Obama’s message to ISIS: Stay out of #Kurdistan, but the rest of northern Iraq is all yours
▻http://www.vox.com/2014/8/8/5982275/obamas-implicit-bargain-with-isis-for-iraq
Obama’s message to ISIS: Stay out of #Kurdistan, but the rest of northern Iraq is all yours
▻http://www.vox.com/2014/8/8/5982275/obamas-implicit-bargain-with-isis-for-iraq
Oil and Why America Is Dropping Bombs to Defend Erbil
▻http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/oil-erbil
Obama’s defense of Erbil is effectively the defense of an undeclared Kurdish oil state whose sources of geopolitical appeal—as a long-term, non-Russian supplier of oil and gas to Europe, for example—are best not spoken of in polite or naïve company, as Al Swearengen would well understand.
Life, Swearengen once pointed out, is often made up of “one vile task after another.” So is American policy in Iraq.
Des larmes de crocodile sur le sort des chrétiens d’Irak... pour masquer la fermeture des frontières à tous les persécutés du Proche-Orient.
par le GISTI (Groupe d’information et de soutien des #immigrés)
►http://www.gisti.org/spip.php?article4697
La décence aurait voulu qu’au moins ils se taisent. Est-ce la gêne devant leur propre incurie qui a poussé #Laurent_Fabius, le ministre français des affaires étrangères, et #Bernard_Cazeneuve, son collègue de l’intérieur, à s’exprimer le 28 juillet ? « La situation des Chrétiens d’Orient est malheureusement dramatique », ont-ils observé. « La #France est révoltée […] ». « Nous venons en aide aux déplacés qui fuient les menaces de l’État islamique et se sont réfugiés au #Kurdistan. Nous sommes prêts, s’ils le souhaitent, à en favoriser l’accueil sur notre sol au titre de l’asile. Nous avons débloqué une aide humanitaire exceptionnelle pour leur porter assistance ». Pas un mot sur la #Syrie. Et pas la moindre considération pour les victimes de confession musulmane, les fidèles de multiples minorités confessionnelles ou les athées. Le #Proche-Orient serait-il soudain limité à l’ #Irak et aux chrétiens ?
L’ennui de cet affichage d’une #solidarité_sélective, c’est que, dans les faits, ce gouvernement ne fait rien ou presque pour les personnes en quête de protection, pas plus les chrétiens que les autres. Pour mieux verrouiller les #frontières à celles et à ceux qui demandent un visa, il a ôté le pouvoir de décision aux #diplomates pour le donner en catimini au #ministère de l’intérieur. Et l’on ne compte plus les refus opposés aux Syriens et aux Irakiens, toutes confessions confondues.
L’ennui, c’est que lorsque le #HCR exhorte sans relâche les États européens à ouvrir leurs portes aux #réfugiés syriens (presque trois millions ont fui leur pays depuis 2011), le président de la République annonce solennellement , fin 2013, que la France en accueillera… 500. Six mois plus tard, moins de cinquante personnes ont bénéficié de ce programme. Et pour éviter toute arrivée spontanée, le gouvernement français impose depuis 2012, au nom de la lutte contre l’« afflux massif de #migrants clandestins », un « #visa de transit » aux Syriens – y compris chrétiens – pour les empêcher de solliciter l’ #asile en France à l’occasion d’une escale aérienne.
Dans ce contexte, les déclarations du #gouvernement_français à l’égard des chrétiens d’Irak, non seulement sont peu crédibles, mais masquent mal le calcul : d’une part, aux yeux d’un État avare de sa protection des persécutés, et qui prépare une réforme en vue d’une politique plus restrictive encore de l’asile, mieux vaut évidemment faire mine de se préoccuper des minorités que des majorités ; d’autre part, sans doute mieux vaut-il aussi manifester une sympathie vertueuse à l’égard d’une religion culturellement dominante en France pour éviter de se mettre à dos la partie la moins tolérante de l’opinion hexagonale.
Oui, MM. Fabius et Cazeneuve auraient dû se taire.
