Developments in the Greater Kurdistan Nation Building Exercise

by Scott Creighton

There have been a number of important developments in the Greater Kurdistan nation building exercise that need to be addressed.

1. Referendum for Independence on the Horizon
2. Gorran leader Mustafa Returns from London
3. State Department and Pentagon View Syrian YPG Differently
4. Turkey Shut Down Kurdish Regional Government Pipeline to Get Kurds to Stop Stealing Oil from Syria
5. A Joe Biden Color Revolution / Regime Change brewing in Iraq?

1st – Referendum for Independence on the Horizon

Peshmerga leader Muhammad Haji Mahmoud (Kama Hama) went to London this week and said there “must” be a referendum on Kurdish independence in Iraq before the presidential election and before the all-important assault on Mosul takes place.

“Now is the perfect time for the long-anticipated referendum on Kurdish independence and they must make hold it before the US presidential elections and the battle for Mosul, legendary Peshmerga leader Muhammad Haji Mahmoud, known as Kaka Hama, told an audience in Cambridge this week…

He said new states did not come into existence in times of peace, but on the contrary history has shown crises and wars to give birth to new states..

“What started as the Arab Spring turned to be the Kurdish Spring,” he said. ” Rudaw

Notice this forum was held in London. That will become more important in a few moments.

Kama Hama also made something else very clear: the battle to appease the Kurds between the US and the Russians is a very real thing indeed.

“America and Russia are competing to show which one is helping the Kurds the most,” he said, as he criticized Western countries for not inviting the Kurds to anti-ISIS forums. Rudaw

Yesterday I mentioned Lavrov’s declaration that the Kurds must be allowed to participate in the “anti-ISIS” forums or, better known as the “Bust Up Syria for a Piece of Greater Kurdistan” forums.

“Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has insisted just the other day that Syrian Kurds be allowed to participate in the next round of peace talks. Apparently Russia wants to help the Kurds (our new beloved Freedom Fighters) break off a piece of a sovereign nation for themselves.” Scott Creighton

2nd – Gorran leader Mustafa Returns from London

The Gorran, or “change”, movement leader has finally returned to Iraqi Kurdistan with a plan from the masters of the universe residing in London’s financial sector. As it turns out, he’s right in time for a new referendum on Iraqi independence and perhaps a question or two on that (clearly to be rigged) ballot about the future leadership of the future nation.

“Change Movement (Gorran) head Nawshirwan Mustafa arrived in Sulaimani International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday after seven months in Europe. “Nawshirwan Mustafa has examined several evaluations for solving issues in Kurdistan during his visit to London,” Mahmoud said. “He has a plan to deal with the region’s situation.”” Ekurd

Mustafa ran to London last year under the pretext of receiving treatment for “back pain”. His departure coincided with a period during which the ruling president of the region, Barzani, cracked down on dissent, basically closed their congress and decided to remain in power long past his election mandate. There are those who think Barzani intends to remain in his dictatorial role until sometime in 2017.

Mustafa, to his “change’ movement followers, represents a threat to the corrupt ruling elites of the wannabe nation. Yet this idea is a fantasy as back in 2013, Gorran entered into a sort of a coalition government with Barzani in order to bring about some “change” and make things better for the average Kurd stuck in Iraqi Kurdistan. Needless too say, that didn’t happen and Mustafa hit the bricks before the shite hit the fan.

“After April 2013, when Gorran and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Masoud Barzani reached an agreement to form the KRG’s eighth cabinet, Gorran’s leader Nawshirwan Mustafa promised four years of stability and development. Although Nawshirwan preferred that Gorran remain an opposition party in the KRG, his colleagues pushed Gorran into the government because they feared that continued operation outside of the government would risk loss of support and members due to the party’s financial difficulties. Entrance into the government was also seen as beneficial to Gorran members, since they would be able to enter and obtain jobs in the administration to strengthen Gorran’s presence there. Meanwhile, the KDP showed its willingness to address Gorran’s demands in the cabinet.

