Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Chicken salad sandwich


I'm at lunch, eating a chicken salad sandwich.

And I'm wondering why I love it so much?

It tastes good.

But the thing is, I can make chicken salad.  And have.

And it's just not the same.

When I make it, the chicken salad tastes about the same.

But I'm in a hurry.

I don't take the time to cut the sandwich, let alone put some lettuce and tomatoes on it.

Honestly, for me, the best sandwich or anything is one that someone else made.





Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

 

Monday, November 6, 2017.  Carrying the load.




"Back In My Arms Again" by Diana Ross & the Supremes is one of the 19 number one pop songs (BILLBOARD US singles chart) that Diana Ross has sang on.  November 19th, she'll be on the live broadcast (ABC) of The American Music Awards to perform and to receive the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Motown (Classic) issued the following:

To coincide with entertainment superstar Diana Ross receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Music Awards on 19 November, Motown/UMe will release a new collection of some of the the legend’s best-loved hits, Diamond Diana: The Legacy Collection, two days earlier.
The 15-song album features such giant singles as “Upside Down,” “Love Hangover,” “The Boss,” a nod to her years with the Supremes in “You Can’t Hurry Love” and her chart-topping duet with Lionel Richie, “Endless Love.” It also offers a new dance remix of her anthemic “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
“I send this special gift to you all,” says Ms. Ross. “This collection of songs is from my heart to yours and I send my love and thanks and appreciation to you for my joyous amazing journey, it’s so much fun.” The American Music Awards show will pay tribute to Diana Ross’ achievements in, and lasting impact on, the worlds of music, film, television, fashion and popular culture.
Order Diamond Diana: The Legacy Collection here.
The track listing for the album is as follows:
I’m Coming Out
More Today Than Yesterday
The Boss
It’s My House
Endless Love *
Upside Down
You Can’t Hurry Love **
Touch Me In The Morning
Love Hangover
Take Me Higher
It’s My Turn
Why Do Fools Fall In Love
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – The ANMHE ‘Diamond Diana’ Remix
* with Lionel Richie
** with The Supremes


In Friday's snapshot, we noted that Iraqi lawmakers were again trying (as they had in 2014) to lower the age of marriage for Iraqi girls to nine-years-old.

Is that a fun topic?

No, it's not.

But there are some topics that if women won't cover them, no one will.

Take Diana Ross.  She's had 19 number one hits on the pop chart in the US.

19.

Not eighteen.

Now that we're counting "We Are The World" (she's one of the soloists on the track) others will.  Someone has to get the ball rolling.  In addition, she has 11 other number ones beyond that (she's hit number one with other songs on other US charts and other international charts -- some might want to argue it's 13 because "The Boss" and "It's My House" and "No One Gets The Prize" all count as one number one hit on the 1979 US dance chart).

Diana Ross' award is a big deal.  Yes, Diana is a friend (as disclosed before) but this is a really big deal.  And were it Barbra Streisand, I think we'd be hearing about it every day.  Despite that Diana has been bigger on the singles chart than Barbra ever could dream of being, we're not getting the coverage of this that it deserves.

It's true of the proposed Iraqi law as well.  Since Friday, two more people have noted the new law -- both women.  We'll again note the KRG representative to the US.


  23h23 hours ago
If this becomes law, it will be a huge backward step for Iraq, a catastrophe for women and girls
63 replies363 retweets417 likes






Meanwhile Ahmed Rasheed (REUTERS) types, "Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court ruled on Monday that no region or province can secede, strengthening the government’s hand as it seeks to prevent a repeat of September’s Kurdish independence vote."

Big deal, the Baghdad based court -- one of the most corrupt in the world -- sided with the current prime minister.

What a shocker.

Others attempted to report it better -- including noting that there's no article in the Iraqi Constitution that allows for secession.

There's also no article in the Constitution that doesn't allow for it.

