Beyond the Cusp

The actions over the past few weeks have once again shown the lack of any shred of serious concern over preventing Iran taking control of the Middle East and the oil resources held there. Say what you want about how Saudi Arabia can stand against Iran, that is a pipe dream and everybody knows that. The only hope the Saudi military would have against Iran would be if they held a parade contest and even then, Iran puts on a pretty good imitation of the old Soviet Union style of parade, the Saudis just look impressive in their fancy dress uniforms. The Saudis even with Israel assistance would still end up losing the oil fields as the Israeli sphere of operability has limitations which is why Israel is considered vulnerable to Iranian nuclear threats. Obviously, many of the signs that the world really was, the United States in particularly, interested in preventing a world war started due to Iranian threats well beyond simply the Middle East would be done secretively, there are still some steps which would necessarily be committed in plain sight. The first would be some passive verbal support for the response of the Kurdish referendum praising their desire to be granted the nation they had been promised by the allied victors of World War I.

Please do understand that much of the problems in the Middle East stem directly from the results imposed after World War I and much of that blame lies with two men whose names are on the very treaty behind these problems, the Sykes-Picot Agreement. British diplomat Mark Sykes and a French counterpart, François Georges-Picot, with some small input and suggestions from Russia and the complete hands-off support of the United States trying to stay above the fray which adds their name to the perfidy, drew the lines of control for much of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) dividing the lands into areas of control with no regard for tribal and ethnic regions. This action was intentional as they were attempting to assure themselves that the Middle East would never become a major power in the world. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran were the three places which were not affected as they remained as they were or were beyond the scope of the Allied powers. The Allies performed a similar arrangement when dividing up the Austria-Hungarian Empire just as they did the Ottoman Empire. The British and French went a step or two further by making the chance for an opportunity for the Jews and the Kurds to gain independence and have the nation that each was promised all but impossible, and undefendable if either managed to gain their necessary foothold. To restrict the Jews, this was accomplished by having the British all but strangle their ability to make Aliya to the Holy Lands; and to the Kurds, they divided their populations between Iraq, Syria and Turkey leaving a fourth in Iran. If these areas had been permitted the Kurdish People, there is a good chance that Kurdistan would have a democratic form of governance and would be providing a perfect staging area for much of the problems over the past century in the Middle East. They also would likely have been an inspiration to the peoples of their neighboring nations to pursue a more liberal and democratic path after World War II, but that would have empowered the Middle East; and the British and French were seeking anything but such an occurrence.

Still, it is not yet too late to mend long ago made mistakes and grant things promised in bad faith. If only the advisors from the United States State Department were not infected with an anti-democratic bend and steeped in the sour soil of Arab oil and Islamic supremacy. The State Department is neutral as it cares not which form of Islam, Shiite or Sunni, wins, just as long as there is an Islamic Arab force with which to try and impose their view of a just world. Their current favors bow to Iran thanks to the previous eight years of having their positions sold to the Iranians first. Still, there is the beating of a Saudi Arabian old heart and a soft spot for Egypt and the Palestinians and a culture steeped on anti-Israelism, anti-Zionism and thus anti-Semitism. For the Department of State, the only good Jew is one completely devoted to the State, the Democrat Party and completely ignorant in the Constitution, Bill of Rights and associated ideals of freedom. The State Department is probably the most anti-Trump area in the entirety of the government and the most intractable as well. Trump gave the job of Secretary of State to an old friend and we hope they have an understanding that as Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson is supposed to talk the talk and walk the walk completely in agreement with the garbage spouted by the State Department “deep state” and add his own Saudi Arabian twist as this is expected from one who spent their life being entertained, wined and dined by the Saudi Royals. Secretary Tillerson was likely told not to get upset if it appeared he was being ignored often, his job was to engage the “deep state” people in the State Department and make it appear they had a voice and were being effective while Trump went his own way. That would be the perfect situation of management control and if such is the case; it will be studied in business and political science classes in the future.

We have already heard how the State Department wants the Kurds to just shut their mouths, sit down and allow the adults to trample them into the dust of the Middle East. Thus far, the only nation to support the Kurdish referendum was Israel. Israel also has strong and good relations with the Syrian faction of the Kurds. The Kurds were the fighters who stopped ISIS, back when Islamic State was ISIS, in the battle for Kobane where the Kurds had stopped the ISIS advance and were the first to do so and then, with some United States air support, the Kurds turned the tide and then cleared Kobane of ISIS presence and pushed them southward, again with marginal American air support. This was the story in Syria which has one last piece in the puzzle, when the Syrian Kurds turned the tide; they received some assistance from the Iraqi Kurds which quickened their push. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the Kurdish Peshmerga Militias stopped the spread of the Islamic State in two crucial battles in Kirkuk and Erbil turning them back and, in a long and brutal series of assaults; the Kurds opened the route into Mosul and established a foothold in this crucial city. With Peshmerga Kurdish assistance, the Iraqi Army with America air support, tactical planning, artillery support, and America Special Forces implanted within and with an undisclosed number of American troops taking the south flank and the Kurdish Peshmerga taking the north flank, the Iraqi Army, according to all media reports, took Mosul in a valiant effort showing great heroism and resourcefulness in a brutal fight of uncommon ferocity lasting almost three days. The Kurdish Peshmerga Militias then spent the next two weeks clearing the remainder of Mosul in door-to-door fighting mostly in the northern regions. The absolute bravery and valor of the Iraqi Army is most definitely unquestioned, or so the media tells. There was a reason that the State Department and the Pentagon insisted that the Iraqi Army be credited with taking Mosul, and now for the revelation.

