Kurdistan Update for 20161108 – The Kurds are finding themselves in a favorable position with the eventual capture of Mosul looming and degrading of the Islamic State forces in northern Iraq.
Kurds and Mosul. Kenneth M. Pollack, of the Brookings Institute, recently spent some time in Kurdistan (northern Iraq) assessing the political and military situation. Some of his findings are interesting. The Peshmerga are finding the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) surprisingly cooperative, the Kurds have no interest in occupying Mosul (leaving that up to the ISF), and the Kurds are worried that a comprehensive occupation plan for Mosul seems to be missing. In addition, Pollack comments on the current economic and political environment in Kurdistan and prospects for a degree of independence in the future. Read “Iraqi Kurdistan: Mosul and beyond”, Brookings Blog, November 2, 2016.
Legal Aspects of an Independent Kurdistan. Calls for independence for the Kurd region of Iraq – generally northern Iraq – are getting stronger. The Kurds have skillfully engaged their Peshmerga forces against the Islamic State – recovering territory that the Iraqi security forces fled from when faced with the ISIS fighters. So now the Kurds are in a position of strength when it comes to negotiating its future with the central government of Iraq. But what of the legal environment? Read “Legal Considerations Guiding the Iraq-Kurdistan Dispute”, Lawfare Blog, November 7, 2016.