More to the point, Robert Ford's "America Never Understood Iraq: As the Kurdish crisis continues to spiral, a former diplomat laments a history of missed opportunities"  (THE ATLANTIC) notes:

From the beginning, the Kurdish negotiators in the constitution talks were nervous. Since the imposition of a no-fly zone in 1992 during the reign of Saddam Hussein, the Kurdish Region has had its own government, defended on the ground by its peshmerga fighters. In 2005, Barzani emphasized to us that the Kurdish Region ought to be able to choose independence, but would join the new Iraqi republic nonetheless. Largely at the Kurds’ insistence, the preamble to the Iraqi constitution states that the Iraqi people could “decide freely and by choice to unite our future.” In the negotiations, the Kurds stressed the inclusion of the word “freely.” They appreciated its implicit meaning: they chose freely to join Iraq, and they could choose freely to leave.


It's the preamble, not an article.

'Reporters' can be dense.

But they also tend to reward thuggery.

Has anyone in the press stood up to thug Hayder al-Abadi (his sash reads "prime minister of Iraq") since Ned Parker left Iraq?

No.

They're a bunch of spineless cowards, throwing flowers in his path, pretending he's reasoned.

We've seen this nonsense before -- when thug Nouri al-Maliki was prime minister.

Hayder's persecuting the Kurds.

I feel sorry for the individuals experiencing the persecution.

But I'm well aware this is how you create Kurdish independence.

Keep attacking them, Hayder, they'll rebel.

When that happens, don't be surprised if other groups rebel.

Many Sunnis have already been talking about secession.

REUTERS hasn't covered it but do they cover anything these days?

No, they just roll over and bare their bellies like cowering dogs.

AL-MONITOR's covered it.

All these years later and the western media still provides cover for the Iraq War via their own ingrained dishonesty.


Kat's "Kat's Korner: Sam Smith delivers" went up Sunday and we'll note Sam's "Pray" which was inspired by Iraq.








I'm young and I'm foolish, I've made bad decisions
I block out the news, turn my back on religion
Don't have no degree, I'm somewhat naive
I've made it this far on my own
But lately, that sh*t ain't been getting me higher
I lift up my head and the world is on fire
There's dread in my heart and fear in my bones
And I just don't know what to say
Maybe I'll pray, pray
Maybe I'll pray
I've never believed, and you know, but I'm gonna pray 
You won't find me in church (No) reading the bible (No)
I am still here and I'm still your disciple
I'm down on my knees, I'm begging you please
I'm broken, alone, and afraid
I'm not a saint, I'm more of a sinner
I don't wanna lose, but I fear for the winners
When I try to explain, the words run away
That's why I am stood here today
And I'm gonna pray, pray
Maybe I'll pray, pray for a glimmer of hope
Maybe I'll pray, pray
Maybe I'll pray
I've never believed, and you know that I'm gonna
Won't you call me?
Can we have a one-to-one, please?
Let's talk about freedom
Everyone prays in the end
Everyone prays in the end
Won't you call me?
Can we have a one-to-one, please?
Let's talk about freedom
Everyone prays in the end
Everyone prays in the end
Oh, and I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna pray
I'm gonna pray, pray for a glimmer of hope
Maybe I'll pray, pray
Maybe I'll pray
I've never believed, and you know, but I'm gonna pray
"Pray," written by Sam Smith, James Napier, Timoth Mosley, Darryl Pearson, Larrance Dopson, Jose A. Valasquez, appears on Sam's new album THE THRILL OF IT ALL



Benjamin Butterworth (UK PINK NEWS) reported in October:

Singer Sam Smith says his song-writing has been inspired by Iraq.
The Oscar-winning performer spent time in Mosul, northern Iraq, to learn about injustices in the world while penning his latest songs. 
“I spent five days in Mosul and came back ­embarrassed that I had known so little about the world and other people’s lives,” he told Billboard magazine.
Mosul has faced intense warfare in the past 18 months, with 40,000 feared dead as Islamic State and Iraqi Government battled for control of the city.
It was only on 9 July 2017 that the Iraqi Prime Minister arrived in Mosul to announce victory over IS.
Sam continued: “I went back to that great Nina Simone quote, that it is important to speak about the times you live in.
“I hadn’t done that; I’d just written a bunch of songs about love.
“So I wanted to write about how I’m now starting to open my eyes, at 25, to what is going on in the rest of the world, and that it’s not always pretty.”
Homosexuality is illegal and punishable with execution in the country, and it voted against a UN motion calling for an end to executing gay people just last week. 