1er août 2014
déjà signalé ici : ►http://seen.li/614e
v. aussi : ►http://seen.li/61c7
Lo Stato islamico attacca i curdi
–-> L’#Etat_islamique attaque les #kurdes
Secondo la televisione irachena, i jihadisti sunniti dello Stato islamico hanno preso il controllo della diga di Mosul sul fiume Tigri, la più grande dell’Iraq. La diga si trova a monte di Mosul, città conquistata dallo Stato islamico a giugno, e a poca distanza dal confine con la regione autonoma del Kurdistan. Era controllata dai peshmerga, le truppe curde che hanno occupato parte del territorio iracheno (inclusa la città di Kirkuk) abbandonato dalle forze di sicurezza irachene di fronte all’avanzata dei jihadisti.
Fourteen #Kurds killed fighting off #ISIS near #Mosul
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/fourteen-kurds-killed-fighting-isis-near-mosul
Kurdish troops fought off a jihadi attack on an oil facility and a dam near the Iraqi city of Mosul but lost 14 of their number in intense combat, Kurdish sources said Saturday. The Islamic State, which controls the northern city, “attacked a peshmerga post in Zumar (Friday) and a fierce battle erupted,” an official in the Patriotic Union of #Kurdistan told AFP. He said 14 peshmerga fighters were killed, a toll confirmed by a senior officer in the Kurdish force. The PUK official said the peshmerga killed “around 100” IS fighters and captured 38 in a battle that lasted several hours. read more
#Iraq
Christian leaders express shock at world silence after #ISIS expels Iraqi Christians
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/christian-leaders-express-shock-world-silence-after-isis-expels-i
Iraqi Christians pray during a mass at the Saint-Joseph church in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern #Iraq, on July 20, 2014.(Photo: AFP-Safin Hamed) Iraqi Christians pray during a mass at the Saint-Joseph church in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on July 20, 2014.(Photo: AFP-Safin Hamed)
The patriarchal residence in the town of #Atchanah in #Lebanon’s Metn region brought together yesterday representatives of the churches of #Mosul five days after the Islamic State of Iraq and #syria (ISIS) forced Iraqi Christians out of the city. This is the first time that Mosul’s Christian population has been driven out of the city and is the largest forced displacement since (...)
#Mideast_&_North_Africa #Armenian_genocide #Articles #Assyrian_Church #Chaldean_Church #Churches_of_the_East #Gaza #Ignatius_Aphrem_II #Kurdistan #Raqqa #Syriac_Orthodox_Church #turkey
Iraqi #Kurdistan and #Israel: A choice between political strategies and moral stances
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraqi-kurdistan-and-israel-choice-between-political-strategies-an
Iraqi Kurdish protesters deploy a giant flag of their autonomous Kurdistan region during a demonstration to claim for its independence on July 3, 2014 outside the Kurdistan parliament building in Arbil, in northern #Iraq. (Photo: AFP-Safin Hamed) Iraqi Kurdish protesters deploy a giant flag of their autonomous Kurdistan region during a demonstration to claim for its independence on July 3, 2014 outside the Kurdistan parliament building in Arbil, in northern Iraq. (Photo: AFP-Safin Hamed)
Over the course of the past decade, Iraqi Kurdistan, also known as #South_Kurdistan, has been pushing harder for secession from Iraq and forming an independent Kurdish state. If and when this occurs, will the Kurdish politicians and the (...)
