This post has many links but if my reader would like to understand what is happening then it is well worth the time it takes to become informed……
In the past I have written much on the situation around the Kurds…..mostly those residing inside Iraq….but the Kurds in northeastern Syria are making news….
My past posts on the Kurds……
Inkwell Institute Middle East Desk The battle for the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq and Syria has begun……the US has taken upon itself to step back into the Middle East w…
Source: Kurds: A Janus? – In Saner Thought
We are ass deep in the Middle East and it looks like it will be for a very long time……..maybe it is time for Americans, especially my readers, to get acquainted with the people that we…
Source: People without a state: Who are the Kurds? – In Saner Thought
College of Political Knowledge Professor’s Classroom One last update for you hard core news junkies (my kind of people)….. The Kurds? I read an article about the Kurds in Syria are try…
Source: Let’s Hear For The Kurds – In Saner Thought
Just a few of my posts on the subject of the Kurds. I remind my readers because the Kurds in Syria are making the news these days…..the people of northeast Syria are looking for a homeland…..
Shut out of UN-brokered talks, Kurdish Democratic Union Party and its allies choose to go it alone.
Source: Syria’s Kurds claim autonomy in the north – Al Jazeera English
Recently I read a piece by Juan Cole who is just about the most knowledgeable writer in the West…..he has observations on this occurrence of Kurds claiming a separate state in Syria……
Syria’s Kurds have decided to declare a federal province in the northeast of the country and along the northern border with Turkey.
Many Arab states are unitary rather than federal and for the most part provincial governors are appointed by the central government and the central state controls local education and other policy. The Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov recently suggested that one resolution of the Syrian civil war might be to move the country to a US- or Canada-style federal state where the provinces retain substantial powers and prerogatives.
Some pundits are interpreting the Kurdish move as a form of separatism, but so far it seems more like a demand for states’ rights, Alabama-style. The Kurds are frustrated that they have been excluded from the Geneva peace talks, and are in part making the point that with 10% of the Syrian territory in their control, they are too important to snub.
Source: Syria’s Kurds to declare Federal Province
Cole’s observations are excellent insight into this situation……now I will be watching the Kurds in Iraq and in southeastern Turkey for their next move…you see there is a definite desire for a Kurdistan, a free and independent state and a homeland for all Kurds.
This could be a two edged sword…..and a massive headache for the West.
What are the intentions with this move?
From the outset of the Syrian conflict, the PYD has pursued its own self-declared interests.
Source: The intentions of Syrian Kurds with self-administration – Al Jazeera English
There seems to be those that are opposed to this move……why would anyone be opposed to these people having their own region under their authority?
I am so glad you asked…….
Analysis: The latest Syrian Kurdish move toward cementing autonomy comes as no surprise – but how far will it go?
Source: Why Syria’s Kurds want federalism, and who opposes it – AJE News
Let me ask one question in closing…..all those that applaud the Kurds move for secession….would you also feel the same for Afro-Americans??
I do not know too much about the situation of The Kurdish People but in my humble opinion they ought to be given a stretch of land to call home and they should form a new nation and name it “Kurdistan” and be done with all the negative crap.
If that is done as you suggest what is to keep the Assyrians or Chaldeans from demanding such? I think it would start a dangerous precedent…
Why is there an India and a Pakistan? Why is there a North and South Vietnam and Korea … Why is there a Palestine and Israel …. We need to provide a world wide habitat for the various inhabitants like in the days of the Old Kingdoms … back during the glory days of the Assyrians and The Chaldeans … The way it was intended when mankind was scattered to the four winds to settle in their own lands. Everybody should have a legitimate home.
I agree that they should but I also can see how it would destabilize a country it did for Pakistan that ended a bloody conflict to establish Bangladesh(sp?)….look how well Palestine and Israel are doing….all this will be bloody especially these days.
Wars and rumors of wars from the beginning of time and until the end of time.
Yep and there is the problem…..rumors quickly become action…..
I see your point chuq…….a question….
People tend to group with their own tribe,even in the U.K.
You have Muslim communities,Indian communities,rich communities,poor/black/white communities,middle class communities,religious communities etc..
Ghettos emerge, as in France…throw in unemployment and wot ya got?
A clash of cultures….
A friend who lives in Dubai is doing a PHD on this problem,culture/cultural differences,etc.
She has finally come around to thinking that sadly multiculturalism does not work.
Over to you…
Dubai…how does one study poverty in a oil rich country…globalization has made it impossible for there to be a uni cultural world….if we are to survive then we need to find a happy middle…..chuq
My friend teaches there and is desperate to leave.(which is why she has taken on extra study)Apparently in the college they now have Somalian guards patrolling the corridors.(checking you are working)..and the government move is to reduce all expat teachers and replace with Emirates..Education spending has been cut and shifted towards the military.
Happy mediums are the only way forward…..but the human condition?
The Greeks said it all those years ago..’Know thyself…everything in moderation’
That includes drinking…grin
efer a good Bourbon….or a stiff Irish….wink wink
Your last line hit the nail on the head of the entire problem; as long as people, and, I mean ALL people, identify with a group, of any kind, to the exclusion of other groups, any sort of peace will remain elusive as fairy lights on a spring night…. Religions, countries, skin colors, football fanaticism of ANY sort is the root of the entire issue. Until people grow the fuck up and start to realize that our ONLY group is humanity, then wars will continue to happen, for it is just too easy to manipulate millions of people to fight each other over shit that doesn’t mean a fucking thing in reality.
That’s my take; grow the fuck up, people. Otherwise, we’re all dead, and it isn’t going to take much longer to end our time on this plane of existence as a species…
gigoid, the dubious
P.S. I’ll take bourbon, neat…. at least four fingers.
g, t d
the US is getting just as bad as the rest of the world….no common humanity….chuq