[Jim note: I came in and added lyrics to "Pray."  A few friends of C.I. called up to ask "what's going on" -- noting "she seems pissed."  She is.  She's sick of doing the heavy lifting.  "Put The Bitch In Her Place (Ava and C.I.)," from last week, for example, resulted in five reviewers from other publications e-mailing her and Ava that they were wrong about the book.  As C.I. told one -- in a phone call, "Excuse the f**k out of me but you didn't even read the book.  You're saying COURT & SPARK is Joni's biggest album, based on the book.  But the book notes that BLUE has outsold COURT & SPARK.  I really don't need your sexism and ignorance passed off as insight.  You skimmed the book and you missed how offensive it was -- including how it blamed Joni for the miscarriage and then spent pages -- plural! -- on how her 'poor' husband wasn't aware this was an issue and that he needed to cancel his trip to Europe.  Yes, he f**king needed to cancel that.  And if he wasn't smart enough to get that, in his 30s, then he's not smart enough to be married."  Ava told another reviewer that he clearly hadn't read the book because he missed all the sexism the author hurled at Joni Mitchell.  And they're right, it's a really bad book.  So there's the heavy lifting there.  And they also did heavy lifting on their TV piece they wrote yesterday -- whose thrust is that the show never should have been put on the schedule.  Equally true, Diana is a friend and C.I. is legitimately ticked off -- and I'd say she's right to be -- by the lack of coverage going into this AMA broadcast.  She was screaming yesterday at a Universal exec -- they own Motown now -- that they'd issued no statement.  She said, "Apparently, you only issue a statement when someone dies!"  She notes that Motown Classic -- under Universal -- has issued a statement but Universal has nothing -- "and it gives the impression that your a f**king piece of s**t label that doesn't honor your past or your artist. Who the hell would want to sign with Universal after that?"  So, yes, C.I. is pissed.  :D  For a number of reasons -- probably at me as well because she and Ava wanted new content up at THIRD last night and it's still not up.]

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Saturday, November 4, 2017

Hillary and Debbie -- partners in crime

  9h9 hours ago
Hillary Clinton did not "bail out" the DNC. She diverted money that was intended for state parties and races to the DNC and her own campaign
9 replies142 retweets276 likes
 
 
 



Exactly.

She's such a crook.

And another crook has weighed in, Debbie Wasserman Schutlz.  The Daily Telegraph reports:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has responded to a searing critique running the Democrat National Committee, saying she is 'proud' of her controversial tenure but failing to address claims she essentially handed over the party to Hillary Clinton.
The former DNC chair issued a statement after her successor, interim chair Donna Brazile, released a book excerpt where she said Wasserman Schultz was 'not a good manager' and allowed Clinton to virtually take over the party even before she captured the nomination.  
'It was a tremendous honor to be asked by President Obama to serve as chair of the DNC,' the Florida Democrat said in a statement reported by MSNBC.
'I am proud of the work our team did to support Democrats up and down the ballot in the 2016 election and to re-elect the president in 2012.'
Her statement continued to gush about party unity without directly responding to any of Brazile's  charges about her tenure.
 [. . .]
Hillary Clinton's campaign seized control of the Democratic National Committee months before she won her party's nomination, diverted resources away from struggling state parties, and allowed the national party to accumulate a mountain of debt, writes Brazile.

 
She's a liar and a crook too.  That's why she worked so well with Hillary.

 
 





Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
 
Friday, November 3, 2017.




"Baby Love" by Diana Ross & the Supremes is one of the 19 number one pop songs (BILLBOARD US singles chart) that Diana Ross has sang on.  November 19th, she'll be on the live broadcast (ABC) of The American Music Awards to perform and to receive the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement.


Baby love?

Great song.

Perversions?

Not good at all.

But members of the Iraqi government are continuing to pimp perversion.