#Mideast_&_North_Africa #Articles #benjamin_netanyahu #Kurds #Massoud_Barzani #Mustafa_Barzani #Peshmerga #PUK #syria #turkey #US
Iraqi Kurdish president to meet Turkish leaders
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraqi-kurdish-president-meet-turkish-leaders
The president of #Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region will meet Turkish leaders on Monday as Ankara keeps a close eye on moves for an independent Iraqi #Kurdistan amid the chaos in its conflict-torn neighbor. Massud Barzani is due to meet President #Abdullah_Gul and Prime Minister #Recep_Tayyip_Erdogan in the capital Ankara in separate meetings from 1100 GMT. The visit comes as lightning gains by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) in Iraq have alarmed countries in the region and sparked calls for Kurdish autonomy to counter the radical Islamist threat. read more
Kurds boycott #Iraq government over accusations they harbored #Jihadis
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/kurds-boycott-iraq-government-over-accusations-they-harbored-jiha
The Kurdish political bloc will no longer take part in Iraq’s national government in protest against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s accusation that Kurds were harboring Islamist insurgents in their capital, the foreign minister said on Friday. “We have suspended our government business,” said minister Hoshiyar Zebari, who is a Kurd. read more
#Iraq halts flights to Kurdish cities
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraq-halts-flights-kurdish-cities
Authorities in Baghdad have halted cargo flights to the Kurdish cities of Erbil and Sulaimaniya, the top aviation official said on Thursday, in an escalating row between the central government and Kurdish leaders. “At present we stopped the shipment of cargo to both Erbil and Sulaimaniya until further notice,” the head of Iraq’s civil aviation authority Nasser Bandar told Reuters. He said passenger flights were unaffected. (Reuters)
Kurdish president: Maliki “must step down”
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/kurdish-president-maliki-must-step-down%E2%80%9D
A spokesman for Iraqi Kurdish president #Massud_Barzani said Thursday national premier #Nouri_al-Maliki had “become hysterical” and should step down after he accused the autonomous region of harboring militants. Maliki “has become hysterical and has lost his balance,” said the statement, published on the Kurdish regional presidency website in English. Addressing the premier, it continued: “You must apologize to the Iraqi people and step down. You have destroyed the country and someone who has destroyed the country cannot save the country from crisis.” read more
#Iraq PM accuses Kurds of providing cover for militants in Erbil
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraq-pm-accuses-kurds-providing-cover-militants-erbil
Iraqi Prime Minister #Nouri_al-Maliki said on Wednesday the Kurdish-controlled city of Erbil was becoming an operations base for the #Islamic_State militant group that seized swathes of northern and western Iraq last month. Maliki is under pressure as militants, led by the #al-Qaeda offshoot Islamic State, hold large parts of the north and west of the country and have threatened to march on the capital. “We will never be silent about Erbil becoming a base for the operations of the Islamic State and Baathists and al-Qaeda and the terrorists,” Maliki said in his weekly televised address. read more
Iraq Kurdistan independence referendum planned
The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region has told the BBC he intends to hold a referendum on independence within months.
Israeli PM calls for independence of Iraq’s Kurds
▻http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=66833
“We need to support efforts by the international community to strengthen Jordan and support the aspirations of the Kurds for independence,” Netanyahu said in a speech to the Institute of National Security Studies think-tank in Tel Aviv.
Will the streets of #Baghdad relive the years of sectarian violence?
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/will-streets-baghdad-relive-years-sectarian-violence
Iraqi tribesmen brandish their weapons as they gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities, on June 17 2014. (Photo: AFP-Haidar Hamdani) Iraqi tribesmen brandish their weapons as they gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities, on June 17 2014. (Photo: AFP-Haidar Hamdani)
I inhaled gunpowder smoke from 170 Kilometers (105 miles) away and suddenly memories of sectarian violence came flooding back. People are simply obsessed with the idea of escaping before disaster strikes. In a nutshell, this is the scene (...)
#Mideast_&_North_Africa #al_Shourja_market #Articles #Erbil #Iraq #Iraqi_Airways #ISIS #Kurdistan #Ramadan #Sulaimaniyeh #Umm_Qasr_Port
All the cards are in Bashar al-Assad’s hands
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/20204
A woman holds a picture of re-elected Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as she celebrates in Damascus after he was announced as the winner of the country’s presidential elections on June 4, 2014. (Photo: AFP-Joseph Eid) A woman holds a picture of re-elected Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as she celebrates in Damascus after he was announced as the winner of the country’s presidential elections on June 4, 2014. (Photo: AFP-Joseph Eid)
(1)
Nahed Hattar
read more
#Opinion #Articles #Bashar_al_Assad #Erbil #erdogan #Iraq #ISIS #John_Kerry #Kurdistan #Lebanon #MARCH_14 #Saddam_Hussein #Saudi_Arabia #syria #turkey
Très beau film sur l’Homme Nouveau (et la Femme Nouvelle) qui vont essayer de contribuer à la reconstruction d’un pays, après la guerre, dans un village paumé. Lui est flic (ambiance western avec le nouveau shérif qui arrive dans les montagnes sauvages où il n’y a pas d’autre loi que celle du flingue), elle est instit’, tendance hussarde noire de la République. C’est très positif, très sympa et très féministe.
Ah, j’oubliais, ça se passe au #Kurdistan.
