The Kurdish question is manipulated by Syria as it turns to their old PKK allies to undermine an increasingly hostile Turkey and simultaneously divide the potentially decisive Kurds back home. The Arab Spring may have stormed through a number of countries but for Syria it has not been such a straightforward transition. Syria is not [...]
16Apr
PKK enjoys new lease on Ankara-Damascus conflict
Filed in Kurdish Globe | Syria Leave a comment
03Mar
Kurds – showing a tongue with which to talk, but teeth with which to bite
Filed in Kurdish Globe | Kurdistan Region Leave a comment
The Syrian Kurds are in many ways the forgotten kindred of the Kurdish landscape that have suddenly found themselves at a centre of increasing regional and international focus. Indeed, while Kurdistan was forcibly partitioned in the selfish interest of the imperial powers at the time, the Kurdish national identity became increasingly more localised with the [...]
18Feb
End game for Assad; just the beginning for Kurds
Filed in Kurdish Globe | Syria Leave a comment
Fast approaching a year of uprising and turmoil, the struggle against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria is now by far the longest of all in the Arab Spring. The opposition movement in Syria clearly lacked the same national and military clout as in Egypt and particularly Libya, with an opposition that is still relatively localized [...]
21Jan
Kurds caught in the middle as tensions in Iraq are stoked by regional jockeying
Filed in Iraq | Kurdish Globe | Kurdistan Region Leave a comment
With the political crisis in Iraq already at a critical juncture, domestic and regional events this week served to intensify tensions. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki formally suspended a number of ministers from the predominantly Sunni-based al-Iraqiya list after weeks of boycotts. As internal parties continued frantic jockeying to soothe friction and find a way [...]
07Jan
The regional fear of the disintegration of Iraq is out-dated, it has already happened.
Filed in Iraq | Kurdish Globe Leave a comment
The fear of the disintegration of Iraq is hardly breaking news. A persistent theme of the past 9 or so years of the new Iraq has been how to preserve unity and bring about true national reconciliation amongst a climate of deep mistrust. Iraq in its transition to democracy may have achieved historical junctures but [...]
24Dec
U.S.withdrawal: End or beginning of Iraq?
Filed in Iraq | Kurdish Globe | U.S. Foreign Policy Leave a comment
As the last convoy of US troops trickled over the desertous southern-Iraqi border, the move was met with contrasting emotions, much like the overall US experience little shy of 9 years. For many in Iraq, the image of seeing their “occupiers” leave became a long-time nationalist dream. Fast forward 9 years, 4500 lost lives and [...]
10Dec
Another political fallout in Kurdistan at a time when need for unity greatest
Filed in Kurdish Globe | Kurdistan Region Leave a comment
Just when an aurora of calm and stability was returning to Kurdistan following the several weeks of riots that were instigated earlier this year in Sulaimanyia, turmoil, tension and anger returned to the scene once again in Kurdistan. The riots over the past week, which started when a large number of liquor stores, massage parlors [...]
03Dec
Interview with British Consul General Chris Bowers
Filed in Iraq | Kurdish Globe | Kurdistan Region Leave a comment
There are huge opportunities, people should come and explore it for themselves because they will find a real welcome here and find a region that is on a dash for modernity” – Chris Bowers Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel of the Kurdish Globe spoke with the British Consul General to Kurdistan, Chris Bowers, on the historic relationship [...]