Connor Norton - Iraqi Forces Take the Oil-Rich City of Kirkuk in Escalating Dispute With Kurds

Iraqi forces have recently taken control of the city of Kirkuk, deep in the Kurdish region where there was recently a referendum for independence that heightened tensions between the Kurdish government and the Iraqis in Baghdad. The region, though technically in Iraq, is mostly controlled by the Kurds, but the Iraqis aren't about to just let it go as it contains up to 10% of the country's oil reserves; thus, the recent vote for independence has set the government on edge. However, it was not until now that Iraq had begun actively retaking Kurdish land, and although they did so under the pretense of regaining land lost to the Islamic State in years prior, that would only include military and civilian infrastructure in the surrounding region, and yet Iraqi forces have entered and retaken the city of Kirkuk itself. The US, much to the chagrin of both sides, has decided to take a neutral stance, but members have the State department have implied a support for the government in Baghdad.

This could relate to the American conquest of Native American land during the 1800s under the prevailing idea of Manifest Destiny as both situations involve a cultural group (or groups) without an internationally recognized state being absorbed into a bordering country without their consent, and in each case the country gaining or maintaining the land had an economic incentive to do so. The US was successful in its armed land grab, but the miscarriage of justice that assimilation entailed has left a stain upon our history; let's hope the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict can be resolved on better terms.