The news that the United States, the UK, France and the European Union have all pledged to offer arms to the Kurds in the north of Iraq in order to allow them to face the threat of the Islamic State is, of course, good news. The gratuitous barbarism of the Islamic State in Iraq has been displayed over social media and its brutal treatment of Iraq’s minorities, especially Christians and Yazidis, is horrifying. Anything that allows the Kurds and other Iraqis to protect themselves from that is welcome.
And yet western intervention in the region rarely ends well. That is not, in fact, because armed intervention is always catastrophic – indeed it can create conditions for a political solution – but because the West too often looks at only short-term discrete goals and ignores the wider picture.
This is the case with their arming of the Iraqi Kurds. Although the US and EU have pledged to “consult” with Iraq’s central government in Baghdad, the speed with which they were able to take the decision stands in marked contrast to their feet-dragging over Syria, Gaza and Sunni protests in western Iraq. When it comes to carving out spheres of interest, it seems, the West cannot deliver weapons fast enough.
Nor will the arming of the Kurds only allow them to defend themselves. The Kurds have been explicit that their aim is to take over the entire north of Iraq, including oilfields that ought to belong to the Iraqi people as a whole, and carve out a state. Arms will help them do so. That will have a knock-on effect on the rest of Iraq, on Syria and, especially, on Turkey, a key member of Nato.
No one should doubt that the Kurds need the weapons to defend themselves. But this commitment from the West cannot be open-ended. If Iraq’s incoming prime minister Haider Al Abadi truly presents a unified front against the Islamic State, then arms should go to Baghdad, not to the north. If, on the other hand, the western powers seek to aid the Kurds in their secession, then they ought to say so. Aiding the fragmentation of Iraq by giving weapons to only one part of the country will have a long-term effect.
The sundering of Iraq will only create more problems. Especially now that Syria is in fragments, another group pushing to break-up an Arab state is a recipe for chaos. Iraq may not be perfect, but it still exists as a state. The West should avoid actions that could imperil that existence.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Points about the fast fashion industry Celine Hajjar wants everyone to know
- Fast fashion is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions
- Fast fashion is responsible for 24 per cent of the world's insecticides
- Synthetic fibres that make up the average garment can take hundreds of years to biodegrade
- Fast fashion labour workers make 80 per cent less than the required salary to live
- 27 million fast fashion workers worldwide suffer from work-related illnesses and diseases
- Hundreds of thousands of fast fashion labourers work without rights or protection and 80 per cent of them are women
Specs
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Match info
Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 1 (Ramos 73' pen)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
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The specs: 2017 Maserati Quattroporte
Price, base / as tested Dh389,000 / Dh559,000
Engine 3.0L twin-turbo V8
Transmission Eight-speed automatic
Power 530hp @ 6,800rpm
Torque 650Nm @ 2,000 rpm
Fuel economy, combined 10.7L / 100km
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