Meanwhile in Iraq & Syria

[kybkh]

Iraqi military now fighting the Iraqi Kurds over a military base and oil fields in Kirkuk:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10 ... -launched/

Iraqi and Kurdish forces exchanged artillery fire early Monday south of the city of Kirkuk, after central government forces began a "major operation" to take control of a Kurdish military base and oil fields.

Iraqi forces said they had seized an oil field during the operation, which follows soaring tensions over an independence referendum.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command said the forces took over the Baba Gargar oil field, one of six in the disputed Kirkuk region, as well as the headquarters of a public oil company.

Shortly before, state television announced that government troops had taken "large areas" of the province from Kurdish peshmerga fighters "without fighting", although military sources on both sides reported exchange of Katyusha rocket fire to the south of the provincial capital.

This is when shit gets interesting. I'll take the Kurds + the spread. Regular Iraqi army may be able to advance in mass columns but won't be able to hold ground unless they go Saddam.

[C-Mag]

Duerte destroying ISIS in the Phillipines.
http://theduran.com/dutertes-victory-le ... ry-marawi/

ISIS taking a lot of losses recently.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Duerte destroying ISIS in the Phillipines.
http://theduran.com/dutertes-victory-le ... ry-marawi/

ISIS taking a lot of losses recently.

So sayeth the State.

Early reports stated that around 40 militants were holding 100 hostages, but this number has been reduced to less than 40 hostages after a recent operation by Philippine troops.

[BjornP]

This is when shit gets interesting. I'll take the Kurds + the spread. Regular Iraqi army may be able to advance in mass columns but won't be able to hold ground unless they go Saddam.

Iraqi Kurds don't have any allies internationally. They have lots of international public goodwill, sure, but Kurdish independence poses a threat to the territorial integrity to not just Iraq, but to NATO ally Turkey, as well as Russia's ally Syria, and Syria's ally of Iran. A legitimized Kurdistan means much the same as a legitimized Catalonia in Spain: That others will rise up and say, "If THEY can, and are allowed to, get away with it, we should go all in with our seperatism, too!". While it could be in Russia's interest to destablize Iraq, as an ally of the US, it makes more sense for them to court the Iraqi government as well as stay on the good side of their Syrian ally, by containing Kurdish ambitions to expanded autonomy or home rule, rather than full on independence.

[SuburbanFarmer]

This is when shit gets interesting. I'll take the Kurds + the spread. Regular Iraqi army may be able to advance in mass columns but won't be able to hold ground unless they go Saddam.

Iraqi Kurds don't have any allies internationally. They have lots of international public goodwill, sure, but Kurdish independence poses a threat to the territorial integrity to not just Iraq, but to NATO ally Turkey, as well as Russia's ally Syria, and Syria's ally of Iran. A legitimized Kurdistan means much the same as a legitimized Catalonia in Spain: That others will rise up and say, "If THEY can, and are allowed to, get away with it, we should go all in with our seperatism, too!". While it could be in Russia's interest to destablize Iraq, as an ally of the US, it makes more sense for them to court the Iraqi government as well as stay on the good side of their Syrian ally, by containing Kurdish ambitions to expanded autonomy or home rule, rather than full on independence.

Hey, 'member that other time we had a little pissant country fighting for freedom, among a massive web of alliances? We should really send one of Turkey's royal family there, for a goodwill tour...

[BjornP]

This is when shit gets interesting. I'll take the Kurds + the spread. Regular Iraqi army may be able to advance in mass columns but won't be able to hold ground unless they go Saddam.

Iraqi Kurds don't have any allies internationally. They have lots of international public goodwill, sure, but Kurdish independence poses a threat to the territorial integrity to not just Iraq, but to NATO ally Turkey, as well as Russia's ally Syria, and Syria's ally of Iran. A legitimized Kurdistan means much the same as a legitimized Catalonia in Spain: That others will rise up and say, "If THEY can, and are allowed to, get away with it, we should go all in with our seperatism, too!". While it could be in Russia's interest to destablize Iraq, as an ally of the US, it makes more sense for them to court the Iraqi government as well as stay on the good side of their Syrian ally, by containing Kurdish ambitions to expanded autonomy or home rule, rather than full on independence.

Hey, 'member that other time we had a little pissant country fighting for freedom, among a massive web of alliances? We should really send one of Turkey's royal family there, for a goodwill tour...

Not the same thing. Belgium had allies, it already was an indendent country, and was only invaded to provide German troops more advantageous entry points into France.

[Smitty-48]

This whole Iraqi Kurd independence thing would be the perfect opportunity for America to divide and conquer, flip the Iraq War into a win, and get the oil too, Fortress Kurdistan in Northern Iraq as an American protectorate; it boxes everybody out, the Iranians and their proxies in Baghdad, Saudi Arabia and ISIS, and Erdogan in Turkey, all in one fell swoop. America gets the bases, the oil, and the leverage, just like that, badda bing badda boom.

Also perfectly positioned against the Russians in the South Caucasus, so it sticks it to Ivan where he don't like it too.

[kybkh]

It’d sure be nice to get a win for once. Been a while.

[Smitty-48]

It’d sure be nice to get a win for once. Been a while.

It's right there for the taking, nary a shot fired, the National Security Consensus doesn't like to change frontiers, particularly internal, but Trump could make it happen, I don't think he will mind you, but the lane is there, to take the rock to the hole, with authori-teh, Lebron James style.

It's already a base of operations, it's a fortress in place now, wouldn't even have to announce, you just flow in there in force, behind the Peshmerga, and if the Iraqis take shots at them, you just do a low flypast, supersonic in the B-1; "BTFO".

[BjornP]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42731222

In a speech at Stanford University on Wednesday, Mr Tillerson said decisive action taken by President Trump had accelerated the progress made against IS.

But he noted that IS was "not completely defeated" and that the government of President Bashar al-Assad - who the US opposes and has said should step down from power - controlled about half of Syria's territory and population.

And Turkey is set to invade northern Syria to wipe out "America's terror army" (the Syrian Kurdish US allies in northern Syria):

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-midea ... KKBN1F70VJ

Turkey has ratcheted up its threats to take military action in Afrin in the past week, in response to U.S. plans to support setting up a 30,000-strong force to guard areas held by Kurdish-led fighters in a large part of Syria east of Afrin.

Washington has become closely allied with the Syrian Kurds, who served as the main U.S. proxies on the ground in battle with Islamic State militants over the past two years. That infuriates Ankara, which considers the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia to be a branch of the banned PKK movement that has fought a decades-old insurgency against the Turkish state.

President Tayyip Erdogan called the new U.S.-backed border force a “terror army” on Turkey’s border and vowed to “strangle it before it’s even born”.