12-19-2017, 11:41 PM
*** 20-Dec-17 World View -- Thousands of Kurds in violent protests against Kurdistan government in northern Iraq
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Thousands of Kurds in violent protests against Kurdistan government in northern Iraq
****
![[Image: g171219b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g171219b.jpg)
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a religious guidance that called on the Iraqi people to take up arms against ISIS in 2014. Tens of thousands of Shia people answered his call. (AFP)
Thousands of Kurds attacked several offices of the main political
parties of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Monday and
Tuesday. Most of the rioters were teachers, students and civil
servants, protesting austerity and unpaid public sector salaries.
Iraqi Kurds have never gotten along well with any of their neighbors.
During Iraq's last generational crisis war, the Iran/Iraq war of the
1980s, the climax occurred in 1988 when Saddam Hussein used WMDs
(poison gas) on both the Kurds and the Iranians. Because the
Kurds want to form an independent Kurdistan, containing pieces
from Turkey and Iran as well as Iraq, all three countries have
cooperated in putting sanctions on the Kurds.
Iraq's government in Baghdad allowed the Kurds to self-govern
in some limited areas with the formation of the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) in Iraqi Kurdistan, the region of
Iraq predominantly populated by Kurds.
When the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh)
captured Mosul in 2014, and took control of much of Iraq, the
peshmerga, the Kurdish militias, were a crucial part of the military
effort to recapture Iraq from ISIS.
However, the Kurds were never rewarded for their bravery. After Mosul
was recaptured earlier this year, the KRG decided to a referendum on
seceding from Iraq and forming an independent Kurdish state. This
referendum was opposed almost universally in the international
community, and it particularly alarmed all of Kurdistan's neighbors.
So the Kurds might have gotten some economic benefits and some
additional self-governance, but after the referendum passed on
September 25, everybody seemed to ask, "You helped us beat ISIS, but
what have you done for me lately?" Iraq, Turkey and Iran cooperated
in putting harsh economic sanctions on Kurdistan, and Iraq launched a
military operation that recaptured areas that the Kurds were occupying
following the war against ISIS.
The sanctions caused Kurdistan's economy to suffer, and the military
operation triggered fights between factions among the Kurds. The
fighting has now gone on for two days. Since Iraq is in a
generational Awakening era, just one generation past the Iran/Iraq
war, there are many survivors of the war that do not want so see the
current situation spiral into a bigger civil war. Rudaw (Kurdistan)
and Reuters and Rudaw (Kurdistan)
and The National (UAE)
****
**** Iraq's Baghdad government splits over role of Iran-backed Shia militias
****
Iraq's Shia militias, the Hashd al-Shaabi militia or Popular
Mobilization Forces (PMF), with links to Iran, were also crucial to
the defeat of ISIS in the last two years. However, the PMF were
accused of massive human rights abuses, targeting ordinary Sunni
citizens in several cities where they fought to expel ISIS.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, in 2014
called on the Iraqi people to take up arms against ISIS. Tens of
thousands of Shia people answered his call that then resulted in the
birth of the Hashd al-Shaabi.
Now that ISIS has been defeated, al-Sistani is praising the "historic
achievement" of the Hashd forces, but is now saying that the time has
come to merge the Hashd militias into the regular Iraqi army.
The Hashd have 140,000 registered fighters which is about half the
size of the Iraqi army. Al-Sistani said that it is the duty of the
state to now take care of the Hashd fighters financially and
otherwise, and the families of those who lost their loved ones.
This call has renewed the political conflict between the powerful Shia
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and the former prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki.
Supporters of the two held huge protests that turned violent
earlier this year.
Al-Sadr, who has close links to the ayatollahs in Iran, supports the
call. However, al-Maliki, who is building a coalition in preparation
for next year's elections, wants to keep them out of the army, so that
they will support him next year. If they were in the army, they would
be prohibited from having political ties.
Iraq is in a generational Awakening era, and is in a period of massive
political chaos similar to their last generational Awakening era in
the 1930s, as I described in my 2007 article, "Iraqi Sunnis are turning against al-Qaeda in Iraq." However, just as the political chaos of the 1930s
did not spiral into war, it won't do so today either. Rudaw (Kurdistan)
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Mosul,
Kurdistan, Kurdistan Regional Government, KRG, Iran, Turkey,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh,
Hashd al-Shaabi militia, Popular Mobilization Forces, PMF,
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Moqtada al-Sadr, Nouri Al-Maliki
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Thousands of Kurds in violent protests against Kurdistan government in northern Iraq
- Iraq's Baghdad government splits over role of Iran-backed Shia militias
****
**** Thousands of Kurds in violent protests against Kurdistan government in northern Iraq
****
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a religious guidance that called on the Iraqi people to take up arms against ISIS in 2014. Tens of thousands of Shia people answered his call. (AFP)
Thousands of Kurds attacked several offices of the main political
parties of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Monday and
Tuesday. Most of the rioters were teachers, students and civil
servants, protesting austerity and unpaid public sector salaries.
