Turkey looks for a strategy in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran struggles with whether to reinforce Shiite militias vs. strengthen Baghdad. Saudi Arabia looks at irritating Iran by forging relationships with ISIL allies like Majlis Thuwar al Anbar. Who said this whole Iraq thing couldnt be fun? --- While a charter outlining an antiquated interpretation of Sharia was being disseminated in Mosul, #SykesPicotOver trended on jihadist Twitter feeds. From the point of view of Iraqs jihadist celebrities, the 1916 borders drawn in secret by British and French imperialists represented by Sir Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot to divide up Mesopotamia are not only irrelevant, they are destructible. Today, the most ardent defenders of those colonial borders sit in Baghdad, Damascus, Ankara, Tehran and Riyadh while the Europeans and Americans, already fatigued by a decade of war in this part of the world, are desperately trying to sit this crisis out. The burden is on the regional players to prevent a jihadist mini-emirate from forming, and beneath that common purpose lies ample room for intrigue. --- Ali Zaidi, enjoy.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 22:30:57 +0000
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