![Iraqi Kurdistan defiant in face of Baghdad sanctions, threats](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/09/iraqi-kurdistan-defiant-in-face-187x137.jpg)
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Archives: Kurds
![Iraqi Kurdistan defiant in face of Baghdad sanctions, threats](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/09/iraqi-kurdistan-defiant-in-face-187x137.jpg)
![Iraq: Kurdish Independence Vote Spurs Mideast Tension](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/09/iraq-kurdish-independence-vote-s-187x137.jpg)
Iraq: Kurdish Independence Vote Spurs Mideast Tension
TeleSur | - - The referendum has provoked large-scale military movements along the Iraqi Kurdish region's borders. Some 8.4 million Iraqi Kurds have voted in a referendum on whether to secede from…![How Arab Nationalism & Fundamentalism pushed away the Kurds](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/09/how-arab-nationalism-fundamental-187x137.jpg)
How Arab Nationalism & Fundamentalism pushed away the Kurds
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Kurdistan referendum held today is probably not as likely to produce immediate turmoil in the Middle East as some pundits would have…![Iraq Supreme Court strikes down Kurdistan referendum, Clashes in Kirkuk](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/09/iraq-supreme-court-strikes-down-187x137.jpg)
Iraq Supreme Court strikes down Kurdistan referendum, Clashes in Kirkuk
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Iraqi Supreme Court has ordered that the referendum on independence planned for September 25 be halted. The problem is that the Iraqi…![Will Iraqi Kurdish Independence Referendum Further Roil the Middle East?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/09/will-iraqi-kurdish-independence-187x137.jpg)
Will Iraqi Kurdish Independence Referendum Further Roil the Middle East?
By Ali R. Abootalebi | (Informed Comment) | - - The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President in June 2017 announced September 25 as the day for a referendum on independence from…![Turkey-Backed fundamentalist Militias attack US Troops in Syria](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/08/turkey-backed-fundamentalist-mil-187x137.jpg)
Turkey-Backed fundamentalist Militias attack US Troops in Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - US troops in Syria operating north of Manbij have been fired on twice in the last couple of weeks. The attackers are fundamentalist…![Who defeated ISIL? Obama’s Quiet Strategy, not Trump’s Bluster](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/08/who-defeated-isil-obamas-quiet-s-187x137.jpg)
Who defeated ISIL? Obama’s Quiet Strategy, not Trump’s Bluster
Bryan G. Williams | (Informed Comment) | - - Book excerpt from the just-published Counter Jihad: America's Military Experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria [CLICK]: At the time of the writing of…![Turkish Legislators hold Sit-in to protest Creeping Dictatorship](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/07/turkish-legislators-hold-sit-in-187x137.jpg)
Turkish Legislators hold Sit-in to protest Creeping Dictatorship
TeleSur | - - Under the changes, lawmakers can also vote to ban for three sessions fellow parliamentarians who use expressions such as "Kurdistan" or "Kurdish provinces." Turkey’s main opposition staged a…![Have Syria’s Kurds invented a Democratic Neo-Socialism?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/have-syrias-kurds-invented-a-dem-187x137.jpg)
Have Syria’s Kurds invented a Democratic Neo-Socialism?
Dmitry Petrov | (OpenDemocracy.net) | - - In an effort to get through to the Syrian Kurdish autonomous region, I met kindred spirits and found out more about the political and cultural…![Obama’s last Victory: Syrian Democratic Forces hold Parts of ISIL Capital](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/obamas-last-victory-syrian-democ-187x137.jpg)
Obama’s last Victory: Syrian Democratic Forces hold Parts of ISIL Capital
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with…![Trump sends US Troops to Patrol Turkish-Syrian Border as Ankara Threatens US Allies](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/05/trump-sends-us-troops-to-patrol-1-187x137.jpg)
Trump sends US Troops to Patrol Turkish-Syrian Border as Ankara Threatens US Allies
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Only one fighting force in Syria is practically speaking taking on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on the ground, and that is the Syrian Democratic…![Kushner of Arabia: Can Trump’s Son-in-Law Figure out Iraq?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/04/kushner-of-arabia-can-trumps-son-187x137.jpg)
Kushner of Arabia: Can Trump’s Son-in-Law Figure out Iraq?
By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | - - Days before President Donald J. Trump ordered cruise missile strikes on Syria, his son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq to learn first-hand how the…![Has Trump deferred to Russia in Syria?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/04/has-trump-deferred-to-russia-in-187x137.jpg)
Has Trump deferred to Russia in Syria?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Elizabeth Palmer reported from Ankara last Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had difficult and inconclusive discussions with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan…![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/03/capture_crop_3-1.png_1718483346-1-187x137.png)
In Erdogan’s Turkey, an Artist is Jailed for Painting Reality
TeleSur | - - A Turkish court has handed down a two-year, nine-month and 22-day jail sentence to a Kurdish artist because of her painting of a Kurdish village being razed by…![Do Syria’s Kurds hold the Key to the future of the Middle East?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/03/do-syrias-kurds-hold-the-key-to-187x137.jpg)
Do Syria’s Kurds hold the Key to the future of the Middle East?
By Clemens Hoffmann and Can Cemgil | (The Conversation) | - - The Trump administration’s plans for the war against the so-called Islamic State (IS) are at last becoming clear. And it…![Trump sends heavier weapons to Leftist Syrian Kurds to Fight ISIL](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/02/trump-sends-heavier-weapons-to-l-187x137.jpg)
Trump sends heavier weapons to Leftist Syrian Kurds to Fight ISIL
TeleSur | - - A Syrian militia led by the Kurdish leftist group YPG said they received armored vehicles from the U.S. military, the first such support. The U.S. has boosted support…![Kurds Will Come Together to Discuss Independence With Baghdad](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/01/kurds-will-come-together-to-disc-187x137.jpg)
Kurds Will Come Together to Discuss Independence With Baghdad
TeleSur | - - Kurdish independence “is a reality that will come true,” said Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. Kurdish parties will meet with the Iraqi government…![Is Bruited Sec. of State Tillerson allied with Iran & at war with Iraq?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2016/12/is-bruited-sec-of-state-tillerso-187x137.jpg)
Is Bruited Sec. of State Tillerson allied with Iran & at war with Iraq?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - A couple of years ago an oil tanker showed up off the Texas coast with cargo from Iraqi Kurdistan. The problem? Iraqi Kurdistan…![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2016/12/Prayer_cloths_on_Mount_Arafat_in_the_Yezidi_holy_site_of_Lalish_Kurdistan_Region_1-1-187x137.jpeg)
The Fate of Iraq’s Minorities After Mosul
By Tyler Fisher and Kamal Kolo | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | - - The liberation of Mosul offers the international community a unique opportunity to permit the region’s most vulnerable minorities to exercise…![Will Kurdish Soldiers Withdraw From Parts Of Mosul Their Leaders Covet?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930142831im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2016/10/will-kurdish-soldiers-withdraw-f-187x137.jpg)