator peoples once they’re done using them for them to help exterminate the first priority undesirables.
However in the case of the Kurds, their current position is relatively strong compared to recent history and unless they have some direct US or Israeli intervention card up their sleeves, now does not seem like a smart time to escalate this issue and draw Turkey & Iran into cooperation.
You’d better ask where the guns are coming from because the guns have a price tag attached. If you don’t ask you deserve what you get.
There is a grain of truth there. I by no means support the Kurds excepting firepower from imperial states like Israel and the US. Doing so has proven fatal in the past. I just sympathize with their cause as well as their desperation. Calling them “master betrayers” totally ignores the severity of their plight and disrespects and disregards an entire race of people who have as much right to their self determination as anyone else.
The PKK needs to get in on this. The Peshmerga are morally bankrupt pussies.