"Kurdistan attacked by Iraq" Topic

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"The hostilities mark a real challenge for the United States, which has armed and trained both Iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters."

This will be the vacuum in which the resurgence of ISIS or the rise of some other radical Islamic group will grow. While fighting each other, neither army can focus on the continuing war on terrorists.

Too bad we didn't recognize them as a nation state during the last 5-6 years.

I would say too bad we didn't recognize them after the first Gulf War.

The Arabs have never gotten over the fact that their greatest leader was a Kurd. The U.S. should've realigned its network of allies in the region a long time ago.

I suspect if the United States recognised Iraqi Kurdistan, both Turkey and Iran would immediately attack the Kurds just to keep their own neighbouring Kurdish provinces from attempting to secede. And with two of the three major Middle Eastern powers involved, you could bet that Saudi, Israel, Russia and the USA would all rush to support their respective proxies as well. Kurdistan would turn into a quagmire as bad as Syria.

In case you hadn't noticed, supporting armed rebel/secessionist groups doesn't create peace or prosperity or solve problems. Anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't been paying attention.

Besides, recognising Kurdistan would also smack of hypocrisy. Russia has been sanctioned for doing exactly this in the Crimea and in Donetsk.

<sarcasm>It's a shame Europe didn't recognise the Confederacy in 1861. Think of all the problems that would've solved in America. </sarcasm>

<sarcasm> Huh.. maybe someone should hop in a time machine and give the French of the 1770s your sage words. </sarcasm>

<sarcasm> Huh.. maybe someone should hop in a time machine and give the French of the 1770s your sage words. </sarcasm>

Worth thinking about, actually… By 1770, Britain had more or less decided to stop expanding the colonies, and was trying to fortify their western borders along existing lines. Manifest Destiny, on the other hand, was one long duplicitous, destabilising, genocidal romp by modern standards, and it's still causing problems today.

I stand by my previous assertion that providing support to armed rebels and secessionists is a bad idea.

The US should have never engaged in the Middle-East in the first place. One group will always be fighting another over there. Think of all the blood and treasure we wasted supporting one side then another; and it always comes back to haunt us. The only people who constantly benefit are the weapons manufacturers and arms dealers.

USAF +1

Kurdistan would turn into a quagmire as bad as Syria.

This scenario you paint is so alike to "Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans": supporting "Kurdistan" would likely become the 21st century equivalent.

Again, we the US should never have gotten involved in any Arab/Muslim conflicts to begin with.

Oil. Black Gold. Texas Tea.

Black Gold. Texas Tea.
Makes cars work for you and me.

Oil you say? Well it doesn't really matter who is selling it. As much as the US needs it; they ( whoever 'they' may be at any given time) need to sell it. They need us as a customer as much as we need their oil.