Iraqi Kurdistan Has A Leadership Problem

[TexAg91]

I encourage interested readers to check out this article:

 

 

THE EMBASSY
Iraqi Kurdistan Has A Leadership Problem

By

Michael Rubin
Published

2 days ago

•  

Masoud Barzani, Iraqi Kurdistan’s long-time president, handed the reins of power to eldest son Masrour Barzani in 2019 when he shifted nephew Nechirvan to a more symbolic presidency and installed Masrour as prime minister. In doing so, he sought to preserve his dynasty. In reality, his choice of Masrour may condemn it.

Masrour’s chief qualification for his job was always genetic. Masoud failed as a father, however. Rather than socialize his children, he isolated them. He sponsored a special school for his children and their cousins that prevented them from developing meaningful relations with other Kurdish elites let alone ordinary citizens. Nor did Masrour ever excel at studies. In Kurdistan, family connections were enough. When he studied at American University for a bachelor’s degree, he remained isolated—living in a luxury off-campus apartment. What he lacked in academic aptitude, he made up for with the accompanying checks that funded a fellowship at the university.

Masrour’s isolation and poor socialization have led him both to become incredibly thin-skinned. The tremendous power he has in his hands as head of the intelligence service has transformed his office into the Kurdish equivalent of the famous Twilight Zone episode in which townsmen and family become overly solicitous of an omnipotent six-year-old as they live in fear of his irrational anger.

Masrour’s outbursts, both as prime minister and before, have long undercut Kurdistan and its image. In 2005, for example, he arrested critic and dissident journalist Kamal Sayid Qadir. Had he ignored Kamal’s criticism, few Kurds and fewer outside Kurdistan would ever have heard his name. Masrour’s pettiness ended up undercutting an expensive advertising and branding campaign to depict Kurdistan as a democratic oasis in the region and to lure investment.

That same year, Kurdistan Democratic Party activists operating at Masrour’s behest burned a competitor’s office just days before a White House meeting where President George W. Bush and Vice President **** Cheney were meeting with Iraqi political representatives. Suddenly, an incident that ordinarily mid-level diplomats would address quietly became a subject of discussion in the Oval Office.

In 2010, Masrour’s security forces kidnapped and executed a young student after he published a poem lampooning Barzani family corruption. Again, the incident made international headlines and only called more attention to regional corruption. Over the following decade, that corruption and Masrour’s efforts to create a security state have put Kurdistan on the brink of bankruptcy.

In the past week, the Kurdistan Regional Government had the opportunity repair its image. A new administration is in the Oval Office was already primed to sympathy for Iraqi Kurds. After an Iranian-backed group launched a rocket barrage on the Iraqi Kurdish capital Erbil, Kurdistan received international sympathy. Senior officials, not only from the United States but globally, called Masrour. Rather than capitalize on such goodwill, Masrour undermined it. His court had sentenced five journalists and civil society activists whom Masrour’s government had previously detained on charges of planning an illegal protest to six years in prison. This was not simply a case of poor timing by sclerotic courts on bureaucratic auto-drive. Defending himself against criticism of yet one more overreaction, Masrour channeled his inner-Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and insisted the journalists were actually spies. By transforming the charges from violations of the journalism law to national security violations, he demonstrated the politicization of the courts.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued a statement gently rebuking Masrour and urging freedom of the press. Nechirvan, always more sophisticated than his cousin and attune to international sentiment, sought damage control and announced an appeals court would take up the case and he would personally monitor the process. Rather than allow others to rescue Masrour from a crisis of his own making, Masrour became petulant, tweeting, “I strongly urge everyone to respect the judiciary system in the Kurdistan Region and to let it do its job independently and without interference.” And so it goes: To salve his own ego, Masrour once again undercut Iraqi Kurdistan’s ability to work productively with the West at the time when it is desperate to do so.

Ordinary Kurds will be the ones to suffer, but even they have their limits. If Masoud wants the Barzanis to survive in power, it is long past time for a family intervention and a family shuffle that will remove Masrour Barzani from powers he is not mature enough to wield.

