Breaking up: Not so hard to do?

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Peter Galbraith, a former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, has written yet another piece warning about the impending breakup in Iraq. It’s hard to think that he’s completely off-base about all this. The Kurdish leaders in Baghdad, including Kurdish president Jalal Talabani, may talk about unity and cooperating with the Iraqi government, but back up north their constituents are demanding a far more strident stance. Last December, 1.7 million Kurds signed a petition for independence that was then handed over to the UN.

Down in southern Iraq, meanwhile, conservative Shiite local governments have indicated that they would seek much greater autonomy if Baghdad couldn’t deliver on making Islamic law, not to mention Islamic family law, the strict law of the land. And the interim constitution allows any three provinces to band together and veto the final constitution, if and when it gets written, making regional demands for autonomy much more credible. That doesn’t mean a break-up is engraved in stone, but it’s a possibility to watch out for.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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