But when Gorran did enter the government, things did not go as Gorran and Nawshirwan had expected. Soon they were stopped from pushing any reforms.” Washington Institute

Still, there are those who dream big in Iraqi Kurdistan. They think somehow their hero will return after talks with the Great Satan in London with a new plan and a new wave of revolution that will finally deliver the anti-neoliberal democracy they have been told exists sometime in their future.

” Optimists in Mustafa’s camp are romanticizing a return in which he rallies the masses to protest and unseat the ruling Kurds. But this fantasy is far removed from Mustafa’s pragmatic approach, and these supporters are naïve if they do not understand that Mustafa’s path forward will entail navigating a dizzying array of difficult political decisions and impasses.” Washington Institute

Yes, just like the “CHANGE” hero we got here in 2008, theirs is also a pragmatist. That translates to “sell out” for those Kurdish readers. And the fact that he spent 7 months or so in the heart of neoliberal land, London, cutting deals and making himself more appealing to the masters of the universe should make that fact painfully clear.

There is likely to be some turmoil in their region as neoliberal puppet Barzani and neoliberal puppet Mustafa fight it out to see who will rule Greater Kurdistan. Seems to me the London money is on Mustafa while perhaps the Israelis are backing Barzani (as they have for years)

Should be interesting to watch unfold.

3rd – State Department and Pentagon View Syrian YPG Differently

While the Pentagon and the State Department are squabbling over which Kurds are terrorists and which are just “moderate” terrorists, President Peace Prize keeps sending our soldiers over to stand with them in their fight against the mythical “ISIS”

“The U.S. State Department’s spokesman insisted on Thursday that Washington does not see the People’s Protection Units (YPG) as a terrorist organization, despite Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s recent statements about the group…

On Wednesday Kurdish sources said that about 150 US troops have arrived in the Kurdish town of Rmeilan in Syrian Kurdistan.

Washington announced earlier this week additional deployment of 250 US military personnel in Syrian Kurdistan to provide support to Kurdish-led forces fighting terrorist groups in the war-torn country.” Ekurd

I wonder how long before Ekurd starts referring to “Turkish Kurdistan” and “Iranian Kurdistan”?

The YPG has been fighting the legitimate government of Syria since 2012 trying to break off a piece of that sovereign nation to add to Iraqi Kurdistan. They claim to have done that at this point with the creation of “Syrian Kurdistan” or Rojava as they call it.

“(YPG) is the main armed service of the Kurdish Supreme Committee, the government of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava). The YPG is primarily Kurdish, but it also recruits Arabs, Turks, and Westerners.” wiki

Here is an interesting quote from Wiki about “Rojava”

Kurds generally consider Rojava to be one of the four parts of a greater Kurdistan, which also includes parts of eastern and southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), and northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan).^[20]

Well, would you look at that? Greater Kurdistan referred to by an academic and not just little old “conspiracy theorist” me. Who’d a thunk it?

Turns out, I’m not the only one who thinks the Kurds are committing ethnic cleansing in Syria (and Iraq) on route to Greater Kurdistan…

The U.S. ambassador to Turkey has called on Kurdish rebels to lay down arms and end violence in Turkey.

Ambassador John Bass also said Thursday that the United States does not provide weapons to a Syrian Kurdish militia group, which is affiliated with Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party – or PKK.

Bass said Washington was sensitive to Turkey’s concerns over the Syrian Kurdish militia group and opposed any efforts by the group to change the demography of northern Syria “under the guise” of battling the Islamic State group. It was a reference to Turkish accusations that the Syrian Kurdish group is purging the area of Arabs and Turkmens. WBAL

There’s a reason the Pentagon defines both the PKK and the YPG as terrorist organizations… because they are. The proof they have? Well, pay-stubs for one.

4th – Turkey Shut Down Kurdish Regional Government Pipeline to Get Kurds to Stop Stealing Oil from Syria

Oh lookie there.

