https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/i...00502.html

MSM not interested. A couple hundred have been killed by security forces in Iraqi protests the last couple of weeks.

You have to understand the demographics of the Mideast to understand the problem. The current boundaries were drawn at San Remo at the end of WWI by people who did not understand the demographics of the region.

Iraq has Kurds (mostly Sunni) in the north, Shia Arabs in the east, and Sunni Arabs in the west. Syria has Shia (Alawite) Arabs in the west, and Sunni Arabs in the east. The most stable configuration would be Kurdistan in north Iraq (with room to accommodate those who would migrate back from Turkey and Syria), Shia Mesopotamia in east Iraq, Shia (Alawite) Syria from Damascus north along the Mediterranean coast, and Sunni Iraq in the eastern portion of current Syria and the western portion of current Iraq. As long as you don't have that, you are going to have internal strife on a major level.

This is why they can't have nice things. The thought of the billions we wasted over there trying to create a stable democracy is sickening given that impossible task. We should have gone in, beat the snot out of them, and gotten the hell out.

Turkey will never let the Kurds have their own country. They will kill all Kurds off.

(10-26-2019 11:52 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  You have to understand the demographics of the Mideast to understand the problem. The current boundaries were drawn at San Remo at the end of WWI by people who did not understand the demographics of the region.

Iraq has Kurds (mostly Sunni) in the north, Shia Arabs in the east, and Sunni Arabs in the west. Syria has Shia (Alawite) Arabs in the west, and Sunni Arabs in the east. The most stable configuration would be Kurdistan in north Iraq (with room to accommodate those who would migrate back from Turkey and Syria), Shia Mesopotamia in east Iraq, Shia (Alawite) Syria from Damascus north along the Mediterranean coast, and Sunni Iraq in the eastern portion of current Syria and the western portion of current Iraq. As long as you don't have that, you are going to have internal strife on a major level.

It's actually shocking how many of the older national boundaries are based almost entirely on ethnic group lines. Some of China's borders are what 1,000 years of concentrated effort at ethnic cleansing looks like.

(10-26-2019 12:12 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  Turkey will never let the Kurds have their own country. They will kill all Kurds off.

We could have gotten them to go along back in 2003-04. Turkey wanted into the EU very badly at that time (not so much any more, obviously). Give the Halliburton contract for Kurdistan to Schlumberger, and tell France that it's their makeup call for getting screwed at San Remo, and that it's their job to convince Turkey that Kurdistan is the price of EU membership.

(10-26-2019 12:30 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(10-26-2019 12:12 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  Turkey will never let the Kurds have their own country. They will kill all Kurds off.

We could have gotten them to go along back in 2003-04. Turkey wanted into the EU very badly at that time (not so much any more, obviously). Give the Halliburton contract for Kurdistan to Schlumberger, and tell France that it's their makeup call for getting screwed at San Remo, and that it's their job to convince Turkey that Kurdistan is the price of EU membership.

Hmm, coulda/woulda/shoulda. too late.

My take: Iraq is a mess and they don't have a strong army to stand between the US and its partners to force Iraq to make room for a Kurdistan. Who's stopping the Kurds? Turkey would probably go along as long as the Kurds don't provoke any trouble in Turkey like they're doing now.