Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 20, 2017



Eli Lake, Bloomberg: U.S. Tried and Failed to Stave Off Iraq's Advance on the Kurds

An American diplomat pleaded for more time to broker a compromise.

The U.S. nearly brokered a deal last weekend to avert the current crisis over the disputed city of Kirkuk, where Iraqi forces and some Iranian-supported militias displaced Kurdish fighters this week.

It has been widely reported that Iraqi Security Forces entered Kirkuk and a nearby military base and oil fields because of a deal made by the relatives of the late Jalal Talabani, the former Iraqi president and Kurdish revolutionary who died this month. That deal, forged by Talabani's widow, Hero, and others in her family with the head of Iran's Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, has uprooted the unity Kurds have enjoyed since the 2003 war to liberate Iraq. The Kurdistan Regional Government president, Massoud Barzani, has called Hero a traitor, while Kurds loyal to Talabani have accused Barzani of bringing another calamity upon their people.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 20, 2017

How a shocking reversal of fortunes unfolded in Kirkuk -- John Beck, Al Jazeera

'UAE on the verge of splitting Yemen in two' -- Faisal Edroos, Al Jazeera

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