The Kurdistan Regional Government depends on revenues from the oil fields they have seized from Iraq which travels to Turkey via the Ceyhan pipeline. Back in Feb. and March, that pipeline was shut down for a number of days which caused a great deal of problems for the Barzani government.

Turns out, Turkey is supposed to have shut down that pipeline themselves in order to send a message to Iraqi Kurdistan: “stop stealing Syrian oil”

“However, after researching these events in depth, we can now reveal that the real reason that Turkey shut off the pipeline was to demonstrate its anger against oil smuggling that one of Barzani’s sons and his close associates were facilitating across the Iraqi-Kurdish border with areas of Syria controlled by the forces of the PKK’s affiliate organization, the YPG.

The YPG has recently taken control a number of oilfields in northeast Syria and has been selling oil across the border to fund its fight against Daesh and maintain a tight grip on the areas under its control.

Reliable sources indicated to us that at one point the YPG was trucking around 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day across the border to Iraqi Kurdistan with the assistance of President Barzani’s son.

The YPG oil was then falsely labelled by Barzani’s son’s operatives and disguised as coming from Iraq’s Ain Zala oil field (which is under the control of peshmerga forces). The smuggled oil was then taken to local refineries in Kurdistan or sold to intermediaries and trucked to international markets via Iran.” Ekurd

Hmmm. Who’s been writing all this time about the Kurds being the ones stealing all that oil from Syria and shipping it via Kurdish smuggling routes out of the country disguised as oil from Iraqi Kurdistan? Who’s been saying that? Oh yeah, that would be me.

And now we have confirmation from Ekurd Daily. That’s a KURDISH publication, by the way.

Yeah.

Also notice how everyone has been blaming Erdogan’s son for this theft when all the time.. it was the glorious leader of the glorious freedom fighter’s son. Go figure.

5th – A Joe Biden Color Revolution / Regime Change brewing in Iraq ?

It is safe too say that the US and their puppet regime in Iraq are not on the most solid ground right now. We are shipping in tons of weapons to the Kurds and the Pentagon just announced they are going to be funding the Kurdish fighting forces to the tune of 415 million up front and a monthly allowance as yet to be determined.

Baghdad and Erbil are in a standoff regarding several oil producing regions, each laying claim to them. Recently, Kurdish and Iraqi forces squared off against one another and certainly the Iraqi government was none to happy about having their soldiers killed by US weapons.

Suddenly, there is what looks like a color revolution starting up in Baghdad as the Kurdish MPs in Baghdad hit the road quickly:

“Hundreds of protesters broke into the parliament building in Baghdad on Saturday, smashing furniture, venting anger at lawmakers eating chocolates while the people starve and detaining at least one lawmaker.
Shortly after breaking into the building, protesters detained lawmaker Ammar Toema from the Fazila faction.

“We are sick of problems, we are sick of this parliament and the failed government,” one of the protesters inside the parliament told Rudaw, amid scenes of mayhem…

Sources said that Kurdish MPs were rushing to the airport to return to the northern Kurdistan Region.” Rudaw

VP Joe Biden made an unexpected visit to Iraq yesterday. He stopped in and spoke with both Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in Baghdad and Massoud Barzani in Erbil. He took his son Hunter with him. He’s the one who always gets the cash from local businesses that his daddy helps install via color revolutions… like he did in Ukraine.

“Vice President Joe Biden is in Irbil, Iraq, for an unannounced visit to the capital of Iraq’s mostly autonomous northern Kurdish region.

Biden flew in from Baghdad, where he met with Iraq’s prime minister and parliament speaker.

The White House hasn’t said what Biden plans to do in Irbil.” Daily Journal

Seems like it’s about to hit the fan in Iraq pretty soon. We’ll see how all of that works out.

I’m not feeling so well today. Leg hurts, chest hurts. I know… waaaa waaaa waaaa.

Anyway, if you know of any other news on the Greater Kurdistan front, let us know in the comment section. Have a good Saturday.

—

Please help keep us up and running if you can. Speaking truth ABOUT power since 2007

(For my mailing address, please email me at [email protected])