The Kurdish referendum in Iraq has failed spectacularly, despite predictions of beckoning independence. Many who relied on the trope that “statehood was not a matter of if but when” were shocked and unprepared for the referendum’s outcomes. - War on the Rocks
After [Iraq’s Sunni Arab’s] were ousted from government jobs and from the military by the post-Saddam Hussein government, their powerlessness and rage gave rise to Sunni militant movements like Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State. Now that those militants are being driven from the Sunni heartland, how the government responds to Sunnis trying to rebuild their lives is likely to have long-term consequences for the country’s stability and security. - New York Times
By Robert Ford, The Atlantic: “The U.S. dream of a democratic and federal Iraq is over. Appointing Iran the next boogeyman won’t help.”