I'm 60 i peshmerga died and about 150 those injured, in the military confrontation that led Baghdad, the 15 last October, to repossess of Kirkuk and all the disputed areas, now all under the full control of the Capital, with the borders of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) "Relegated" to those prior to the second Gulf War (2003).
The upheaval created by the initiative of former President Massoud Barzani is plain for all, with a political leadership erased, the parliamentary arch divided as never before, and more than 200mila displaced Kurds, who left Kirkuk for Erbil, a city that of refugees already contained several tens of thousands.
Prime Minister Al Abadi uses all the political capital accumulated with the territorial re-territorialization of the state to further fragment the autonomous region of the north.
The latest initiative in time involves Baghdad's commitment to paying KRG's "civil servants" directly without going through the autonomous region's government, whose official data on their public employees are considered by the far-away, over-central government , from the real ones.
As if that were not enough, in the Draft Law on 2018, drawn up without involving the Kurds, the percentage of transfers to KRG dropped from the 17% - the sum provided by the Constitutional Charter - to 12.7%, widening even more souls and the official statements of the parties.
The impression is that Al Abadi is seizing the window of opportunity created, to further strengthen the central power, and with it, the personal one: this would be the aim of the official contacts initiated directly with the "northern provinces" - as the Kurdish territories - completely bypassing the (indeed expired) parliament of Erbil.
The Kurdish counterpart replied, the 6 last November, with a long (and weak) statement by Prime Minister Mansour Barzani, of willingness to dialogue, within the scope - reads among the lines - of a unitary and federal state.
In other words, a complete reversal of what was announced just twenty days ago, a statement of yield, tending to restore the balance of power in force before the independence referendum.
Even former President Barzani commented for the first time about the latest events.
In an interview with the US weekly Newsweek has complained of the poor support received by the American alliance and the international community, said that it had allowed Hashd al-Shaabi Iranian militias to conduct military operations with US equipment and means, implemented, inter alia, with British support in the not specified field of "knowledge".
The availability of the main Kurdish members to deal with does not stop Prime Minister Al Abadi, who this week began a round of talks to probe his re-candidacy in the next 15 political elections next May.
To move, the will to play ahead of Al Maliki rival, but also the certainty that they can no longer count on the support of the Kurds (55 seats on 328 at 2010 elections).
And it is yesterday the statement by Sunni vice-president Osama al-Nujaifi, "conditioned" support for the reconfirmation of the Iraqi Prime Minister, provided that the Hashd al-Shaabi Iranian militias are recaptured as soon as possible by the executive under the full government control.
Hashd al-Shaabi, otherwise known as Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU), are made up of about 60 armed militias - moved by Tehran - formed to fight Isis in the 2014, upon the call of grand ayatollah Ali Sistani.
In December 2016, the Baghdad parliament has regularized them by employing them, like regular forces, in the war against the Islamic state.
Now, more than one part (Shi'ite), they are pressed so that they are paid the same way as Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), recognizing them as an integral part of the national defense system.
From this apparently lateral match, it will depend on much of Al Abadi's political future, which will have to choose how far apart from the game of the powerful Iranian side, pending the loss of credibility and consensus among Western chancellors, while maintaining the cohesion of the Shiite face inside of which is expression.
(photo: US Army / US Air Force)
