MESOPOTAMIA KURDISTAN DAILY INDEPENDENT NEWSSERVICE
Mezopotamian Development Society (Registered) GERMANY
THE MOST REQUESTED DAILY & ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWSSERVICE ON KURDISTAN FOR THE HIGHLY INVOLVED PEOPLE – email : mesop@online.de – Watch our website : www.mesop.de
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MESOP TODAYS RELEVANT TWEETS & SHORT CUTS
David Ignatius – @IgnatiusPost – The White House’s secret pre-election warning to Moscow: In our new Cold War, deterrence should come before detente
Behind the scenes, the Obama administration has worked to check Vladimir Putin’s cyber-meddli… – washingtonpost.com https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/in-our-new-cold-war-deterrence-should-come-before-detente/2016/11/15/051f4a84-ab79-11e6-8b45-f8e493f06fcd_story.html?utm_term=.2b351b1e4324
MESOP NEWS : READ JOHN BOLTON’S STRATEGY 2015
Worth reading this on Iraq by John Bolton, not bc it has value – it doesn’t – but tells us what he may do if SoS
John Bolton: To Defeat ISIS, Create a Sunni State – Putting Syria and Iraq back together will serve only the interests of Moscow and Tehran.
nytimes.com – http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/25/opinion/john-bolton-to-defeat-isis-create-a-sunni-state.html?_r=2
MESOP LATEST KURDISTAN / IRAQ – LAST ORDERS !
Peshmerga will withdraw back to areas before IS’ emergence: US Ambassador https://t.co/bkGPakdBBM via @sharethis
MESOP : AGREE WTH JOHN McCain
John McCain @SenJohnMcCain When America has been at its best, it’s when we’ve stood w/ those fighting tyranny- that’s where we must stand again http://bit.ly/2f1i7nV
MESOP „FROM THE FRONTLINE“
#YPG announces withdrawal of their forces to east of Euphrates to participate in Raqqa Ops after handing Manbaj to Manbaj military council.
!KNOW BETTER WITH MESOP! – Turkey suspends 370 NGOs incl’ some working on children’s rights, women’s rights & poverty – Watch List: http://www.mesop.de/?p=80127
MESOP TODAYS STRATEGY SYRIA (I) : PUTIN HAS NO REAL & FINAL SOLUTION – Aleppo offensive is just the next step in Russia’s Syrian mission
15 Nov 2016 – Kim Sengupta Diplomatic Editor – THE INDEPENDEN UK – Russian warships and aircraft are in place, as are a contingent of Iranian and Hezbollah militias; the Syrian regime has been reinforced; key strategic points have been seized: all signs that the long-awaited battle for Aleppo is due to start very soon.But recapturing the opposition-held half of what was once Syria’s largest city and commercial capital is just the next step in Moscow’s mission. It will not end either when Isis loses Mosul and Raqaa, the capital of its “caliphate”. The aim, say senior Kremlin officials, is ensuring that al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and its allied rebel battalions are finished as a threat.The coalition including al-Nusra, of which several rebel groups supported by the West are also members, has been the most effective against the regime and has also, at times, fought Isis. There have been repeated charges by the US, UK and European allies that Russian bombing of the rebel coalition has been aimed at destroying, not just the Islamist extremists, but all resistance against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, – Compare the coverage of Mosul and East Aleppo and it reveals a lot : http://www.mesop.de/?p=80109
MESOP TODAYS STRATEGY SYRIA (II) : To woo Trump, will Kremlin show restraint in Syria? – By Maxim A. Suchkov
15 Nov 2016 – AL MONITOR – The first phone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Donald Trump took place on Nov. 14. The official press release read, “Putin and Trump agreed that the current state of US-Russia relations is unsatisfactory and agreed to actively work toward their normalization and constructive cooperation on a broad range of issues.” It also stated that both parties emphasized the need to “return to a pragmatic, mutually beneficial cooperation that meets the interests of the two states as well as stability and security in the world.” Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=80113
MESOP TODAYS COMMENTARY : A NEW PRESIDENT & THE MIDDLE EAST
Featuring Jamal Khashoggi, Jumana Ghunaimat, David Horovitz, Norman Ornstein & Dennis Ross
PolicyWatch 2724 – November 15, 2016
