kremlin-after-kurdish-vote-says-supports-integrity-of-regional-states-idUSKCN1C11BG

Agreed. They don't want another independent state in the region. It could affect their direct interest in Syria.

Iraq and many of the other countries in SWA and the middle east were constructed by Western powers after WWI and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. They were again redefined after WWII and with Israel's independence. Syria and Jordan, for example, had different national boundaries in the 1920s than they do today. The Kurds missed out on getting a country on their own in the 20th Century. They want the independence and self-determination allowed other peoples in the region. The United States should sponsor the independence of a Kurdish nation. The Kurds have been good supporters of the US and fought against ISIS. If the US supports the Kurds now, they may prevent regional wars as the Kurds attempt to carve out a nation from Iraq and join it with parts of other nations, such as our NATO ally Turkey, where the populations are primarily Kurds.

IMO, Iraq is not a sustainable nation. It isn't the ancient Persian Empire and it isn't a modern coherent nation-state. External pressures have prevented formation of a strong monarchy or dictatorship to force the peoples in Iraq to submit to a national government. Its peoples are divided by differences in Muslim sects and tribal loyalties. They appear unable to overcome these divisions to form a real country. I think Iraq will become three or more nations. In the northwest, Kurdistan. In the southeast a Shia Muslim state closely aligned with Iran or actually part of Iran. In central Iraq, a Sunni Muslim state.

The Kurd's in Iraq are there because the western powers made a monumental mistake at the end of WWI when they broke up the Ottoman Empire. No attention was given to the ethnic make up of the artificial countries they created. The Kurd's should have been formed into a separate country back then.