  1.   12h12 hours ago
activists campaigning against a draft law allows girls as young as 9 to get legally married. They say its no different from ISIS laws.
6 replies16 retweets20 likes



  18h18 hours ago
Yerevan Saeed Retweeted karam karam
Kurdistan banned polygamy in 2008. Iraq legalizes children to get married. Can these two visions/way of life coexist harmoniously!
Yerevan Saeed added,
In Iraq, a law allowing the marriage of children is passed, which is no different from the laws of the "ISIS"
9 replies98 retweets101 likes





We're back to this?

Nouri al-Maliki's tenure as prime minister saw this notion pimped before.  Remember?


Dropping back to the April 17, 2014 snapshot:


Yesterday on KPFA's Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, the controversial bill which passed Iraq's Cabinet of Ministers and that chief thug and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki  has forwarded to the Parliament was discussed. 



Shahram Aghamir: Last month the Iraqi Cabinet approved a new personal status legislation called the Ja'fari law which is named after the sixth Shi'ite Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq who established a school of jurisprudence in Medina in the 8th century.  This legislation has created an uproar among Iraqi women's rights and the civil rights community.  If approved, the Ja'fari law will abolish the current Personal Status Law 188 which is considered one of the most progressive in the Arab world.  The new law will roll back the rights of women in marriage, divorce and child custody as well as inheritance.  It will lower the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 9 and boys to 15.  Who has initially proposed the law and what are the implications of this law for Iraqi women?  Malihe spoke with Iraqi women's rights activist Basma al-Khateeb who volunteers with Iraq's 1st Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women Shadow Report Coalition as an expert and a trainer.

 Basma al-Khateeb:  Actually, the Minister of Justice by the end of October declared that they have a committee -- expert committee -- and they have finished drafting the Ja'fari law.  It consists of 256 articles and he's going to present it to the Cabinet by the next session.  He says that they've been working on for the past two years.

 Malihe Razazan:  Back in 2004, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim who died in 2009, he was in exile in Iran for 20 years before the invasion, and after the occupation of Iraq, he worked very closely with the Americans.  His party worked to pass Decision 137 issue by interim governing council to abolish the Personal Status Law Number 188 which was passed  in 1959 --

 Basma al-Kahteeb:  That was actually the first thing that he -- that he issued, this Resolution 137 -- as if Iraq had no problems.  This was the only rule that he came up with.  And we had demonstrations and we managed to defeat that.  They withdrew it.

 Malihe Razazan:   Yeah, because there was a huge backlash against it.

 Basma al-Khateeb:  But this is historical.  His father, Muhsin al-Hakim, back in 1959, when the civil Personal Status Law was issued, the religious institutes led by Muhsin al-Hakim back then, his father, refused this Personal Status Law because it will take all the authority from the cleric.

 Malihe Razazan:  In matters regarding women's divorce, child custody, inheritance it will be left to civil courts.

 Basma al-Khateeb:  Yes.  And this is how our judicial system and lawyers and colleges and scholars all -- I mean, we're talking about sixty years that all our institutions -- judicial, court, everything -- is built on it.  This -- going back just to abolish all of this -- this law --the formal law, the Personal Status Law that's still active now. It doesn't go to clerics, only the judge rules.  This current law puts another council that is in control of judges of courts.  It just turns everything into chaos.  Every lawyer has to study all these religious and cleric institution and legal issues.  It doesn't mean that we have one court.  It means that we have more than 20 courts because each Ayatollah is different in examination with the other.  Havilah?  Even though they're Sh'itie, they're different from the Sadr group, they're different from Sistani interpretation which means multi courts.




Raheem Salman, Ahmed Rasheed, Isabel Coles and Andrew Roche (Reuters) explore the topic and note:


 Proponents of the Ja'afari Law say many families marry off daughters underage anyway, particularly in the rural south, so the bill would protect young brides by codifying their status.
"The law does not make the marriage of underage girls obligatory," said Shi'ite women's rights activist Thabat al-Unaibi, adding she would not let her own two daughters marry until they were old enough to have finished their studies.
"Why all the fuss over this issue?"


And supporters have been the winners.  Hajer Naili  (Women's eNews) notes:

Haider Ala Hamoudi, a law professor at the University of Pittsburg who advised the 2009 Constitutional Review Committee of the Iraqi legislature on behalf of the United States Embassy in Baghdad, has analyzed the text.
In a phone interview he called it sloppily drafted and poorly organized. "I just dismiss it as publicity to garner votes."