(bande annonce très longue et spoilant tout)Why Mosul’s fall is a signature moment in Iraq (+video) - CSMonitor.com
▻http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0610/Why-Mosul-s-fall-is-a-signature-moment-in-Iraq-video
The Iraqi government has lost control of its third-largest city to Al Qaeda-inspired insurgents, a crushing defeat for not only Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s security policies but for Iraqi politics as a whole.
The scale of the catastrophe, as troops loyal to Mr. Maliki flood north and troops controlled by the Kurdish Regional Government rush west and south, can’t be overstated. Chicago is the United States’ third-largest city. Munich is Germany’s. Osaka is Japan’s.
ISIS on the march
As the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (#ISIS) continues to seize cities in Iraq — reports indicate a presence of ISIS fighters 60 miles north of Baghdad — here is a look at the radical group’s strongholds and control over various cities. Read related article.
▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/isis-on-the-march/2014/06/11/c1178086-f1d0-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_graphic.html
Turchia, sindaca che lottò contro il muro al confine siriano: “La terra è di chi la abita”
–-> #Turquie: la maire qui lutta contre le #mur à la frontière avec la #Syrie: «La terre est de celui qui l’habite»
Ayşe Gökkan ha combattuto contro il governo Erdogan che aveva iniziato la costruzione di una rete per dividere la Turchia dal Kurdistan occidentale. La recinzione, che doveva essere lunga 7 km, per ora è ferma a 1,3. «Dietro il filo spinato ci sono le nostre famiglie e i nostri amici, e noi dobbiamo fare qualcosa. Il confine degli Stati non coincide con quello dei popoli»
▻http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2014/05/23/turchia-la-sindaca-che-si-batte-contro-il-muro-al-confine-con-la-siria-aiuti-fermi-oltre-il-filo-spinato/994011
#barrière_frontalière #migration #réfugiés #asile #clôture #Nusaybin #Ayşe_Gökkan
v. aussi les tweet de Ayse Gökkan, qui a fait une #grève_de_la_faim pour lutter contre le mur :
▻https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AyseGokkan
Kurdish mayor on hunger strike against ’wall of shame’
Ayse Gokkan, the mayor of Nusaybin, Turkey has for the past week been on hunger strike on the border with Syria. The mayor is protesting the building of a barrier separating the Kurdish cities of Nusaybin in Turkey and Alqamishly in Syria. The people of Nusaybin have called it a “wall of shame”, and Gokkan, of the Kurdish BDP, or Peace and Democracy Party, has accused the government of building the barrier to separate Kurds on either side of the border.
Turkey mayor on hunger strike over Syria ’wall of shame’
ANKARA: A Kurdish mayor on hunger strike in Turkey to protest the building of a barrier on the border with Syria accused Ankara on Tuesday of putting up a “wall of shame”.
▻http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-05/236858-turkey-mayor-on-hunger-strike-over-syria-wall-of-shame.ashx#axz
#Iraq: New alliances begin to take shape after elections
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraq-new-alliances-begin-take-shape-after-elections
Iraqi men carry a big election campaign poster following the closure of polls in Iraq’s parliamentary election, on April 30, 2014 in #Baghdad. (Photo: AFP-Prashant Rao) Iraqi men carry a big election campaign poster following the closure of polls in Iraq’s parliamentary election, on April 30, 2014 in Baghdad. (Photo: AFP-Prashant Rao)
Now that the Iraqi parliamentary elections are over, talks regarding choosing a new prime minister have started. Shia parliamentary blocs are now looking to revive the #National_Alliance in order to reach an understanding among each other about who to nominate as prime minister.
Mostafa Nasser
read (...)
#Mideast_&_North_Africa #anbar_province #Articles #Citizen’s_bloc #Iraqi_Kurdistan #Kurdistan_Democratic_Party #Massoud_al-Barazani #Muqtada_al-Sadr #Nouri_al-Maliki
Village guards to be recruited in rural Diyarbakır for dam construction
▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/village-guards-to-be-recruited-in-rural-diyarbakir-for-dam-constr
Surveiller les axes routiers et les grands projets d’infrastructures énergétiques prévus à l’est de la Turquie : une solution (temporaire) de reconversion des protecteurs de village ?
The local administrator’s office in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Silvan district has announced that 180 temporary village guards will be recruited for the protection of tunnel construction in the area.
