Today is Wednesday, June 6, 2007, and the Kurds who live in northern Iraq are having the worst day ever. Apparently, Turkey temporarily invaded northern Iraq to chase Kurdish terrorists, a claim which Turkey vehemently denies. This after confirming it to the AP in the first story. Why does this matter? A bit of background on the entire region as a whole. You see, there's this ethnic group called the Kurds who have their own culture and customs, and they inhabit southwestern Turkey and much of northern Iraq. For about 2000 years, there was no problem with them existing how they did, because national borders weren't all that relevant. When the Ottoman Empire fell after World War I, Britain formed (artificially--without any real cultural purpose) Iraq, and in turn split the Kurds between two nations, Turkey and Iraq. The Kurds wanted their own state, and the Brits said no; Turkish Kurds and Iraqi Kurds have been agitating for independence pretty much since that point, and it occasionally turns violent. Apparently, Turkey had enough and decided to bite back. Or it didn't. It'll become more clear as time goes on. (This actually could go on to explain why Iraq is in such a nasty conflict now, but we'll save that for another day.)
In other news, the Republican debate was last night. PartyNeutral did not get the chance to watch it, as other things were going on, but PN did catch up on the aftermath, which, according to Newsweek, wasn't much to talk about. FOX perhaps put it best when it summarized the core Republican talking point: "we're not Bush." It's an interesting platform to run on--not opposing the other party, but really opposing your own. Which isn't to say there wasn't plenty of bashing Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, something Republicans have turned into a hobby in the post-Revolution era. Plenty of sniping also went at the Democrats after the debate from the chairman of FOX News, who said that Democrats who can't face a debate on FOX can't face al-Quaeda. Pretty sure that's not on the same level, but we'll see how that all pans out. Anyway, a lot of the substance of the debate focused on Iraq, naturally, and the Republican party's shortcomings. Immigration is also hot-button, and it will be interesting to see how McCain, who is attempting to rightify himself away from his usual centrist positions, fares in this arena. Word on the street is that Ron Paul is a shining star, but one needs to see it to believe it, and since we didn't see it....
The Republicans will give a few million dollars to whoever figures out how to clone Ronnie, or so sources say.
Word from the liberal blogs is that today marks the 6-month anniversary (or Friedman Unit) of the release of the Iraq Study Group's report, which the President basically ignored--and the general consensus is that progress isn't being made fast enough. Petraeus holds hope for the Surge, as do many in Congress who believe that it is either their last shot at reviving their lagging political fortunes, or it is actually the last shot for a chance at victory in Iraq. It has been an interesting four months: the surge has included many more troops than proposed and will include yet more before it is all through. Ironically, this is Bush's major Iraq policy change, the only major policy change not included in the Iraq Study Group report. It might not be a bad idea for Dick Cheney to invite Osama bin Laden out hunting....
According to Drudge and the Huffington Post, Hillary has seen a surge of her own, in the fundraising department. (link may go down). According to 'her people,' the big donors have continued to come through, maxing out at their $2300 per federal election limit, and smaller donors have also started to pick up steam. But the Obamapire Strikes Back, or so says that article on the Huffington Post. With roughly double the donors, Obama can afford to accrue generally smaller per-capita donations, due to the volume of donations he receives. The kind of money the candidates are raising is unprecedented--while PN can't find a link at present to back that up (official reporting on funds raised doesn't come out until July), $25 to $30 million five quarters before the Presidential election is quite an accomplishment. The general election will be a billion-dollar ordeal between the two Presidential candidates.
And finally, a gem of an article for Fox News, which should excite teenagers who aspire life in the Netherlands and all of the freewheeling that it implies. Kids there have discovered powdered alcohol which can be dissolved in water, yielding a 3% ABV content drink that supposedly, according to the article, tastes quite good. The kids invented the substance as a means to circumvent liquor laws, which dictate that only kids over 16 can purchase. Since this isn't a liquid, it's not subject to those laws. Clever, eh?
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