Iraqi Forces Begin Assault Near Kurdish-Held City of Kirkuk

Good point, but it's too late to fix that now. Wilson also had an opportunity to support the people of Vietnam over the French.
He was a narrow minded racist - alas.

 

It turns out that realpolitik doesn't pay off for anyone other than the people who die before the repercussions hit

 

When I was a kid I didn't like ethnic groups breaking away from a main country to found their own land.

Boy have things changed. Now I want Kurdistan they helped us fight ISIS while some of our "allies" sat back and did nothing. Well, you snooze you loose. And I think loosing their land to the Kurds is fair play.

Of course the Kurds need to defend themselves, because that is the world we live in. So who's going to fund the arms sale to Kurds??? And can they fight a revolution???

 

Well it's like choosing whether you have compassion for the criminal who commits a crime, or the victim of the crime. Most times it's a clear cut choice, but not always. There are times when someone is hungry and needs food for his kids, and the other person has food and refuses to be charitable. As for politics, one has to recognize when passions are being aroused deliberately for self serving reasons, as well as lies and propaganda.

We didn't have the power then to get involved in anything, besides we always sided with Britain, and were always manipulated by Britain. We learned well, and now we're the manipulators.

 

I think we should help the Kurds get established. As if we don't now. Then Iran will gain domination over them thru the Shia in Iraq.

Trump should tell Abadi. We just saved your ass. Now go sit down and let the Big Boys figure out how were going to set up the Kurds and keep you Shia Arabs from making the worst mistake of your existence.

 

The problem is that the lands the Kurds want are part of other countries, and the indigenous Arabs living on them are in the majority. I felt for the Kurds and the ethnic cleansing they suffered in Turkey, until I found out they were ethnically cleansing the Arabs in Syria.

Now that would be all fine and dandy if they were a threat, since the Kurds do need a country and they did fight ISIS, but one thing makes it highly incriminating. The lands the Kurds want are not lands they lived on historically and are therefore entitled to a certain autonomy and/or independence. They are oil rich lands like Kirkuq in Iraq, and Deir ezzor in Syria... which they are not entitled to.

Since Israel wants an oil rich Kurdistan nearby, I suspect Washington does to and is speaking with a forked tongue. But then again don't they always.

What makes this even more interesting, is that all of a sudden the megalomaniac Erdogan pops up and say that Mosul and Kurkuq belongs to Turkey because it once was under Ottomans rule. That the people living there hate Turkey, means nothing to them of course... after all, sociopaths like our own Washingtonian one, only know might makes right. I guess the lessons of Nazi Germany and its destruction means nothing to them.

Now something even more surprising, Russia supports an independent Kurdistan. Probably to irk Erdogan for saying Crimea belongs to Ukraine.

 

People have to stop thinking in terms of racism, but rather in terms of identity and comfort factor. For a white person who was raised in a certain culture to feel more comfortable with people similar to them is normal, as it would be with blacks too.

Also people sympathize with those they can identify with. When terrorists kill off dozens of people in nations other than in the Western world, very few in the West pay attention since the identify factor is missing. This has always held true towards the Orthodox Slavic and Russian world as well. Russians noticed the indifference Americans and Europeans had towards terrorist attacks in Russia, compared to the sympathy Russians had when the attacks occurred in the West.

Unless governments realize there is something other than the extremity of racism, and take the identity factor and comfort level of individuals into account, there will always be disagreements and wars.

Easier said than done. Maybe I'm expecting too much.

 

Wilson was a racist intellectual - studied ignorance.
We should all be very comfortable with other honorable well meaning human beings regardless of their race and culture.

Russia has been far more decisive and effective dealing with terrorism than the US.

 

True.
BTW.. until now Nobody here gave a serious & wise answer, why the Kurds cannot establish Kurdistan..

 

They should tell Abadi.....We have been in control of things here. Thats the way its going to be. Get use to it.

 

There are Kurds who have been lured by the promises of money and support from the US and its regional suzerain, Israel, and who have forgotten the facts of several millennia of history. Forgotten not only that it was Iran, not the US or Israel, that saved the Kurds from the ISIS onslaught that threatened them so acutely only a few years ago, but also the fact that unlike Israel (whose entire existence hasn't lasted 100 years) or the US (who will be eventually back to where it belongs), Iran has been here for several thousands years of history and will be around still.

For now, though, the battle to recapture Kirkuk avoided much bloodshed. There are different accounts of what happened. Some reports have suggested that the Kurds had been secretly persuaded by Iran not to put a fight. Others give a different interpretation to what happened. Regardless, this round certainly didn't play out the way the US and Israel had intended

https://www.voanews.com/a/kurdish-o...territories-fall-to-iraqi-forces/4075388.html

https://www.voanews.com/a/the-fight-for-kurdish-independence-maybe-over/4073465.html

 

Whew, that's a hell of a claim.

Besides a few missionaries the Americans had almost nothing to do with the Middle East around WW1. Sure, Wilson's principles might have resulted in something like an independent Kurdistan, but Wilson's principles held little sway in the end.