In a in the Jurist, lays out the obstacles to transforming religious texts into actual laws and calls the text something of a "political stunt." In the article he quotes Ayatollah al- Bashir Najif, a leading Shiite, as criticizing the bill as "rife with flights of fancy in legal and juristic formulations that render it impossible that a jurist would find it acceptable."

Really?  We're going to predict what's going to happen in an election when anything can happen?

And if it's being used "to garner votes," might some push hard for it to pass the Parliament after the election?

I have no idea what's going to happen with the bill.

But it does have supporters and it is being sold.  It's being normalized.

And this is happening not just with the bill and the attempt to kill off the Personal Status Law Number 188.  This is part of a larger war.  Dropping back to January 27, 2012 snapshot:

 We bring that up because Nouri did finally find a woman and named her to be Minister of the State for Women's Affairs. The woman is Dr. Ibtihal al-Zaidi. And Al Mada reports the lovely doesn't believe in equality stating equality "harms women" but she's happy to offer government dictates on what women should be wearing. No, she's not a minister. She's many things including words we won't use here but she's not friend to women and that's why Nouri picked her. A real woman fighting for other women? Nouri can't handle that. A simpering idiot who states that women should only act after their husband's consent? That gender traitor gets a ministry. She's currently at work devising a uniform for Iraqi women.

Let's to back to Wednesday's broadcast of Voices of the Middle East and North Africa.

Basma al-Khateeb:  It lowers the marriage age for girls to  9 -- 

 Malihe Razazan:  From 18.

 Basma al-Khateeb:  -- 15 for boys, it's 18 for both [currently] marriage.  Only in  very, very special cases it's 15 with the consent of the judge under the current law.  But for this Ja'fari law it lowers the age to 9.  And wives must seek permission from their husbands before leaving the house.  If I am a doctor or a minister or a lawyer, I cannot go out without permission from my husband, go out of the house.  Muslim men would be prohibited from marrying non-Muslim women.  Granting husbands legal rights to have sex with their wives without their consent.  Granting custody to the father of any child over two-years-old in the case of divorce which is not the case that we have now with the current law.  


Note the similarities between the law and the position, two years ago, of the Minister of Women's Affairs.

Nouri picked that idiot for a reason.

This is not happening by accident.


And it's not happening by accident now.

The role of women in Iraq has been ripped apart by the 2003 US-led invasion and by the thugs the US has repeatedly elected to put in charge of Iraq.

That this is even being considered again goes to how awful the government of Iraq is.

And elections were in the air last time and are again this go round.

Nouri al-Maliki?  ALSUMARIA reports he's insisting that the parliamentary elections cannot be postponed again.

The international community could assist with increasing women's roles in Iraq.

As noted in yesterday's snapshot, "United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today announced the appointment of Alice Walpole of the United Kingdom as his new Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)."

That helps.

The US government has not been interested in helping.

Neither Bully Boy Bush nor Barack Obama appointed a woman to be US ambassador to Iraq.

Thus far, Donald Trump has not either.

Meanwhile Zainab Calcuttawala (OIL PRICE) notes:

 The Kurdish military has accused Baghdad of continuing a policy of dishonesty towards Kurdistan, according to a new report by al-Masdar news.
The Iraqi military’s attacks on Kurdish targets show “ongoing military aggression and unconstitutional demands”, the Peshmarga says.
The Kurdish military says it has been put in the defensive position since Baghdad decided to wage a war against the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to recapture parts of Kirkuk’s oilfields.


Yes, the attacks from the Baghdad-based government on the KRG continue.  The International Crisis Group notes, "As Crisis Group has argued, the only sensible way forward is a return to UN-led negotiations, supported by the U.S., EU, Iran and Turkey, focused on the issues that gave rise to the crisis: the unresolved status of the disputed territories, and how to share oil revenues."

What did they argue?

