Iraq From the Asia Times

There are 3 great pieces in the Asia Times on Iraq:
Kurdistan: No more Mr Nice Guy

As we watched the unveiling of the new United Nations Security Council resolution on Iraq, number 1546, the hopes of many Kurds all over the world faded as they knew that slowly but surely the process of betrayal had started all over again - a process they had hoped to avoid at least once from their so-called allies. The council decided against endorsing the interim constitution that guarantees federalism and spells out the Kurdish minority community's rights. Alas, the students of Henry Kissinger and the neo-conservatives in Washington have decided to swing away from the Kurds and play politics in tune with Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, somewhat similar to how they switched sides in 1978 in Iran, turning their back on the Shah - and we all know how that turned out for the US and other Western countries.

The question now is not what has happened or who to blame, but what the Kurdish nation can do to keep what is rightfully theirs, a political solution to a very complicated landscape surrounded by several hostile neighbors and accompanied by allies that have been more damaging to the Kurdish cause than beneficial.

Just a snippit, read the rest.
Bush just doesn't get it ...

The United States, members of the Group of Eight, and, indeed the Middle East, are going through a historical moment starting this week. The United Nations has unanimously passed a resolution legitimizing the interim Iraqi government, thereby, at least tacitly, endorsing the presence of US forces in Iraq. The industrial allies of the US are meeting under the auspices of the G8 in the US state of Georgia to discuss, inter alia, the US-sponsored Middle East initiative of democratizing the region.

However, only a few Arab sycophants of America are present at that summit in order to create a semblance of dialogue. These are important developments, but the administration of President George W Bush does not understand that, given its record of invasion of Iraq, any attempt to democratize the Middle East will be viewed as just another "ploy" by Washington to subjugate the Arab Middle East, a la Iraq. In fact, that's how it is presently couched in Cairo and Riyadh.

More at link
Sovereignty, but what about the insurgency?

In the past few days, Iraq has reached two milestones that United States and Iraqi officials have long said should help reduce the country's persistent security problems. One is the formation last week of a new interim administration to take Iraq to a first round of elections in January. The second is Tuesday's endorsement by the United Nations Security Council of that administration becoming Iraq's sovereign government.

Just before the UN vote in New York, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari restated his belief that these events will convince his countrymen they have a legitimate government of their own. "There is also the question of how legitimate this new interim government is, since we haven't had the chance to have elections or to have [an] elected representative government. So, with the involvement of the United Nations, with providing some international legitimacy to the new interim government, I think it will be more acceptable to the people of Iraq," Zebari said.

But will the formation of an interim government endorsed by the United States help to isolate Iraq's insurgents, who seem to reject all efforts to establish a new order? Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty put the question to two analysts who are closely watching the situation.

Read all 3 at the posted links.