Now a 1945 Contributing Editor, Michael Rubin is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/02/iraqi-kurdistan-has-a-leadership-problem/

 

I was, frankly, unaware and uninformed regarding the leadership of the Kurds. I just remember that every time there seems to be an opportunity to move forward with improved financial integration between the Kurdish region and the rest of Iraq, it always seemed like the Kurds were throwing some wrench into the works at the last moment. This article might provide some indication as to why.

Unfortunately, to (likely) get to an RV, we will need to see an actual HCL (emphasis on the "L": Law). To reach an HCL we will need to see a unified and helpful association between the Kurds and the rest of Iraq. This will require some sort of rapprochement between the two parties. If Barzani is even 1/2 as bad as depicted, it will be very difficult to get to that starting point.

I know some might say, "Well, money talks and that's what the Kurds are about, just like anyone else". That works if the PM of your country/region isn't immature, irrational and incapable. In the end, if his ambassadors and legislators fear him enough, they'll do what they're told. Not necessarily what they know to be in the best interests of their region.

I have many vested reasons to hope that the article in question is overstating their case. Time will, of course, tell. 

[patrick50]

You are so correct and Iraq needs to be sure to give the Kurds enough to be happy and the rest will take care of itself!

GO Rvvv

[Donziman]

Thanks Texag91, you are correct in your thinking. Barzani is modeling himself after the infamous Maliki. He and his family have stolen billions. This is why the system never changes. These types of leaders can only be removed with a snipers bullet. sad but true

[Wheelman]

Just remember in order for Iraq to get out of Chapter-VII, in which they did last week, and their banks are now Internationally recognized, the HCL law had to be passed, that was and is a W.TO., U.N. and I.M.F requirement.

They are not going to tell us everything, stay grounded!

The Pope ain’t coming to Babylon for nothing.

Stay grounded Dinar Community!

Stay GROUNDED!

[patrick50]

IM praying you are right Wheelman! 

[Dinarrock]

2 hours ago, Wheelman said:

Just remember in order for Iraq to get out of Chapter-VII, in which they did last week, and their banks are now Internationally recognized, the HCL law had to be passed, that was and is a W.TO., U.N. and I.M.F requirement.

They are not going to tell us everything, stay grounded!

The Pope ain’t coming to Babylon for nothing.

Stay grounded Dinar Community!

Stay GROUNDED!

Thanks so much Wheelman that is the best synopsis I have heard in a long time!!!

[Jaygo]

3 hours ago, Wheelman said:

Just remember in order for Iraq to get out of Chapter-VII, in which they did last week, and their banks are now Internationally recognized, the HCL law had to be passed, that was and is a W.TO., U.N. and I.M.F requirement.

They are not going to tell us everything, stay grounded!

The Pope ain’t coming to Babylon for nothing.

Stay grounded Dinar Community!

Stay GROUNDED!

🙏

[jmartin1145]

The pope is coming??? Follow the money.

[RV MY DINAR 3USD]

4 hours ago, jmartin1145 said:

The pope is coming??? Follow the money.

has the pope bought billions of dinars too? has the pope ever met and  talked to the governor of the cbi about rv the iqd behind closed door during his visit in iraq?  hopefully, the governor of cbi whispered to the pope ( just between the two of them ) to tell the date and the rate.

[horsesoldier]

Sooooo, I see nothing in the news of his most Celestial Holiness from India Guru Gondapotty upcoming visit. No matter, he’s not one for the Limelight anyway.

[RV MY DINAR 3USD]

On 2/26/2021 at 2:51 AM, Wheelman said:

The Pope ain’t coming to Babylon for nothing.

is the pope coming to iraq to bring a peace and prosperity of revaluation of iqd between 1 - 3.22 usd?

[Longtimelurker]

8 minutes ago, RV MY DINAR 3USD said:

is the pope coming to iraq to bring a peace and prosperity of revaluation of iqd between 1 - 3.22 usd?

Very possible🤑

[RV MY DINAR 3USD]

25 minutes ago, Longtimelurker said:

Very possible🤑

that's what i like to hear.