Geo-politics

[QRQ 30]

From the Suni Triangle thread I see that some are promoting using Tribe against tribe. Have you noticed how many separate nations have emerged from old nations such as Czechoslovakia? This is because after the World Wars national boundaries were determined by geography rather than ethnicity. As an example, there is a region in northern Italy called Tyrolia. Tyrolia is ethnically German. They speak German and the road signs are in German. When I was in the 10th there was a little heard of insurgency taking place in Tyrolia. The Tyrolians wanted to become part of Germany or Austria. They weren't Italian and didn't even speak Italian. I believe the same is true of the Alsace-Lorrain region which was ceded to France after the war.

The same is true in the Middle East. Iraq could very well be divided into several independent nations based upon ethnicity and religion rather than continue to lump them together. This could ease some of the tension in the area. Instead of the Simi Triangle we could have Sunistan. An independent and WORKING nation of Khurdistan could ease some problems. It won't stop inter-tribal rivalry alltogether but may work better than the ethnic/religious mess they have now.

[The Reaper]

IIRC, the Tyroleans were a part of Austria till WW I, when the Austrians were on the losing side, and the Italians were our allies. They got the region as part of the Vesailles Treaty.

I see no long term peace in Iraq with the factions now existing in their present state, even with a constitution and a democratically elected government. The real issues upon breakup will be the distribution of resources (mainly oil), and the existence of a Kurdish state, which is a problem for some of our allies.

TR

[Radar Rider]

First off, I agree with your assessment. So much of the Middle East (and Africa) were arbitrarily broken up in the post-Colonial world. Same goes for much of Europe. If all those little groups of ethnicities were broken up and granted sovereignty, perhaps there wouldn't be so much violence.

As for Kurdistan - Turkey vehemently opposes the creation of such a state, as a large portion of their nation is made up of Kurds. Were such a state created, they would lose a portion of their country, and they would have a more than likely hostile neighbor on their border. It is much easier for them to control the Kurds in their nation under their own laws.