Is Iraq On The Brink Of Civil War?

Baghdad-KRG Relations Go From Bad To Worse -- Al-Monitor

Day after day, the belief strengthens that the possibilities for a peaceful resolution (or at least containment) of the crisis between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have grown remote, if they have not altogether vanished. The signs and indications pointing to escalation have come to greatly outnumber those pointing to a truce or cooling down.

Until recently, both parties to the crisis had been communicating through their respective official (and unofficial) channels their desire, inclination and various attempts to find a way out of the dilemma. Yet today they stress that matters have reached the point of no return. Both sides’ official statements and declarations say as much. The exceptionally obstructionist rhetoric emanating from both sides’ media outlets (whether visual, print or electronic) are stoking passions and mobilizing the street on both sides — and for the same purpose.

Read more ....

My Comment: The Kurds have always wanted an independent state .... and their lousy relations with Baghdad and the Sunni-Shiite politicians who have ruled the country for generations have only reinforced their desire for independence. With little if any desire for compromise .... and with a past mediator like the U.S. now absent from the scene .... mobilization of forces and threats of escalation have now become the norm rather than the exception.