Good article.
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Kurdish independence: a land-locked country at war with all four neighbours.  No allies.  No source of supplies.
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The Kurdish plight highlights the problems of Sykes-Picot: unrealistic borders, but the various countries are stuck with them.
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For the Kurds, the best outcome is in a federation.
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There is much mischief here.
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The point of this referendum is to cause fighting between the US (and Israeli)-backed Kurds and the Iran-backed government.
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The Kurds are the only force still capable of defeating Assad.  So Russia wants Turkey and Iran to clobber them.
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Likud wants America drawn into a war with Iran, so America will bomb Iran's nuclear sites.
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That is why Russia and Israel were the only two in favour of this mischief.
Israel is now going silent.
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America does not have the staying-power to save them.
This is a fight the Kurds cannot win.
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It appears the Kurds are about to be betrayed - a recurrent historical theme.
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Yet another humanitarian disaster looms.