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Kurds to vote on independence from Iraq

Iran has worked hard to develop a good relationship with the Kurds over the last several years. They have closer ties to the Kurds than we do at this point. As for the Turks.... I don't think they mind the Kurds acting as a buffer between them and all the other crap going on in the region. They prefer the Kurds to say ISIS.
 
The Mangler said:
Iran has worked hard to develop a good relationship with the Kurds over the last several years. They have closer ties to the Kurds than we do at this point. As for the Turks.... I don't think they mind the Kurds acting as a buffer between them and all the other crap going on in the region. They prefer the Kurds to say ISIS.
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No.
 
^^ Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute disagrees with you.

".... But the one issue which I think we need to remember is, while it's easy to assume that the Kurds are pro-American and that they would end up like Jordan, there's actually greater Iranian influence among the Kurds than there is American influence. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Quds force, who has been shoring up the Maliki regime in Baghdad, will add Kurdistan to every trip. And he's very close to Nechirvan Barzani. He's very close to even pro-American figures like Barham Salih."

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-06-30/update-us-involvement-iraq-and-syria/transcript
 
Not to go down the think-tank rabbit hole, but AEI is not a serious enterprise, and their fundamental misunderstanding of the complexities of the Middle East are partly why things are where they're at now. Let's talk about Iran's influence superseding our own in Kurdistan when there are things like "Iranian University of Sulaimania" popping up.
 
As Irish said, the AEI is not a serious group. They thought we would be met as liberators. They thought we could impose western style democracy at the end of a rifle and under the threat of bombs. They also believed that we should put our GIs at risk by stationing them in Iraq until the Iraqis come around.
 
i don't think there's any doubt that Iran has sought and will continue to seek to be a player in Kurdistan. It's right on their border and Kurds live in northern Iran. For the same reason, the Kurds are likely to seek friendly relationships with Iran, unless Iran decides to side with Baghdad in trying to re-establish Iraqi rule over Kurdistan (which would be really awkward for the US, since we've been protecting the Kurds ever since the first Gulf War). Right now the Turks might have more to offer but that may not always be the case.
 
Is there anything the AEI got right with regards to their commentary on Iraq over the last decade?
 
The Surge. Though the legacy of that strategic shift is changing immensely right now, fair or not
 
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