Who needs more war in the Middle East?

Thanks to Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader Masoud Barzani's move to hold a referendum on carving out an independent Kurdistan, the Middle East is once again a high-risk spot, competing with the ongoing crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

Barzani wants to become the founding father of a Kurdish state, something that his grandfather Abdusselam could not achieve in the 1900s and 1910s, and that his father Mullah Mustafa Barzani could not achieve in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, despite support from - in shifting order - Russia, Israel, Iran and the U.S. 

Masoud Barzani himself has not until now been able to achieve an independent Kurdish state through the 1980s, 90s and 2000s, despite close ties with the Americans. 

His move to hold the Sept. 25 referendum is understandable when considered from his own perspective. He thinks the Iraqi state is failing (which is not too wrong), the Syrian state is failing (that too), Turkey has its own problems with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and serious rifts with its NATO ally Washington, and Iran is back under pressure from the U.S. under Donald Trump. 

In addition, Barzani is under fierce competition from the PKK, affiliates of which are moving step by step to establish autonomy in the north of civil war-hit Syria, neighboring Turkey. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its militia People's Protection Units (YPG) are currently holding "local elections" and electing "city communes" in Syrian towns under the protection of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Despite the fact that PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has been in a Turkish jail since 1999 (after he was captured with the help of the CIA), the PKK is bidding to grab the flag of the idea of Kurdish independence from...