The Kurds are In a "Double Colonial Bind"
Angry Planet15 Feb 2019

The Kurds are In a "Double Colonial Bind"

The Kurds are a people without a country. They occupy large swaths of land in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran but have no central government. Kurdish fighters have been constant allies in America’s fight against ISIS, and Peshmerga troops fighting on behalf of the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq fought against the militants after they stormed Mosul.


Without the help of Kurdish forces in Mosul, Raqqa, and across the Levant, America couldn’t have defeated ISIS so handily. In December, after a conversation with Turkey’s president, President Donald Trump announced U.S. troops would be leaving Syria on grounds that ISIS is defeated.


Things have gotten complicated since then.


It’s unclear if the withdrawal will actually take place, Turkey thinks the Kurds are terrorists, and the Kurds are caught between regional power in one of the most complicated conflicts in the world.


Here to help us sort this out is Mohammed Salih. Mohammed spent years working as a journalist for international media in Kurdistan. He’s currently a doctoral student at University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.


You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(498)

Who was pulling the strings when Ukraine unraveled?

Who was pulling the strings when Ukraine unraveled?

When Ukraine pulled itself apart in 2014, the world was confused over who was doing the pulling. Was the takeover of Luhansk, Donetsk and other regional capitals all part of a Russian plan, or a local...

14 Apr 201624min

Why the F-35 may not stink

Why the F-35 may not stink

This week on War College we're diving into the weeds on how weapons systems come into existence. Andrea Shalal, Reuters’ longtime aerospace correspondent, takes us through the steps. She also gives a ...

7 Apr 201630min

He had bin Laden in his sights, but no trigger to pull

He had bin Laden in his sights, but no trigger to pull

Just months before the Sept. 11 attacks, Scott Swanson was piloting an early version of the Predator drone over Afghanistan. Swanson and his team were looking for Osama bin Laden and it looked like th...

29 Mar 201634min

Caught in a draft: Where military service can last forever

Caught in a draft: Where military service can last forever

This week on War College, we’re talking about a secretive nation where everyone serves in the military – and not just for a year or two. In fact, once you get pulled into service in Eritrea, you could...

17 Mar 201633min

Snipers: Battlefield saviors or sinners?

Snipers: Battlefield saviors or sinners?

Snipers play a key role in the world’s armies. They target commanders on the opposing side and other targets with an outsize impact. Working by themselves, they can pin down a group, creating fear and...

10 Mar 201627min

Can NATO still put up a fight against Russia?

Can NATO still put up a fight against Russia?

With Vladimir Putin and the United States staring at each other like the gunfighters in the final scene in the "Good, the Bad and the Ugly," War College takes a fresh look at NATO. We wanted to know w...

3 Mar 201632min

Why closing Gitmo isn't an open-and-shut case

Why closing Gitmo isn't an open-and-shut case

President Barack Obama laid out a plan to close the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison this week. Even if it were to close by the time Obama leaves office, it will have been open for 15 years. So, why is...

25 Feb 201628min

Is the Syrian war partly an ad for Russian arms sales?

Is the Syrian war partly an ad for Russian arms sales?

Russia is pulling out all the stops in showing off new weaponry — especially in Syria. Nick de Larrinaga, an expert at Jane’s Defense Weekly, joins the show and explains that the display of force is a...

18 Feb 201628min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
forklart
aftenpodden-usa
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
stopp-verden
det-store-bildet
nokon-ma-ga
rss-gukild-johaug
dine-penger-pengeradet
fotballpodden-2
aftenbla-bla
hanna-de-heldige
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
rss-ness
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
bt-dokumentar-2