Tag: Barzani

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Kurdish Referendum Roils the Mideast
Editor's Сhoice
Kurdish Referendum Roils the Mideast
October 9, 2017

The Kurdish referendum seeking independence from Iraq has created more uncertainty in the turbulent Mideast with Israel appearing to see value in the new chaos, reports ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke.

Unravelling the Riddle of the Kurds’ Iraqi Pipedream
September 28, 2017

Wily clannish capo Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has announced that “Yes” won Monday’s non-binding independence referendum. Now that index fingers in indelible indigo ink are out of the way, the real battle between the KRG and Baghdad begins. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Iraqi Supreme Court have denounced the referendum as “unconstitutional.”

Unravelling the Riddle of the Kurds’ Iraqi Pipedream
Editor's Сhoice
Iraq Partition, US Way
World
Iraq Partition, US Way
July 15, 2014

Iraq was the first phase of the US Greater Middle East plan being shaped on the world map. Even before the 2003 invasion, Washington wanted to partition the country into three parts: Sunni, Shia and Kurdish. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (alternatively translated as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, abbreviated ISIL, ISIS) offensive to capture a large part of Iraqi land is nothing else but part of this plan. Speaking formally the White House calls on the Kurds not to sever ties with Baghdad and promises military aid to the Shiite – dominated al-Maliki government. The United States also talks about the possibility of joining efforts with Iran to counter the terrorists, but in practice it sticks to the policy of instigating chaos to make Iraq a divided state…

Iraqi Kurds Get Serious about Independence in a Region Committed to status quo
July 7, 2014

The leadership of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq, which has all the trappings of an independent state even though a leader of one of its two major clans is nominally president of the Republic of Iraq, has set out on the risky road to full independence… KRG President Massoud Barzani recently asked the Kurdish parliament in Erbil to set a date for an independence referendum. The Iraqi government rejected Barzani’s proposal… The only country that has outwardly championed Kurdistan’s independence is Israel. The Israeli Mossad has long-standing ties with Kurdistan, having trained many of its Peshmerga forces… But Israel has one major problem in exercising domination over an independent or semi-independent Kurdistan. Iran, which Israelis officials theatrically re-state is an «existential» threat to the Jewish state, continues to have greater influence in Kurdistan than do any other regional player…

Iraqi Kurds Get Serious about Independence in a Region Committed to <i>status quo</i>
World
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Iraq’s Fragmentation and the Turkish Overreach
World
Iraq’s Fragmentation and the Turkish Overreach
February 24, 2013

…Ankara is offering to Erbil the honeypot of vastly increased revenues from oil exports through Turkey from northern Iraq and flourishing Turkish trade and investments in Kurdistan… Clearly, Turkey hopes that in the fullness of time, its much bigger economy would integrate and assimilate Kurdistan… Simply put, Turkish regional policies are increasingly feeding into the Shia-Sunni tensions fostered by Saudi Arabia and Qatar across the Middle East… To be sure, Iraq is also becoming a turf where Turkey’s rivalries with Iran are playing out and Ankara resents the Baghdad-Tehran axis supporting the Syrian regime. (On Tuesday Iraqi cabinet approved Tehran’s proposal to construct a 1500-kilometre natural gas pipeline connecting Iran’s giant South Pars fields to Syria and other export markets via Iraqi territory)…