The crux of the situation is that around Mosul are numerous critical items. There is the Mosul Dam and hydroelectric generation facility. The dam is in need of upgrading and desperately in need of repair which it will hopefully receive before it breaks. This would be best handled by some governance which actually cares about the people. Then there are the Mosul oil fields which produce the second greatest amount of oil in Iraq. Finally, Mosul is a central point where the majority of roads meet and thus makes it the Bastogne of the Iraqi battlefield. In Bastogne, Colonel McAuliffe commanding the 101st Airborne Division was surrounded by German armor who pounded the city for twenty-four hours plus. When offered to surrender and save his troops, the Colonel answered “Nuts!” Nuts is what the United States and the Kurds are if they permit Iran and Iraq to retain control over the Mosul area. This was a Kurdish area which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein attempted to denude it of its Kurdish population and move Sunni Arabs into the former Kurdish homes. The Kurds have permitted their people to return to their homes with their intent on retaining Mosul. The West and the World would sleep a lot sounder with Mosul firmly in Kurdish hands. For this and a myriad of other reasons, the United States would be best served to ignore the State Department and their claim that in the name of peace, Iran, through Iraq, should be permitted their claim on Mosul and the Kurds denied such lands or any lands and be left split between four nations, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey to live under the cruel rule of their oppressors. The State Department gives the Kurdish the same treatment as they have the Jews, believing them both to be merely capricious little children too ignorant or unintelligent to know what is best for them.

The reality, as usual, is the complete opposite of the State Department advice. The Kurds could and would be an ally to the forces of freedom, liberty, capitalism and democratic rule. They would also be a friend of Israel, which we admit does cloud our vision, but such a clouded vision is still a far bit clearer than those at the State Department. The next path at present would be to make plans for the recognition of a Greater Kurdistan (map below). That would include northeastern Syria, Northern Iraq reaching southward to include the Mosul areas, northwestern Iran and parts of southern Turkey. In order to make such a nation possible, the United States would need to provide the basic aircraft for the Kurds to have their own airborne protection. The training should be provided by either the United States, Israel or both, for the pilots to fly these aircraft with the most capable given actual air defense dogfighting training. They would need armored vehicles which some might be provided by Israel and the rest by the United States as well as some training in their use and how to defend them against anti-armor weapons and how to implement them into a combat scenario. Finally, imbedding some Special Forces trainers initially plus air assistance as the initial founding of Kurdistan, no matter the promises or treaties involved, will result in a combined assault of the nascent nations by at the least four and as many as twelve Arab, Turkish and Iranian armies attempting to drive them into the ground, there is no sea this time, and murder every single Kurdish person they can find. The reason that all the Kurdish areas must be included in the founding of Kurdistan is because any left outside of the country will be slaughtered by their own countrymen as an example to the Kurds as to what will happen to them if they lose their war to keep their nation. Israel can attest to the fury that will be shown any Kurdish nation once founded, and it matters not when such may occur, the vile spite which will be shown as violence is unfurled against the Kurdish People wherever they may be found, will be equal to the fury thrown against Israel and which still fills many Arab and Islamic hearts towards Israel and the Jews. With American and Israeli assistance, this idea of a real and honest Kurdistan which will be free, democratic in nature, and with a vibrant economy can and will be established. Should Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan become enraged and threaten to quit NATO, that would simply be one more advantage of our proposal, one that should be gladly and immediately accepted.

Our Idea for a Proposed Greater Kurdistan

Additional advantages of establishing the promised Kurdish nation is it would provide Israel with an emergency airbase which would place some needed cooling on the Iranian eagerness to destroy Israel. The Kurds would necessarily be allied with Israel and the West as the Arab world and Arab League would treat them as a pariah and constantly be a threat to their survival. A Kurdish State would also work to keep a check on Turkey and perhaps the Sunni Muslims in Iraq might seek the Kurdish protection from their Shia dominated government in Iraq, though perhaps protecting the Sunni in Iraq might be a stretch. In the end, a Kurdish nation in the heart of the Middle East with democratic governance and a capitalist economy and the standard of living which such provides, they would be an example of what each of these Arab states could be with a government which serves the people instead of enslaves the people. Kurdistan could be the beginning of the reformation which so many have written about but none have shown any means by which such could occur. Those who have claimed that an effective example would be Israel missed the mark as Israelis are seen as outsiders, intruders and anything but what the Arabs should emulate. The Kurds are Sunni Muslims, not Jews, nor Catholics, not Buddhists but real and longstanding followers of Islam and amongst those who surrendered to Allah and they could show that surrender to Allah and following Islam does not mean one must live off the crumbs doled by a dictator but that one can be modern and enjoy the spoils of life while still being good and practicing Muslims. That might just be the greatest prize which might come from Kurdistan, and that could change the world.

Beyond the Cusp