Sunday, September 24, 2017

There are good arguments to make for an independent Kurdistan, but it just won't work if they try it now

Whatever you think about the merits of Kurdish independence, the hard truth is that a landlocked independent Kurdistan carved out of Northern Iraq has little chance of success if all of its immediate neighbors hate the idea of an independent Kurdish nation. Having the support of Israel, which would be at least a couple of countries away no matter how your draw the borders, is not good enough. Israel couldn't support an entire blockaded Kurdish population. Maybe the Kurds could pull it off if they had American support. But they don't have that either.

That said, I get why the Kurds are pushing ahead anyway. There has never been a good time for Kurdish independence in the past century. The situation is not likely to get better for them if they wait, so why not now?