On November 10, Jamal Khashoggi, Jumana Ghunaimat, David Horovitz, Norman Ornstein, and Dennis Ross addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Khashoggi is editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel (Saudi Arabia). Ghunaimat is editor-in-chief of al-Ghad newspaper (Jordan). Horovitz is founding editor of the Times of Israel. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Ross is the Institute’s counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow. The following is a rapporteur’s summary of their remarks. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=80119
MESOP NEWS TODAYS OPINION : IRAN’S HEZBOLLAH FRANCHISE IN IRAQ: LESSONS FROM LEBANON’S SHIITE MILITIAS
By Yousif Kalian – Fikra Forum – Yousif Kalian is a research assistant in The Washington Institute’s Program on Arab Politics. November 9, 2016
As Shiite militias in Iraq attempt to become potent political actors, they may follow Hezbollah’s Lebanese model: using military leverage over the government to wrestle power on Iran’s behalf.Following the rapid spread of ISIS in the summer of 2014, Shiite Marja Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling all able-bodied men to defend Baghdad and push back against ISIS. Men of all sects and ethnicities, overwhelmingly Shiite, took it upon themselves to fight this “great evil” that had overtaken their country. These Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) have made a fundamental difference in the battle against ISIS and are hailed as heroes in Iraq.A problem arises, however, when one looks at the large number of hardline Shiite factions of the PMUs that are directly funded, trained, and armed by Iran. This Iranian support has rightly worried many, as the rise of the PMUs unnervingly mimics multiple aspects of Hezbollah’s rise in Lebanon. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=80115
SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ)
MESOP UP TO DAY : KURDISH INDEPENDENCE NO LONGER POSSIBLE ? – For Iraq’s Kurds, It’s Not About Independence Any More
By Tanya Goudsouzian AL JAZEERA – 15 Nov 2016 – “When gold appears in the Euphrates River, out of a hundred men, only one will survive” – so recounted a Kurdish woman from Kirkuk whom I met on my way to Sulaimania in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. She was paraphrasing a famous hadith, or saying, attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.
“It’s an old saying, it’s in our books,” she insisted. “A hundred men, and only one will survive. Isn’t this happening all around us today? People are coming to my country and fighting and dying – for what? Does anybody know?” Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=80117
TODAYS MESOP OPINION BY MICHAEL KNIGHTS : ALL KURDISH INTENTIONS HAVE TO FOCUS ON BAGHDAD !
A Trump Presidency: Short-Cut to Iraqi Kurdistan’s Independence or a Wrong Turn?
Washington Kurdish Institute – By: Michael Knights – Nov 15, 2016 – The people who live within today’s Iraqi borders have a proven capacity to surprise the outside world, sometimes exceeding expectations and sometimes disappointing hopes. Casual observers watch the challenges and disasters in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and they often cannot believe that the country, the region and their people will survive. But as with the Da’esh attack in 2014, the Iraqis and Kurds surprised many observers by coming back from the brink of defeat. In recent weeks they have broken down the doors of Da’esh’s defenses in Mosul.But the peoples of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region also show a heartbreaking capacity for stepping back from the brink of victory as well.In Iraq, the promising steps towards stabilization were thrown away after 2010 by a careless, aggressively sectarian government in Baghdad. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=80121
NORTH KURDISTAN (TURKEY)
MESOP INTERVIEW CEMIL BAYIK (PKK) – PKK IS UNBEATABLE – Turkey cannot defeat PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan, top leader Bayik says
16 Nov 2016 – QANDIL,— The head of the Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) , the political wing of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Cemil Bayik, said Turkey would face a “big loss” if it launched an operation in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Qandil Mountains, where PKK are positioned.The vice-chairman of the KCK executive council, Cemil Bayik touched upon Turkish officials’ recent statements hinting an operation on PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, stressing that Turkey will not be able to defeat the PKK despite the probable supports he would receive. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=80123