Iraqi Kurds have never gotten along well with any of their neighbors.
During Iraq's last generational crisis war, the Iran/Iraq war of the
1980s, the climax occurred in 1988 when Saddam Hussein used WMDs
(poison gas) on both the Kurds and the Iranians. Because the
Kurds want to form an independent Kurdistan, containing pieces
from Turkey and Iran as well as Iraq, all three countries have
cooperated in putting sanctions on the Kurds.
Iraq's government in Baghdad allowed the Kurds to self-govern
in some limited areas with the formation of the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) in Iraqi Kurdistan, the region of
Iraq predominantly populated by Kurds.
When the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh)
captured Mosul in 2014, and took control of much of Iraq, the
peshmerga, the Kurdish militias, were a crucial part of the military
effort to recapture Iraq from ISIS.
However, the Kurds were never rewarded for their bravery. After Mosul
was recaptured earlier this year, the KRG decided to a referendum on
seceding from Iraq and forming an independent Kurdish state. This
referendum was opposed almost universally in the international
community, and it particularly alarmed all of Kurdistan's neighbors.
So the Kurds might have gotten some economic benefits and some
additional self-governance, but after the referendum passed on
September 25, everybody seemed to ask, "You helped us beat ISIS, but
what have you done for me lately?" Iraq, Turkey and Iran cooperated
in putting harsh economic sanctions on Kurdistan, and Iraq launched a
military operation that recaptured areas that the Kurds were occupying
following the war against ISIS.
The sanctions caused Kurdistan's economy to suffer, and the military
operation triggered fights between factions among the Kurds. The
fighting has now gone on for two days. Since Iraq is in a
generational Awakening era, just one generation past the Iran/Iraq
war, there are many survivors of the war that do not want so see the
current situation spiral into a bigger civil war. Rudaw (Kurdistan)
and Reuters and Rudaw (Kurdistan)
and The National (UAE)
****
**** Iraq's Baghdad government splits over role of Iran-backed Shia militias
****
Iraq's Shia militias, the Hashd al-Shaabi militia or Popular
Mobilization Forces (PMF), with links to Iran, were also crucial to
the defeat of ISIS in the last two years. However, the PMF were
accused of massive human rights abuses, targeting ordinary Sunni
citizens in several cities where they fought to expel ISIS.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, in 2014
called on the Iraqi people to take up arms against ISIS. Tens of
thousands of Shia people answered his call that then resulted in the
birth of the Hashd al-Shaabi.
Now that ISIS has been defeated, al-Sistani is praising the "historic
achievement" of the Hashd forces, but is now saying that the time has
come to merge the Hashd militias into the regular Iraqi army.
The Hashd have 140,000 registered fighters which is about half the
size of the Iraqi army. Al-Sistani said that it is the duty of the
state to now take care of the Hashd fighters financially and
otherwise, and the families of those who lost their loved ones.
This call has renewed the political conflict between the powerful Shia
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and the former prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki.
Supporters of the two held huge protests that turned violent
earlier this year.
Al-Sadr, who has close links to the ayatollahs in Iran, supports the
call. However, al-Maliki, who is building a coalition in preparation
for next year's elections, wants to keep them out of the army, so that
they will support him next year. If they were in the army, they would
be prohibited from having political ties.
Iraq is in a generational Awakening era, and is in a period of massive
political chaos similar to their last generational Awakening era in
the 1930s, as I described in my 2007 article, "Iraqi Sunnis are turning against al-Qaeda in Iraq." However, just as the political chaos of the 1930s
did not spiral into war, it won't do so today either. Rudaw (Kurdistan)
Related Articles
- Iraq: Supporters of al-Sadr and al-Maliki turn again to violence in Baghdad (12-Feb-2017)
- Confusion and chaos in Iraq mark the operation to free Mosul from ISIS (30-Oct-2016)
- The al-Askariya Shrine in Samarra, Iraq, is bombed again (14-Jun-2007)
- Reader question on Iran and Iraq's Muqtada al-Sadr (04-May-2016)
- Iraqi Sunnis are turning against al-Qaeda in Iraq (01-Apr-2007)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Mosul,
Kurdistan, Kurdistan Regional Government, KRG, Iran, Turkey,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh,
Hashd al-Shaabi militia, Popular Mobilization Forces, PMF,
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Moqtada al-Sadr, Nouri Al-Maliki
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
