23-10-2009, 07:16 PM
I have some instinctive sympathy for Kurds who want to create a nation state, a Kurdistan, after decades of being discriminated against by Turks, Iraqis, Iranians and western elites.
Of course the end result would probably be that Kurds would be discriminated against by other more powerful Kurds on grounds of class, tribe, gender, education, greed etc. But that's just the way it is....
However, my instinctive sympathy for the Kurds is completely outweighed by my horror at their stupidity in falling for these old geopolitical games. It's like the Ukrainians who formed SS divisions because Hitler promised them a nation state. The Kurds have not yet been enrolled in ethnic cleansing death squads, and hopefully they will not be. However, the Kurds should not expect the Germans, or the Americans, or NATO, to honour any deal they have made with Kurdish secessionist groups operating in Iran.
The cards are already clear.
At the end of Gulf War 2, when the Iraqi Kurds (like the marsh arabs in the south) listened to George Bush Sr and rose up against Saddam, they were then abandoned and slaughtered in their tens of thousands.
When Kurdish guerilla groups fight against Turkish forces, NATO gives the Turks a green light to carpet bomb ethnic Kurdish areas because Turkey is key to so many western geopolitical stragies (oil, drugs, gas, even Gladio).
The Kurdish secessionist groups in Iran are currently very useful to western interests. That usefulness has a clear sell-buy date, and the west will abandon them in a hearbeat if the Kurdish agenda no longer serves that of western elites.
Of course the end result would probably be that Kurds would be discriminated against by other more powerful Kurds on grounds of class, tribe, gender, education, greed etc. But that's just the way it is....
However, my instinctive sympathy for the Kurds is completely outweighed by my horror at their stupidity in falling for these old geopolitical games. It's like the Ukrainians who formed SS divisions because Hitler promised them a nation state. The Kurds have not yet been enrolled in ethnic cleansing death squads, and hopefully they will not be. However, the Kurds should not expect the Germans, or the Americans, or NATO, to honour any deal they have made with Kurdish secessionist groups operating in Iran.
The cards are already clear.
At the end of Gulf War 2, when the Iraqi Kurds (like the marsh arabs in the south) listened to George Bush Sr and rose up against Saddam, they were then abandoned and slaughtered in their tens of thousands.
When Kurdish guerilla groups fight against Turkish forces, NATO gives the Turks a green light to carpet bomb ethnic Kurdish areas because Turkey is key to so many western geopolitical stragies (oil, drugs, gas, even Gladio).
The Kurdish secessionist groups in Iran are currently very useful to western interests. That usefulness has a clear sell-buy date, and the west will abandon them in a hearbeat if the Kurdish agenda no longer serves that of western elites.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war