Iraqi Kurdistan in a bad place

[Kate Turlington + 44]

Things are going from bad to worse for the Iraqi Kurd authorities since Baghdad took Kirkuk and the referendum for independence fell flat. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Barzani are losing control--and respect. Without the promise of independence, they've got little to offer the people. At least 6 just killed in protests. 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/19/middleeast/iraq-kurdish-protests/index.html

[Joanna + 68]

I am intrigued to see how are Russia and Turkey going to play this one out. 

[JohnAtronis + 78]

1 minute ago, Joanna said:

I am intrigued to see how are Russia and Turkey going to play this one out. 

and whether US will arm the Kurds. 

[Seleskya + 50]

Everybody arms the Kurds when it's convenient for them: i.e. when they want the Peshmerga to fight off ISIS for them. Then they screw them over when the dust settles. 

[Joanna + 68]

7 hours ago, Seleskya said:

Everybody arms the Kurds when it's convenient for them: i.e. when they want the Peshmerga to fight off ISIS for them. Then they screw them over when the dust settles. 

“We can become your (US) 51st state and provide you with oil.” is what Kurdistan Regional Government President Marssoud Barzani's father, the guerilla leader Moula Mustafa Barzani said back in 1973. 

[Stephen + 67]

I like Kurdish people and respect what they have done throughout the history, but they have to be realistic. Independence will be hard to achieve. Geopolitics, economy and logistic are not on their side

[JohnAtronis + 78]

Right. You can be sure that if Kurdistan declares independence Iran will attack, Turkey will attack and Syria will attack. Not having any outside political or military support, Kurds cant fight them all. And yes, there is ISIS as well

[Stephen + 67]

first of all, independent KRG is not economically viable

[Seleskya + 50]

Not without Kirkuk, it's not. It would have been if they could have kept Kirkuk, and they were close to doing that. They had already pretty much won it over. Baghdad wouldn't have gotten it back at all if external forces hadn't intervened. Without Kirkuk, the Kurds were producing about 600,000 bpd I think, and couldn't make ends meet this way. They can't pay civil servant salaries with this, or foreign oil companies. Someone told the Iraq Oil report that at one point recently, Russian Rosneft had given the KRG $1.3 billion, that they had to use to pay of UAE creditors.