Post: #1

Iraqi Kurdistan is interesting.

Since the Kuwait war, when Saddam attacked the Kurds with chemicla weapons and the U.S. imposed a no fly zone over Iraqi Kurdistan, Saddam basically cut the off from the central government, hoping to starve them slowly by cutting off funding for roads, schools, electricity, gas, everything.

Instead, this served to give them de facto independence. They began generating their own electricity, selling oil across the border to the Turks, running their own government, all without any help or reliance on Baghdad.

After the 2003 invasion, Kurdistans regional government and power structure stayed largely intact. Kurdistan was basically at peace throughout all the bloodshed in Iraq.

Now they are expanding their borders, they ha e taken Kirkuk, an oil rich city that was previously much more Kurdish and was partially ethnically cleansed by Saddam's Arabization program, to dillute Kurdish power in the city.

As the rest of Iraq burns, Kurdistan continues to develop more independent economic ties with Turkey and Turkish companies, selling oil directly to them. It seems like this is as good a time as any for them to become an independent and relatively successful state.

I know some forum bros have been in Kurdistan. Its not exactly fun by Western standards, It seems. I would love to hear about peoples experiences on the ground there.

It seems like dreams of a politically united Greater Kurdistan, with territory from Turkey, Syria, and Iran, is a pipe dream, and if the Kurds want a country, they will have to just accept Iraqi Kurdistan.

Post: #2

Erbil data sheet:

/thread-34430.html

Post: #3

It is a question whether or not KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) will even exist at the end of this year.

It seems ISIL/ISIS are very capable fighters. They say there are Ex-Saddam officers that have vendetta against Kurds and their betrayal to Iraq. The Kurds don't have in open warfare. I'm afraid when ISIS/ISIL consolidates power in Sunni Iraq. They will steamroll the Kurds who are communist influenced.

The thing is ISIL/ISIS is not just the terrorist group from Syria. There are a lot of Sunni Iraq and Syria who feel affiliated with them because of years of exclusive policies of Shia and Alewite governments. Kurds want seperate governemnt so KRG will have to fight for their life and nobody will help them.

Post: #4

Sp5, did you get to know many Kurds or involve yourself in Kurdish life at all, or did you mainly stay within the expat community?

Is ISIS/baathists really thinking of taking Kurdistan because they were not loyal to Iraq? If you have anything to read suggesting as much, I would be interested to see it.

Post: #5

(06-22-2014 11:49 AM)Sonsowey Wrote:  Sp5, did you get to know many Kurds or involve yourself in Kurdish life at all, or did you mainly stay within the expat community?

Is ISIS/baathists really thinking of taking Kurdistan because they were not loyal to Iraq? If you have anything to read suggesting as much, I would be interested to see it.

I know some Kurds, they are good people but prone to a little too much smug nationalism. They earned it in some ways.

Arabs are much better looking people.

One not-so-fun fact: the Kurdish region is where female genital mutilation is practiced in Iraq.

There is zero chance of ISIS or Baathists penetrating the Kurdish region - the Peshmerga will fight and the Asaish, the secret police, are very competent.

Post: #6

The Kurds are fierce fighters. During the recent rise of ISIS, the Kurdish
Peshmarga took Kirkuk. Which has 1/3 of Iraq's oil production. Now the Kurds
have their own state and are sitting on a goldmine.

Kurdish women look hot too.

The Kurds, unique to the Middle East, are more liberal in their practice of Islam.

