Tag: Barzani
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.
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.”
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…
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…