Michael Totten writes here on the Kurds and the contradictions, promise and problems of “Iraqi” Kurdistan. Fascinating stuff. It is, I think, long, long past time for the Kurds to quit what passes for the Iraqi state:

In a region where rule by reactionary clerics, gangster elites, and calcified military dictatorships is the norm, Iraqi Kurdistan is, by local standards, an open, liberal, and peaceful society. Its government is elected by a popular vote, competing political parties run their own newspapers, and the press is (mostly) free. Religion and the state are separate, and women can and do vote. The citizens here are tired of war, and they’re doing everything in their power to make their corner of the Middle East a normal, stable place where it’s safe to live, and to invest and build. But to carve out their breathing space, the Kurds have adopted discriminatory policies that would make any liberal-minded Westerner squirm. It remains to be seen how the contradictions will sort themselves out in the long run. But the outcome is important, especially if Kurdistan reaches the day—and it seems increasingly likely that it will—that it breaks entirely free of Baghdad and declares independence.

And if neighboring Turkey objects, we’ll just see what kind of country it is that has been so consistently, and insistently, knocking on the EU’s door. Read the whole thing.