Post: #7

So it seems like, despite initial losses to the Islamic State, the KRG has maintained its borders and in fact expanded them. The KRG has held Kirkuk and expanded into Ninewah province. This article was a good read summarizing the year in the dissolution of Iraq.


http://www.juancole.com/2014/12/ceased-exist-again.html

But not only has Baghdad lost nearly half the country’s territory and about half the country’s Sunni Arabs, it long ago lost the 7 million Kurds, who have now taken over Kirkuk Province from Arab Iraq. (Kurds say they just inherited Kirkuk when the Iraqi army ran away from it before the Daesh advance that only Kurdish forces and US aerial bombardments halted). Kurds speak an Indo-European language related to Persian and English, not Arabic, and so are not “Arabs.” Moreover, the Kurds just last week took parts of Ninewah Province near Syria away from Daesh so as to rescue the Yezidi Kurds in Mt. Sinjar, so that Kurdistan has greatly increased in territory de facto in the past six months. The first reaction of Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani to the Daesh take-over of Arab Iraq was to promise a referendum on independence within 6 months. Barzani backed off that kind of talk under pressure from President Obama, who presumably acted at the behest of Iraq’s regional neighbors, who fear an expansionist Kurdish state. But while Barzani may not declare independence any time soon, he already has it in all but name. There are no Iraqi troops on Kurdistan soil, and Kurdish children don’t learn Arabic in school or identify with Iraq. Quebec is much more firmly integrated into Canada than is Kurdistan into Iraq.

Post: #8

This is a fascinating thread...it would be more fascinating to more people, though, if you'd supplement with some pics of Kurdish talent...

Post: #9

(12-31-2014 02:38 PM)The Father Wrote:  This is a fascinating thread...it would be more fascinating to more people, though, if you'd supplement with some pics of Kurdish talent...

A quick google search came up with some leads. Including ;

Vice News

Main point of video starts just before 4:30.

I've noticed Kurdish women have big noses.

Post: #10

(06-22-2014 12:55 PM)Sp5 Wrote:  There is zero chance of ISIS or Baathists penetrating the Kurdish region - the Peshmerga will fight and the Asaish, the secret police, are very competent.

Just saw this vid. Pretty badass.

Post: #11

Tis a shame really that Kurds embraced feminism(abeit of the heroic type due to their unique circumstances). As I posted on other boards before hopefully the kurds however great a people they are have embraced a toxic ideology that will do great damage to them in the long run.

I wish them the best, and to dump this toxic ideology before it screws them over.

Post: #12

(01-02-2015 09:05 PM)infowarrior1 Wrote:  Tis a shame really that Kurds embraced feminism(abeit of the heroic type due to their unique circumstances). As I posted on other boards before hopefully the kurds however great a people they are have embraced a toxic ideology that will do great damage to them in the long run.

I wish them the best, and to dump this toxic ideology before it screws them over.

Doubt it. Kurds are largely patriarchal. Some of this feminist influence comes from their Marxist influence of the past.

Post: #13

(01-02-2015 09:05 PM)infowarrior1 Wrote:  Tis a shame really that Kurds embraced feminism(abeit of the heroic type due to their unique circumstances). As I posted on other boards before hopefully the kurds however great a people they are have embraced a toxic ideology that will do great damage to them in the long run.

I wish them the best, and to dump this toxic ideology before it screws them over.

I don't believe they embraced feminism at all.

From my understanding, employing female fighters was either

A) Last resort
B) A calculated move to earn sympathy and and aid from the West

G

Post: #14

(01-03-2015 05:18 AM)Geomann180 Wrote:  

(01-02-2015 09:05 PM)infowarrior1 Wrote:  Tis a shame really that Kurds embraced feminism(abeit of the heroic type due to their unique circumstances). As I posted on other boards before hopefully the kurds however great a people they are have embraced a toxic ideology that will do great damage to them in the long run.

I wish them the best, and to dump this toxic ideology before it screws them over.

I don't believe they embraced feminism at all.

From my understanding, employing female fighters was either

A) Last resort
B) A calculated move to earn sympathy and and aid from the West

G

Kurdish women conducted an offensive against Assad in Syria:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/kurdish-wom...-in-syria/

And a quote:

Quote:Women will decide the future

The Kurdish party PYD has also introduced a women's quota of 40 percent, and the party's executive is half women. Co-chairwoman to Asya Abdullah is fully dedicated to her political work and equality. She is convinced that "women have become the benchmark." And she continues, "In some sectors, women have become so dominant that now men are demanding a quota." Not every man is happy about that, she says, laughing. Even the male member of the regional parliament who's sitting beside has to laugh at that, but he doesn't contradict.