This:
Given the latest developments, the only sensible way forward is to de-escalate the military situation and return to negotiations. The Abadi government has reason to settle for talks rather than continue military escalation. His elite troops may be able to retake oil fields through a political deal with the PUK and a swift surprise advance, but his army otherwise remains weak and has proved to be poor at holding territory. Washington so far has acquiesced in Baghdad’s moves, but the prospect of fighting between two U.S. allies (which many see as benefitting Iran) is unsettling and its patience could wear thin. Most importantly, there is no long-term security solution to the challenge of the disputed territories: it requires a negotiated solution.
The KDP-dominated KRG also should have every reason to engage in talks. Barzani overplayed the Kurdish hand by pressing ahead with the referendum over the international community’s near-unanimous objections and refusing to negotiate with Baghdad about anything except Kurdish independence; meanwhile, his supporters used Twitter storms to whip up international, especially U.S., sympathy for his cause by claiming a heavy Iranian hand behind Baghdad’s rejection of the referendum and subsequent military moves. Yet the U.S. was unmoved, sticking to its long-expressed strategic objective of protecting Iraq’s unity and angered by Barzani’s rejection of its relatively far-reaching proposal to postpone the referendum in exchange for U.S. support for immediate and time-bound Erbil-Baghdad negotiations on all critical issues.[fn]“Tillerson letters show U.S. nearly averted Kurdish referendum”, Bloomberg, 13 October 2017.Hide Footnote Thus, Barzani arguably set back the cause of Kurdistan instead of advancing it by frittering away international goodwill for the Kurdish cause. He too would be well served by mending fences with his erstwhile allies.

V. The Need for External Mediation

Assuming a halt to current fighting once federal forces have reaffirmed control over the disputed territories, and the military has handed over policing responsibilities to local police forces, the next challenge will be to get the parties to go back to the negotiating table. This will require external mediation. The institution best placed to assume this role remains the UN, with support from the U.S., EU, Iran and Turkey, as well as Russia, whose role in Iraq is limited but which does have interests there. U.S. backing will be critical, but its leverage in Iraq has been reduced as a result of its deteriorating relationship with Turkey and, even more seriously, with Iran.
Still, Washington continues to enjoy good relations with both the KRG and the federal government, and both of them remain heavily reliant on U.S. support. The KRG no longer can rely on unquestioned support, but still receives Western backing in the fight against what remains of ISIS. It also still enjoys a residue of goodwill for having been a reliable U.S. ally until the referendum. It has every reason to seek to get back into Washington’s good graces. Abadi needs U.S. support as a counterweight to Iranian influence. Like his predecessors as prime minister, he has played a precarious balancing act between the two powers. U.S. support for his military’s elite units has been critical in the fight against ISIS, and remains so; it also proved indispensable in this bid to restore Iraqi sovereignty over the disputed territories.
The Trump administration would have much to gain by shepherding the two parties back to the table and averting a situation where it will be forced to take sides. Although evidently angered by Barzani’s open defiance of its requests to cancel the referendum, Washington is not prepared to give up on an important partner. Likewise, the U.S. sees in the Abadi government a critical buffer against Iran, and fears that the balance of power may shift toward Iran if it distances itself from Baghdad or if Abadi cannot hold on to the disputed territories his forces have just retaken.[fn]Crisis Group interview, U.S. official, Washington, 16 October 2017. On 25 September, the U.S. State Department declared that the U.S. was “deeply disappointed” by the KRG’s decision to go ahead with the referendum, and said the U.S. opposed “violence and unilateral moves by any party to alter boundaries”; “Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s Referendum”, press statement, U.S. State Department, 25 September 2017. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson put it even more starkly four days later, saying: “The United States does not recognize the KRG unilateral referendum held on Monday. The vote and the results lack legitimacy and we continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq”. “Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s Referendum”, press statement, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, 29 September 2017.Hide Footnote Helping Iraqi/KRG negotiations restart would solidify U.S. ties to both, ensure they cooperate in what remains of the fight against ISIS and help move toward a negotiated outcome based on preservation of Iraq’s territorial unity, at least for now. That too would meet immediate U.S. interests: an Iraq friendly to both Washington and Tehran would be a more effective buffer against broader Iranian influence than an embattled independent Kurdistan whose legitimacy would be widely contested.






The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and the former Diane Rhem Show -- updated:

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