#6 "who hold 2 diametrically opposed ideas about the Kurds' future"
Ah, so THIS is the crux of where your thoughts originated? Funny, I've read shitloads of info, many interviews by them, and have never seen this declaration. Can you provide something to back that assertion up?
Personally, I believe they are completely in-synch: they want an independent Kurdish nation. Period. It is the understatement of all time to say they've been patient. It's hard to imagine a cohesive people who have been shat upon more times - and screwed in the breach as thoroughly. Funny, but I think the odds are in the neighborhood of 50-50 they'll get it, too -- but that's purely my own speculation, no more.
It's based upon living among the Arabs for years and watching the process in Iraq. That Iraq, as an entity, is yet another Yugoslavia, is self-apparent. The Sykes-Picot "treaty" was where it was born and is about as "valid" and "legitimate" as Stalin's creation, too. The interesting thing, to me, is how somewhere recently it seems that the international view of countries as "inviolable" entities was set in cement. If you were a people who hadn't yet "gotten yours" - well, it's suddenly just tough luck.
Bullshit, of course. I hope the Kurds get their chance. I know they won't waste it if they do. I just hope they can hang on until it comes "naturally" - as the Middle East shakes out and many new opportunities present themselves. Syria, Turkey, Iran - all are in for some rude shocks. The Kurds might be one of the truly significant beneficiaries of Bush shaking the tree. As I said, this is just my speculation. |
The Kurdish Parliament in northern Iraq yesterday elected veteran leader Massoud Barzani as president of the region, giving the group greater autonomy after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein. Adnan Al-Mufti, speaker of the Kurdish Parliament, told a news conference that parliament unanimously elected Barzani, whose longtime rival Jalal Talabani, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, became Iraq's president earlier this year. Barzani, head of the once rival Kurdistan Democratic Party, will be formally sworn in tomorrow because poor weather prevented officials from flying to the region from Baghdad for a ceremony yesterday, officials said. After months of wrangling following an election at the same time as national voting on Jan. 30, the show of support for Barzani in the new post strengthens the Kurds' grip on the north of Iraq and may bolster their bid to ensure they maintain their autonomy once a new constitution is drawn up in Baghdad.