Village guards will be employed in the areas where the Silvan Dam, Babakaya Tunnel and supply canal will be built in the Silvan district, Silvan local administrator Berkan Sönmezay said in a statement
Pour plus d’informations sur les korucu (protecteurs de village), voir l’esquisse n°48 d’Etienne Copeaux : ▻http://www.susam-sokak.fr/article-esquisse-n-48-la-guerre-les-protecteurs-de-village-123145400.htm
#Kurdish group abducts two Turkish soldiers
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/kurdish-group-abducts-two-turkish-soldiers
An armed Kurdish group has abducted two Turkish soldiers in the southeast of the country, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported Sunday. The abduction took place late Saturday, after the jailed leader of the outlawed #Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) issued a statement warning of a possible return to violence. However it was not clear whether the kidnappers were linked to the #PKK, which declared a landmark truce with the Turkish state last March. read more
#Turquie, #Kurdistan, #prison, #PKK, #Strasbourg, #droits_homme
Estrasburgo condena a Turquía por «trato inhumano» al líder kurdo #Abdullah_Oçalan
El Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos ha condenado a Turquía por haber impuesto una pena de prisión «incomprensible», sin posibilidad de libertad condicional, al líder kurdo Abdullah Oçalan.
...
▻http://www.naiz.info/eu/actualidad/noticia/20140318/estrasburgo-condena-a-turquia-por-trato-inhumano-a-abdullah-ocalan
#Aleppo's #Kurds : Living Under Siege
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/aleppos-kurds-living-under-siege
Syrian-Kurdish refugee carries water containers on a wheelbarrow at the Quru Gusik (Kawergosk) refugee camp, 20 kilometers east of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous #Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on December 29, 2013. (Photo: AFP - Safin Hamed). Syrian-Kurdish refugee carries water containers on a wheelbarrow at the Quru Gusik (Kawergosk) refugee camp, 20 kilometers east of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on December 29, 2013. (Photo: AFP - Safin Hamed).
The #Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_Syria has retreated from the #Ifrin region of the Aleppo countryside. Though the crippling blockade on Ifrin has been lifted, the siege remains enforced by other factions, including the Islamic (...)
#Mideast_&_North_Africa #Articles #ISIS #Kurdistan_Workers_Party #PYD #Recep_Tayyip_Erdogan #syria #turkey #YPG
Avancées dans l’enquête sur l’assassinat de trois militantes kurdes à Paris
▻http://lemonde.fr/europe/article/2013/12/23/avancees-dans-l-enquete-sur-l-assassinat-de-trois-militantes-kurdes-a-paris_
La piste du règlement de comptes" interne était souvent évoquée, mais...
… les derniers éléments « renforcent les soupçons contre Ömer Güney, l’unique suspect des meurtres » et « accréditent désormais l’hypothèse d’un assassinat politique sur fond d’espionnage ».
L’enquête menée en Allemagne aurait en outre montré qu’Ömer Güney était « bien éloigné des thèses autonomistes » et serait, au contraire, un sympathisant de « l’extrême droite » turque, s’affichant proche du Parti d’action nationaliste (MHP).
La piste d’un tueur d’Etat se renforce dans l’assassinat des trois militantes kurdes à Paris
La justice française a demandé un complément d’informations à Ankara, sans résultats. L’enregistrement sonore pourrait aussi apporter des éléments compromettants pour les #services français. Interrogé par l’agent présumé du MIT sur une possible surveillance par « les forces de sécurité françaises, de la police ou de la gendarmerie », Ömer Güney répond sans hésiter : « Oui, il y a une surveillance étroite. Les renseignements me suivent seconde par seconde. »
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2014/01/14/la-piste-d-un-tueur-d-etat-se-renforce-dans-l-assassinat-des-trois-militante
Gunmen kill Iraqi journalist investigating #Kurdistan #Corruption
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/gunmen-kill-iraqi-journalist-investigating-kurdistan-corruption
Gunmen shot dead a magazine editor investigating corruption in the autonomous Kurdistan region, the latest in a series of attacks on journalists in #Iraq, media rights groups and police said Friday. Kawa Ahmed Germyani, the editor-in-chief of Rayal magazine and a correspondent for Awene newspaper, was gunned down on Thursday night, said Rahman Ghareeb, an official from Kurdish media rights watchdog Metro Center. A police captain confirmed Germyani had been killed. read more