The Kurdish women's great role model is the rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned in a Turkish jail since 1999. The leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who spent 20 years of his life in exile in Syria, repeatedly demanded the liberation of women. Many Kurdish families still display his photo in their living room, and Öcalan's nickname Apo is sprayed on numerous buildings. In their fight for autonomy, the Kurds may turn out to be the winners of the Syrian conflict - as long as they aren't pulverized amid the conflicting interests of Syria's neighbors.

http://www.dw.de/women-join-the-kurdish-...a-17442218

Quote:Dirik argues there are many areas where Kurdish women enjoy more rights than their female brethren in neighboring countries. By law, 30% of the Iraqi Kurdistan parliament's members must be women. The main Kurdish party in the Turkish parliament has instituted a similar quota, requiring 40% of the seats go to women. At the same time, women have also made up the backbone of many Kurdish separatist movements, including the PKK in Turkey and the YPG in Syria.

"It's like affirmative action," says Dirik. "In many of the PKK camps, men do the domestic work so women can read books."

"One fighter (in the PKK) I interviewed said to me, 'I have nothing to gain from the nationalist structures of the Turkish state.' For her, she's taking up arms against patriarchy and national oppression. It's a secular revolution run by women who are the most oppressed in the world," she says.

Though Nammi agrees that women play a pivotal role in these groups, she argues that their presence is not necessarily feminist in nature.

"I know lots of women in these movements, and though they've been armed and are fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with men, they are just fighting as a nationalist group. Women's rights are not seriously part of their political agenda," she says.

Dirik is not in agreement.

"I genuinely believe that Kurd women have reached the point of no return. Even if the Kurd people were given all their cultural rights, if men didn't share them equally with women, I think women would take up arms against them," she jokes.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/11/world/...index.html

Post: #15

Not so-fun fact: the Kurds are the ones who practice female genital mutilation in Iraq. Arab girls there are uncut.

Other recent problem: I was told be reliable sources that there are intensive efforts being made to dissuade Kurds, especially the Yezidis, from "honor killing" the women abducted and raped by ISIS if and when they are liberated.

Post: #16

(01-03-2015 08:19 AM)Sp5 Wrote:  Not so-fun fact: the Kurds are the ones who practice female genital mutilation in Iraq. Arab girls there are uncut.

Other recent problem: I was told be reliable sources that there are intensive efforts being made to dissuade Kurds, especially the Yezidis, from "honor killing" the women abducted and raped by ISIS if and when they are liberated.

Shame considering all the shit the Yazidi women have been through

How are Kurdish women generally for relationships?

Post: #17

^^Plenty in Stockholm only problem is a lot of them are pretty gettho otherwise i have nothing bad to say about them. Seen alot date interracialy but the common consensus is that they mostly only date other kurdish men. High bitch shields but they are very feminine minus alot of shit tests.
Kurdish chicks seem to like me maybe because i look kurdish.

Post: #18

It's sad that ISIL recruits retards to act as suicide bombers.

It's also sad that arabs marry their cousins, providing such a higher pool of retards than average.

Some have theorized that the main goal behind arabs' frequent, continuous wars is not territorial gain, but is just a method to cull the much higher retard rate their cultures suffer. Certainly this seems true in the Iraq-Iran war, where Iranian retarded children were given plastic "keys to heaven", tied together in groups of 20 by ropes, and instructed to run into mine fields to clear them.

Post: #19

Join the Peshmerga:

http://www.1naef.com/

https://www.facebook.com/1stNorthAmerica...Force/info

Post: #20

A number of British military vets are volunteers fighting with the Kurds, but have run into legal trouble back home:

http://sofrep.com/39269/british-voluntee...g-service/