Manbij, Again

Back in March, 2017, I posted about US “still no boots on the ground” Stryker AFVs and Humvees being deployed at Manbij in Syria, [stderr] in order to keep the swirling mess of people shooting at each other from turning into Turkish military shooting at Kurdish Peshmergas who had occupied Manbij.

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Sunday Sermon: “Deep Rifts” in Nations

In the last few months we’ve seen attempts by Kurdistan and Catalonia to gain independence. Both attempts were shot down with non-lethal but overwhelming military force. That’s clearly one difference between those break-aways and the more successful on in Crimea. These events ought to force any thinking person to ask “what is a ‘nation’?” and to wonder how nations establish their legitimacy.

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What Happened to Kurdistan?

It sounds like the Kurds have been out-maneuvered by the Iraqi regime; then left twisting in the wind by their American backers. Iraqi Abrams M-1 tanks (which are basically invincible against the light vehicles the Kurds have) were the convincing argument – the Iraqis inter-penetrated Kurdish positions in the Kirkuk area, essentially a peaceful “overrun” maneuver – and the Kurds realized that if they offered resistance, they’d be slaughtered.

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